Get access to The Backroom (100+ exclusive episodes) on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OneDime On this episode of 1Dime Radio, I am joined once again by Marxist writer Ted Reese, author of Socialism or Extinction and Abundant Material Wealth For All, for a wide-ranging conversation on AI, automation, capitalist breakdown, Marxism, technology, falling profit rates, monopoly, food, health, and the possibility of socialism in the 21st century. Ted argues that capitalism is not simply politically or morally bad, but increasingly obsolete on its own economic terms. As automation, AI, and productivity push commodity values down, capitalism responds through monopoly, rent-seeking, militarized technology, state dependency, and new forms of social enclosure. We discuss Henryk Grossman, Marx’s theory of capitalist breakdown, whether AI makes Marxism more relevant or obsolete, why the left should not become anti-technology, and whether socialism could emerge through a more peaceful transition rather than a romanticized fantasy of violent revolution. In the Backroom episode on Patreon, Ted and I continue the conversation with a debate on immigration. I challenge the standard Marxist perspective on migration and argue that mass migration under capitalism is not a path toward international socialism, but a system tied to global capital mobility, labor discipline, brain drain, and the weakening of working-class political organization. We debate whether the current migration regime brings us closer to socialism or further away from it. Timestamps: 00:00 The Backroom Preview: How Immigration Stops Socialism 03:17 1Dime Radio Intro 04:17 Introducing Ted Reese 06:37 Abundant Material Wealth For All 09:13 Can Socialism Happen Peacefully? 14:22 International Revolution, National Politics, and Capitalist Breakdown 16:23 Automation, AI, and Why Capitalism Becomes Obsolete 23:53 Falling Profit Rates and Capitalist Decline 27:00 Monopoly, Mergers, and the “Final Merger” 30:09 AI, Robots, Neo-Feudalism, and Capitalism’s Demand Problem 36:53 Technology, Progress, and the Anti-Luddite Left 42:47 Palantir, Militarized Tech, and State-Capitalist Dependency 49:01 Why AI Will Get More Expensive 55:46 Is Marxism Obsolete in the Age of AI? 58:21 Capitalism, Food, Health, and Human Decay 01:03:50 Get the Second Half in The Backroom GUEST: Ted Reese • X/Twitter: https://x.com/Grossmanite • Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/grossmanite • Linktree: https://linktr.ee/grossmanite • Abundant Material Wealth For All: https://grossmanite.medium.com/new-book-abundant-material-wealth-for-all-out-now-7d1ec5e9ac05 FOLLOW 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/@1Dimee Leave a like, drop a comment, and give the show a 5-star rating on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen to this.
