Comecon Flashcards
Cause 1 - What did Stalin set up in 1949 because of his suspicions about The Marshall Plan?
Council for Mutual Assistance founded in 1949 - a response to the Marshall Plan, which caused so much suspicion and resentment from Stalin.
Cause 2 - What was Stalin’s real motive for setting up Comecon?
The plan was the Soviet Union supported the eastern bloc countries financially. In reality, it was used to control the economies of the eastern bloc; giving the Soviet Union access to their resources.
Cause 2 - What was Stalin’s real motive for setting up Comecon?
The plan was the Soviet Union supported the eastern bloc countries financially. In reality, it was used to control the economies of the eastern bloc; giving the Soviet Union access to their resources.
Feature 1 - How did Stalin make his satellite states dependent on each other through Comecon?
It was also designed to build up a specialism system in which parts of the eastern bloc had specialist areas intended to support the whole so Czechoslovakia and East Germany concentrated on heavy industry; Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria specialised in the production of food and raw materials.
Feature 2 - Did Comecon allow any economic freedom for the countries that were members?
In 1967, Comecon adopted the “interested party principle”, under which any country could opt out of any project they chose, still allowing the other member states to use Comecon mechanisms to coordinate their activities.
Consequence 1 - What were the political effects of Comecon on the Cold War?
Politically this meant the east/west rivalry was heightened – Stalin ensured there could be no economic trade with the west; Cominform also ensured political control. This spilt over in 1948/9 in the Berlin Crisis.
Consequence 2 - What were the economic effects of Comecon?
Economically, the east were weakened – they did not benefit from the injection of aid from the USA; they were weakened by Soviet control and their need to specialise markets, which led to shortages and a much poorer standard of living than in the west as well as a lack of political freedom. Through the period 1949 – fall of the Soviet Union in 1990 there were uprisings against this way of economy and life e.g. Hungary in 1956.
