# The Soviet Infiltration of American Education with Dr. Joshua Pierson Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/refining-rhetoric-with-robert-bortins-5054945/the-soviet-infiltration-of-american-education-with-dr-joshua-pierson Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/refining-rhetoric-with-robert-bortins-5054945/the-soviet-infiltration-of-american-education-with-dr-joshua-pierson.md Podcast: [Refining Rhetoric with Robert Bortins](https://stenobird.com/podcast/refining-rhetoric-with-robert-bortins-5054945) Published: 2026-01-26T17:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://f5cb5cc3-2fc4-4efd-b324-efc0ff5dd1de.libsyn.com/the-soviet-infiltration-of-american-education-with-dr-joshua-pierson Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/f5cb5cc3-2fc4-4efd-b324-efc0ff5dd1de/RR_Josh_Pierson_SCW.mp3?dest-id=3314576 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/refining-rhetoric-with-robert-bortins-5054945/episodes/the-soviet-infiltration-of-american-education-with-dr-joshua-pierson Duration seconds: 3422 ## Resource "The enemy is not at the gate—the enemy has infiltrated our classrooms." Join host Robert Bortins for the first episode in a powerful School Choice Week series as he sits down with Dr. Joshua Pierson, who contributed to "Woke and Weaponized: How Karl Marx Won the Battle for American Education and How We Can Win It Back." In this eye-opening conversation, Dr. Pierson—a retiring counterintelligence agent with 25 years of experience—reveals the shocking history of Soviet infiltration into American education. Drawing from his extensively researched appendix, he traces a direct line from 1917 Soviet intelligence operations to today's classroom controversies. Dr. Pierson exposes how Soviet strategist Willi Münzenberg architected a century-long disinformation campaign targeting American education, media, and government. He explains how Columbia Teachers College became a hub for communist influence, and why influential educators like John Dewey and George Counts became "useful idiots" after visiting carefully staged Potemkin villages in Soviet Russia. The conversation explores why communist ideology persists generations after its architects have died, how tactics like ANDEMKA (Admit Nothing, Deny Everything, Make Counter Accusation) still shape today's debates, and why accepting government funding transforms institutions into "agents of the state." From SEL programs to modern educational policy, discover how the Soviets succeeded in their strategy beyond their wildest expectations—and what Americans were willfully ignorant about as it happened. This episode of Refining Rhetoric is sponsored by: Woke and Weaponized: How Karl Marx Won the Battle for American Education—And How We Can Win It Back – A new book written by Robert Bortins and Alex Newman. Discover the shocking truth a… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/refining-rhetoric-with-robert-bortins-5054945/episodes/the-soviet-infiltration-of-american-education-with-dr-joshua-pierson/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/refining-rhetoric-with-robert-bortins-5054945/the-soviet-infiltration-of-american-education-with-dr-joshua-pierson.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.