Fearing that all of Europe could fall under communist control, in 1947 President Truman sent General George Marshall to see what could be done to ensure this didn’t happen. Marshall recommended spending a lot of money - over $12 billion to be exact. This Marshall Aid money would be spent to help the economies of Western Europe recover after World War Two and make them less likely to fall prey to communism.

Marshall Aid was effectively a propaganda tool - a way of saying “Look how wealthy we are, you don’t need communism. Stick with us and you’ll be wealthy too”. The Aid was offered to all countries, but Truman knew that the conditions were such that they would probably not take it up. Stalin blocked Czechoslovakia when they considered accepting the financial assistance on offer.

The Soviet Response:

The USSR objected to the Marshall plan in the following ways:

• It declared Marshall Aid to be ‘dollar imperialism’ and claimed the USA was throwing its economic weight around, using it to gain influence in Europe.

• It forbade the Eastern Bloc countries under its control to apply for Marshall Aid.

• In September 1947 it set up Cominform – the Communist Information Bureau – which had as its aim to tighten Soviet control in Eastern Europe, to build collective heavy industry in those countries and to create a trade network between Communist countries. It published its own newspaper to spread Communist ideals and held conferences in the Eastern Bloc. However, its effectiveness was limited, as demonstrated when Yugoslavia left the group in June 1948.

• In January 1949 it also established Comecon – the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance – to administer its own Molotov Plan of financial aid to keep the Eastern Bloc countries on side. Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania all joined the Soviet Union in this group and were joined by Albania and East Germany shortly after. The group was not as successful as it might have been as the USSR dominated in terms of industrial production and total economy size, however all countries were committed to Communist economic theory such as state-ownership and state-planning of the economy. The group became more important after Cominform disbanded in 1956.