The emergence in our time of a New Cold War has naturally raised the question of whether the Old Cold War ever actually ended—or, from today’s perspective, how the New Cold War reemerged out of the embers of the Old. We are therefore republishing here the “Notes from the Editors” by Harry Magdoff and Paul M. Sweezy from the February 1994 issue of Monthly Review, which was aimed at answering this question.—Eds.
Has the Cold War ended? In one sense of course it has. The primary meaning of “war” is an armed conflict between two or more nations, or more generally, power centers. The war is called “cold” if the conflict stops short of shooting and killing. In this sense the relation that has existed during most of the second half of the twentieth century between the United States and its allies on one side and the Soviet Union and its allies on the other is a classic (perhaps better the classic) case of cold war. It ended when the Soviet side threw in the towel in 1989–1990. Hardly anyone is likely to dispute this statement of the facts.
Read the full article at Monthly Review.