Cold war or détente? The Soviet viewpoint

[p. XI]

Introduction to the British Edition by the Rt. Hon. Michael Foot, M.P.

Nothing could be more dangerous for the future of mankind than a further intensification of the nuclear arms race. Yet that is the real peril facing us.

It is in this atmosphere that any contribution to the understanding of relations between the superpowers is most important. While this book obviously stresses the Soviet position, it significantly illuminates areas of agreement which might have been possible had the West fully comprehended their attitudes.

We know from the past history of the Cold War that there have been ‘hawks’ and ‘doves’ on both sides. Georgi Arbatov could be said to fit into the latter category although he may not thank anyone for saying so. What has been so extraordinarily dangerous is that any attempt to seek out and understand the position of the ‘doves’ on the Soviet side has been condemned by some irresponsible statesmen in the West as being ‘soft on communism’. Those in the West who have altered their position in the light of the evidence - George F. Kennan and Paul Warnke are two of the most prominent Americans who spring to mind - have been derided and condemned as well.

So the history of the Cold War has mostly been written from the standpoint of the ‘hawks’ on both sides, when what was most vitally needed was a comprehension of the fields of agreement which those who really sought them on both sides were trying to inject into the negotiations.

Britain has, unfortunately, been the mute bystander in the negotiations between the superpowers in the last few years. Those of us who have tried

[p. XII]

to make value judgments on their relative positions on the basis not of what is immediately ‘good’ for the contending alliances but on what might carry the world away from the nuclear brink have had far too little positive information on which to make them.

So I welcome the publication of this book in Britain. It is inevitably a one-sided judgment but if we ignore all that motivates those who negotiate for the Soviet Union there is no chance of an agreement of any sort whatsoever. In the present state of the nuclear arms race that is unthinkable.