Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 20 minutes ago
They say the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn’t exist. Capitalism pulled off something even trickier: convincing us it’s just the way things work.
Historian Andrew Hartman joins Steve to examine how American public education became a battleground in the struggle over class, ideology, and political consciousness. Drawing on his book Education and the Cold War: The Battle for the American School, Andrew traces how the radical possibilities of the 1930s, including militant teacher organizing and encouraging students to question capitalist individualism, were systematically narrowed by the Red Scare. Schools increasingly shifted toward preparing students to adapt to the existing order.
Steve and Andrew explore the crucial role of liberal anti-communism, the Cold War equating of capitalism with democracy and freedom, and an educational culture that treats capitalism as ordinary reality while Marxism and socialism must continually justify their existence. The result is a powerful look at cultural hegemony: how the boundaries of what Americans consider reasonable, possible, or even thinkable were constructed, and why so much of that Cold War ideological architecture remains with us today.
Andrew Hartman is a distinguished professor of history at Illinois State University and the author of several books, including Education and the Cold War: The Battle for the American School; A War for the Soul of America: A History of the Culture Wars; and Karl Marx in America, out in 2025 with the University of Chicago Press.
His website: Andrew Hartman
Facebook: facebook.com/andrewghartman
Twitter/X: @HartmanAndrew
IG: instagram.com/professorandrewhartman
BlueSky: @andrewhartman.bsky.social
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/andrew-hartman-45045610
Chapters:
00:00 Red Scare and Hegemony
02:05 Meet Andrew Hartman
04:44 Why He Wrote the Book
07:38 Schools and Capitalism
09:12 1930s Radical Education
11:37 Critical Thinking Myth
17:36 Second Red Scare Hits
20:27 Textbook Wars and Dewey
22:33 Liberals and Anti Communism
30:30 Life Adjustment Education
35:12 Democracy Veneer and Sputnik
38:37 Sputnik Blame Game
40:04 Defense Funding for Schools
40:38 Schools as Democracy Fix
41:29 Great Man Myth Busting
45:13 Textbooks and Hero Worship
49:57 Cold War and Desegregation
53:40 End of Ideology Myth
01:00:52 Still Living in Cold War
01:04:26 MMT and Money Myths
01:08:45 Final Thoughts and Wrap
Weaponize Knowledge with Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
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We believe all materials used in this video fall under Fair Use as defined in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
#mmt
Weaponize Knowledge with Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Please help our Real Progressives efforts in spreading and become a monthly donor!
At PayPal
paypal.me/RealProgressives/25
At Patreon
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Write for Real Progressives
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We believe all materials used in this video fall under Fair Use as defined in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
They say the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn’t exist. Capitalism pulled off something even trickier: convincing us it’s just the way things work.
Historian Andrew Hartman joins Steve to examine how American public education became a battleground in the struggle over class, ideology, and political consciousness. Drawing on his book Education and the Cold War: The Battle for the American School, Andrew traces how the radical possibilities of the 1930s, including militant teacher organizing and encouraging students to question capitalist individualism, were systematically narrowed by the Red Scare. Schools increasingly shifted toward preparing students to adapt to the existing order.
Steve and Andrew explore the crucial role of liberal anti-communism, the Cold War equating of capitalism with democracy and freedom, and an educational culture that treats capitalism as ordinary reality while Marxism and socialism must continually justify their existence. The result is a powerful look at cultural hegemony: how the boundaries of what Americans consider reasonable, possible, or even thinkable were constructed, and why so much of that Cold War ideological architecture remains with us today.
Andrew Hartman is a distinguished professor of history at Illinois State University and the author of several books, including Education and the Cold War: The Battle for the American School; A War for the Soul of America: A History of the Culture Wars; and Karl Marx in America, out in 2025 with the University of Chicago Press.
His website: Andrew Hartman
Facebook: facebook.com/andrewghartman
Twitter/X: @HartmanAndrew
IG: instagram.com/professorandrewhartman
BlueSky: @andrewhartman.bsky.social
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/andrew-hartman-45045610
Chapters:
00:00 Red Scare and Hegemony
02:05 Meet Andrew Hartman
04:44 Why He Wrote the Book
07:38 Schools and Capitalism
09:12 1930s Radical Education
11:37 Critical Thinking Myth
17:36 Second Red Scare Hits
20:27 Textbook Wars and Dewey
22:33 Liberals and Anti Communism
30:30 Life Adjustment Education
35:12 Democracy Veneer and Sputnik
38:37 Sputnik Blame Game
40:04 Defense Funding for Schools
40:38 Schools as Democracy Fix
41:29 Great Man Myth Busting
45:13 Textbooks and Hero Worship
49:57 Cold War and Desegregation
53:40 End of Ideology Myth
01:00:52 Still Living in Cold War
01:04:26 MMT and Money Myths
01:08:45 Final Thoughts and Wrap
Weaponize Knowledge with Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Please help our Real Progressives efforts in spreading and become a monthly donor!
At PayPal
paypal.me/RealProgressives/25
At Patreon
patreon.com/realprogressives
Donorbox
donorbox.org/each-one-teach-one-3
Write for Real Progressives
realprogressives.org/submit-an-article
Visit our website:
realprogressives.org
Listen to our podcast:
realprogressives.org/macro-n-cheese-podcast
Subscribe to our Substack:
realprogressives.substack.com
We believe all materials used in this video fall under Fair Use as defined in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
#mmt
Weaponize Knowledge with Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Please help our Real Progressives efforts in spreading and become a monthly donor!
At PayPal
paypal.me/RealProgressives/25
At Patreon
patreon.com/realprogressives
Write for Real Progressives
realprogressives.org/submit-an-article
Visit our website:
realprogressives.org
Listen to our podcast:
realprogressives.org/macro-n-cheese-podcast
We believe all materials used in this video fall under Fair Use as defined in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
