Fascinating tales of need, ambition, greed, ingenuity and courage – covering over 75 years of history. Although antagonistic in philosophy, the Communist rulers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and their satellite states, clearly realized that in practice they could not survive without help from Capitalists in the United States of America, and their Western allies. 

From Lenin in 1917 to Gorbachev (with everyone in between), those who proclaimed that Communism would one day rule the world begged, borrowed, bartered, stole and occasionally paid their ideological rivals, who, in turn, found that business was better than conflict. 

Stories of commerce during times of war, tensions and détente, overcoming enemy lines, sanctions and mistrust. Trade during the Cold War built a foundation for an understanding, and by 1991 led to a glimpse of global peace and prosperity.

Author Alexey Palladin was not only a witness, but he also actively worked as a businessman enabling trade development between the USA and the former Soviet Union