Cold War

The Cold War was a term coined by anti-communist essayist George Orwell and given to a period of tension between the capitalist and socialist world following World War II, up until the illegal, violent dissolution of the USSR. The Cold War has been instrumentalised by the imperial core so as to pretend communism is a crumbling ideology that belongs to the 20th century, but it is safe to say that communism is still very much alive and keeps being targeted by imperial interests, making the Cold War an ongoing process.

Today, some marxist-leninists are talking about a second Cold War aimed at China.

Origins

The US and more generally the Allied block were content to let the Soviets fight the brunt of the war against Germany and then swoop in to deliver the finishing blow after the two had exhausted each other. Notably, Stalin offered to commit 1 million Red Army soldiers to an invasion of Germany if France and the British Empire followed with their own troops, opening two fronts at once before Hitler had a chance to ramp up the war effort. The Allied powers refused his request, as they had hoped that both would fight each other first. Despite the close alliance in the anti-fascist war, this remained an area of contention which the allied powers failed to recognise.

After WW2, tensions picked back up between capitalists and socialists, the latter holding a dominant place in Eastern Europe and socialist-led anti-colonialist movements rising to the fore. The USSR, whom especially had industrialized rapidly since Hitler's election and was now a world power of its own regard, could no longer allow herself to be treated as a pariah in international politics. As the Red Army were the first into Berlin, which rushed the surrender of Germany and the victory of anti-fascist pro-democratic forces, they scared the reactionaries of the Allied powers into uniting against the Soviet republics (so as to defeat socialism for the time being and reinforce their bourgeois class privileges in the world).

While bourgeois historians will downplay the criminal acts committed by the Allies (excluding the USSR after 1945), or try to make some false equivalences between the two powers abusing their authority (allegedly during the so-called Berlin Blockade of 1948), we know since the opening of the Soviet archives and the declassification of US documents that the Cold War was a front for imperialism and anticommunism, and most if not all international criminal acts were committed by the Allied powers -- such as the Years of Lead in Italy (NATO-funded neo-nazi groups under Operation Gladio committed several terrorist acts) or the separation of Germany itself (The Eastern side was provoked into taking a limited set of restrictions to ward off pernicious Western influence, which was left less in ruination by the war and old reactionaries were being reinstated).

Three worlds theory

It is also from the Cold War that the terms first-, second-, and third-world started appearing in bourgeois republics.

The first-world, also called the "free world" by the bourgeoisie, represented the countries aligned with the United States.

The second-world were therefore the countries aligned towards the USSR, and the third-world were the non-aligned countries.

Such distinctions were mostly made in the imperial core. Countries such as Cuba considered themselves non-aligned, but were forced to trade heavily with the USSR as first-world aligned countries embargoed them -- which more easily allowed these same countries to later justify military intervention, citing communist ties as a reason for intervention. Several other 'third world' countries were forced to turn to the socialist bloc after being turned down and facing hostility from imperialist powers.

Conflicts caused by the first world

America

South America

During the 60's and the 70's, the United States has helped install right-wing dictatorships in Latin America, such as Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela. One of the most pervasive operations against Latin America was Operation Condor, which was a United States-backed campaign of political repression and state terror involving intelligence operations and assassination of left-wing opponents. Some estimates are that at least 60,000 deaths can be attributed to Condor, roughly 30,000 of these in Argentina, and the Archives of Terror discovered in Chile list 50,000 killed, 30,000 disappeared and 400,000 imprisoned.

Europe

Western Europe

In Italy, where Italian fascists were never systematically reeducated and moved away from positions of authority, NATO started recruiting them to commit assassinations and terrorist acts against communists. This was broadly known as Operation Gladio, which was more of a collection of smaller operations. For a long time, most people (including in Italy) fought the biggest terrorist acts were committed by communist organisations, due in part to a disinformation campaign waged by various Italian governmental agencies. In truth, most if not all assassinations and acts of terrorism were committed by neo-nazi organisations.

Africa

South Africa

Southern Africa would prove to be a major struggle for many in the hopes of liberation during the Cold War. After the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa, there was public outcry against apartheid both in the country and outside of it, particularly in regards to the United States' relationship with the RSA (Republic of South Africa). As historian Gerald Horne contends: "Washington was in the same bind in which it had been ensnared for years: eager to take advantage of he vast mineral wealth and cheap labor of Southern Africa but reluctant to be left holding the apartheid tar-baby. Then there was the vise in which U.S. imperialism found itself when it was compelled to back away from centuries of encrusted anti-Negro racism. It was in 1960 that presidential aspirant Richard M. Nixon declared ingloriously that "some of the peoples of Africa have been out of the trees for only about fifty years." These remarks were followed by another official who spoke acerbically of JFK's comrades G. Mennen Williams and Chester Bowles: "when they saw a handful of black baboons beating tom-toms they saw George Washington." A 1962 State Department policy paper cast Africans as barbarians in a sea of whiteness. Yet it was Williams - JFK's point man on Africa - who acknowledged that unless Washington moved more forcefully against apartheid it might lose military bases in Libya and Ethiopia, scientific bases in Nigeria and Zanzibar, and communications facilities in Liberia and Nigeria."

Asia

East Asia

In Indonesia, the USA funded General Suharto's effort in committing genocide against the native populations. This was all committed under the guise of fighting communist influence, and led to more than a million death of local communists and other civilians (such as people deemed "ethnic Chinese" or atheists, but also Gerwani members or Javanese Abangan).

South Asia

The Afghanistan War of 1979, which is part of a broader imperialist conflict lasting to this day, was caused after the Afghan government asked the Soviets for help fighting against the Mujahideen, who were soon funded and protected by NATO. Notably, Osama bin Laden was directly trained and funded by the USA during this war.

South-east Asia

The Vietnam War, which led to the creation of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, was first caused by French colonial interests in what they then called Indochina. After their devastating defeat, the USA swooped in to pick the fight back up and prevent a socialist Vietnam from being formed.