The evolutionary conditions in the dissipative magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) system are discussed, and the results are applied to argue stability of MHD intermediate shock waves. When dissipative wave modes are included, arbitrary perturbations given to the shock can be expressed as a superposition of outgoing wave modes from the shock: thus, intermediate shocks are evolutionary in dissipative MHD. The matching conditions of incoming and outgoing wave modes at the shock give an under-determined set of equations, which defines a unique solution when the minimum dissipation principle is imposed. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1994