The USSR rejected Marshall aid and built its own political, economic and military links, which made Europe's split last.
Stalin feared Marshall aid would pull countries towards the USA. The USSR refused it and pressed Eastern European governments to refuse too. These countries formed the Soviet bloc, a group of states tied to Soviet power, with Soviet troops helping to keep control. In 1948, communists took over Czechoslovakia. The West saw this as proof that Soviet influence limited countries' choices.
Each Soviet organisation did a different job. Cominform, set up in 1947, made communist parties, including those in France and Italy, follow the Soviet line. Comecon, set up in 1949, linked the economies of the USSR and its partners. It was not a Soviet copy of Marshall aid. In 1955, after West Germany joined NATO, the USSR and its allies formed the Warsaw Pact, a military alliance.
These steps made the USSR feel safer. They also made the West more suspicious.
- Cominform, 1947
- Kept communist parties following the Soviet line.
- Comecon, 1949
- Economic links within the Soviet bloc.
- Warsaw Pact, 1955
- Soviet-led military alliance.
Worked example: Three groups, three jobs
Explain what each organisation did, instead of treating the names as the same.
- Cominform: political control over communist parties.
- Comecon: economic ties among Soviet bloc states.
- Warsaw Pact: military alliance. Together they bound the bloc tightly.
Watch out for this
Cominform, Comecon and the Warsaw Pact were names for one Soviet aid plan.
They were three separate bodies: one political, one economic and one military.
Check your understanding
What was Comecon?
- A military alliance formed in 1955.
- An organisation linking the economies of the USSR and its partners.
- A group that coordinated communist parties.