Marxism in Defence of The West (Ft. Ralph Leonard)

Get access to The Backroom (100+ exclusive episodes) on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OneDimeOn this episode of 1Dime Radio, I sit down with British-Nigerian writer Ralph Leonard to ask what it even means to be a Marxist today, after the political fallout of the 20th century. Ralph describes himself as a “conservative Marxist,” which sounds like a contradiction until you realize that one of the core questions in this conversation is whether socialism, properly understood, is not the worship of capitalist progress but a defense of society against capital’s destructive acceleration.We get into Marxism’s roots in the Enlightenment, liberalism, and the Western political tradition, why Marxism is in many ways a radicalization of Western values rather than a rejection of them, and how Stalinism distorted Marxism into a state-worshipping ideology that dismissed freedom and democracy as “bourgeois” illusions. We also discuss race as ideology, decolonization theory, nationalism, Zionism, the USSR, and whether its failures were historically necessary or politically avoidable.In the exclusive Backroom, Ralph and I talk about whether world revolution was ever plausible and why I see Marxist internationalism as the doctrine’s fatal flaw. We explore how left-wing localism inadvertently helped create the conditions for fascism, why civic nationalism may be the only coherent path for a democratic left, and the hard limits of multiculturalism exposed by Canada’s immigration crisis.Timestamps:00:00:00 The Backroom Sneak Peek00:03:53 Introduction to Conservative Marxism00:17:30 Marxism, Enlightenment and the State00:33:00 Western Values and Decolonial Critiques00:55:20 Historical Necessity or Preventable Atrocity01:14:15 Race, Culture and Western Identity01:24:43 Zionism Opposed to LiberalismGUEST:Ralph Leonard• Ralph’s writing at UnHerd: https://unherd.com/author/ralph-leonard/Ralph’s Twitter: https://x.com/buffsoldier_96FOLLOW 1Dime:• Substack (Articles and Essays): https://1dimereview.substack.com/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/1DimeOfficial• Instagram: instagram.com/1dimeman• Check out my main channel videos: https://www.youtube.com/@1DimeeLeave a like, drop a comment, and give the show a 5-star rating on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen to this.Tags: #Marxism  #Socialism #TheWest #TheEnlightenment  #WesternCivilization