We're trying something new. This is a throwback Thursday episode of the show where we dig deep into the archives and pull something that we think will be relevant and useful to hear again.

Or for the first time today.

These are in addition to our regular programming because we think they'll add real value to the show.

However, referring to them as throwback Thursday was a little controversial.

Amanda pointed out to me that throwback Thursday was largely a social media phenomenon driven by Facebook in the

mid-20 teens before they implemented Facebook memories.

And it's true, Google Trends shows a big spike in searches around then with throwback Thursday peaking in April 2014.

But then again, didn't we all? And besides, I say that if there's one thing to bring back after it's fallen out of style, it's throwbacks.

Welcome to this throwback Thursday edition of the award winning Best of Left podcast where we remember the past and choose to repeat it.

A version of this episode was originally published on January 22nd, 2019.

And we've chosen it because just this week we published an episode on the power of marketing from corporations and how that influential force helped shape culture and our built infrastructure.

Often for the worse. So looking back in the archives, this episode cut my eye because it encapsulates the greatest marketing topic of the 20th century.

The Cold War propaganda that hardened the ideological divide between Soviet style communism and American style capitalism, making it nearly impossible for anyone to see through to the nuances on the other side.

But with generational shift, that culture propaganda is thawing and this episode explains why.

If we step back from the moment and you know with the advantage of hindsight, we can see that for much of the 20th century, the Soviet Union was United States's ideological foil.

Do you think that's something that we can find in 10 days that took the world itself does reads work for shadow that what does it tell us about the kind of relationship that will emerge between the United States and the Soviet Union.

I think that he like Lenin in some ways in 1917 believe that there could be a good relationship between the two.

He and Lenin talk about this. It's not reflected so much in his book, but they talk about how the United States and the Soviet Union at that time don't really have direct areas of conflict in the world like trade and other sorts of things.

And so there's no reason why they can't be friendly, even though they appear to be ideologically at odds.

But you have to remember at the time that being a socialist or a communist in the United States up until about this moment was not seen as to be a negative thing necessarily.

Eugene V. Debs, who is a quite famous candidate for president.

And we might add a socialist candidate for president.

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