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Soviet Opposition to the Marshall Plan
This cartoon by Edwin Marcus (1885-1961) refers to opposition to the Marshall Plan by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin (1879-1953), pictured as a basketball player. Stalin regarded the plan's vision of an integrated European market with considerable freedom of movement, goods, services, information, and, inevitably, people, as incompatible with his economic, political, and foreign-policy goals. In June 1947, delegates from France, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union met in Paris to discuss Marshall's proposal.
After several days, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav M. Molotov walked out, stating that the Soviet government "rejects this plan as totally unsatisfactory." Viewed by Western leaders as one more refusal to support postwar stabilization efforts, Molotov's action contributed to the growth of Cold War tensions. In addition to declining to participate in the Marshall Plan itself, the Soviet Union prevented the Eastern European countries under its control from taking part. Subsequent Soviet propaganda portrayed the plan as an American plot to subjugate Western Europe.
Edwin Marcus. "Can He Block It?" ca.
1947.
Ink on paper. Prints and Photographs Division.
Used by permission of the Marcus family.
All rights reserved (8)
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