So, in terms of intellectual thought, there was a strain of thought referred to as the Frankfurt School that discussed a thing they called 'cultural Marxism'. Some of that discussion was about what we'd now think of as PR/propaganda - promoting socialist/Marxist thought.

In terms of right wing PR/propaganda, it is another example of them following a specific playbook to redefine a term to mean what they want it to mean. 'Critical Race Theory' is the current example of this; 'political correctness' was another. Remember when they were shouting about Saul Alinsky? Well, that was because the playbook is largely derived from his writings - specifically, the tactic described as 'Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.'

So there you are. Depending on your politics, it was a strain of Marxist intellectual thought in the 1930s, or just another cudgel in the culture wars.