With reference to these sources and your understanding of the historical context, which of these two sources is more valuable in explaining the purpose of the Marshall Plan? [25 marks]
Source A: in assessing the value of this source as an explanation, students may refer to the
following:
Provenance and tone
• this is a Soviet source from the period when the Marshall Plan was still being discussed; it is a
speech by Andrei Zhdanov, a high ranking Soviet official, who was convinced that the US was
responsible for dividing the world into two camps. As Soviet propaganda designed to vilify the
West, its value for helping to understand the purpose of the Marshall Plan is limited
• its purpose is to justify the formation of Cominform and has value for showing how the Soviets
portrayed the Marshall Plan
• the tone is damning of US actions with the use of words such as ‘vague and deliberately
misleading’.
Content and argument
• the Marshall Plan was a scheme to create blocs: Zhdanov believed that US actions were going to
split Europe into two blocs or camps
• European states would have to give up their economic and then political independence: it was
believed by the USSR that the giving of economic aid would ensure that the US had control over
European markets and also mean that they could influence European politics. The USSR had
prevented East European states, such as Czechoslovakia, from accepting aid via the Marshall
Plan for these reasons
• the Marshall Plan would allow the US to control the industrial areas of Western Germany:
Germany was still a key issue at this point and this speech highlights the Soviet view (which
would be reinforced by the introduction of a new currency in the western zones in 1948) that the
US was seeking to get economic, and thus political control, over the west and that any form of
unification of Germany was thus, going to be unacceptable to the Soviets
• the Communists are going to lead resistance to American plans and any supporters of American
imperialism: the establishment of Cominform in 1947 allowed for the control and coordination of
all communist groups across Europe.
Source B: in assessing the value of this source as an explanation, students may refer to the
following:
Provenance and tone
• this source is a briefing by the Secretary of State to the committee which would be considering
the Marshall Plan; as he wants the Senate to view the bill favourably, he is being persuasive and
highlighting only the benefits for the US – this limits the value of the source
• it has value for providing an insight into how the Marshall Plan was portrayed in America and how
the Soviet threat was perceived
• its tone is formal and persuasive – stressing the responsibility of Congress with such phrases as
‘future of our country and the world’, ‘grave world situation’, ‘immense responsibility’.
Content and argument
• the need for assistance is urgent: Europe was still suffering from the effects of the war. There
was much poverty, Britain was on the verge of bankruptcy
• there is a ‘grave’ world situation: this was a reference to the growing threat of Communism. Much
of Eastern Europe was now under the control of the Soviets (as had been highlighted by
Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech) and there was real concern in America about the growth of
Communism in France and Italy
• the Plan seeks no special advantage for the US: while the Soviet view that the Plan would tie
states in receipt of aid to the US economically and politically was an exaggeration, nevertheless
the US needed a strong Europe to allow for a healthy trading situation.
In arriving at a judgement as to which source might be of greater value, students might argue that
Source B is more valuable as it is a formal and private statement to a committee setting out the aims of
the US with regard to the Marshall Plan, while Source A is Soviet propaganda to discredit the West and
provide a reason for the introduction of Cominform. However, students might also question the altruistic
motives provided in Source B.
Both sources are clearly partisan and influenced by Cold War politics.
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