How did the USSR control the Eastern European States

How did the USSR control the Eastern European States

1. Poland

   • Stalin set up provisional government in June 45 with the Government in exile in London
     • Could not allow free elections as Communists would lose.
       • Boycotted by Mikolajczyjk in hope that it would force USA and Britain to intervene
         • Why did the USA and Britain do nothing?
           • Policy of containment did not include Poland as it was considered in USSR sphere of influence.
             • Suggestion that officials from USA and Britain should monitor elections in Jan 1947 = declined
               • Tactics of terror and false electoral results = Communist Peasants’ Party in power
                 • Leader, Gomulka, believed Poland should not be completely follow Soviet example, but forced to do so and Stalin removed him a year later

2. Romania

   • Romania’s King Michael called on Britain and USA not to recognise new government imposed by USSR
     • Stalin called on Petru Goza (Prime Minister) to appoint 2 x non Communists to government...in reality made little difference
       • 1946 Groza strengthens position by combining parties = Communist Domination
         • Nov 1946: went to the Polls
           • Could have won elections without these tactics? (80%)
             • Feb 1947 ACC dissolved, Marshall Aid refused, joined the Cominform
               • Dec 1947 King Michael forced to abdicate
                 • April 1948 Communist people’s republic declared

3. Bulgaria

   • Stalin wanted to avoid friction if possible
     • Dec 1945 forced the Communists to include two members of the opposition, but when these demanded change advised them to be ‘smothered’
       • Still anxious to mask the party’s dictatorship: Sept 1946 urged a ‘Labour Party’ to be set up for a ‘broader base and a better mask’
         • October 1946 elections: opposition win over 1/3 of result
           • BUT: Truman doctrine US involvement in Greece = Bulgaria front line in defence of Communism
             • Result is that opposition is got rid of.
               • Bulgarian Communist Party took creation of Cominform to radicalise: nationalised industry, collectivisation of agriculture, 1 party state

4. Yugoslavia

   • Unique: won power independently of Soviet forces (90% of vote in Nov 1945)
     • Tito ambitious: assisted Greek Communists attempting to seize power in Greece, claimed border territories from Italy e.g. Trieste
       • USSR sympathised with Tito but not ready to risk confrontation
         • Paris Peace Negotiation 1947: Trieste divided into two separate parts: one under Anglo-American control, one Yugoslav

5. Czeckoslovakia

   • Had undergone post-war revolution = withdrawal of Soviet troops Dec 1945
     • Communists won 38% of the vote without any violence or efforts of the part in May 1946
       • Could have been a bridge but Marshall Plan and creation of Cominform = impossible
         • Paris Conference, Masaryk: ‘I went to Moscow as the foreign minister of an independent sovereign state, I returned as a lackey of the Soviet government’
           • Feb 1948: Communist Party took power

6. France

   • Initially attempted to balance West – USSR…until 1947
     • Behind the scenes, Socialist Party attempted to draw closer to the USA?
       • March 1946: French Socialist leader accepted international free trade arguments by USA
         • Moscow Conference Mar 1947 turning point: France aligned itself with British and Americans Communists expelled Autumn Stalin called for violent protests against the Marshall Plan = Socialists distanced themselves from USSR and accept pro-US policy

7. Hungary

   • Nov 1945 elections free with no Communist influence
     • Two years later: press still free and businesses in private hands and borders to West still open
       • Influence of Communist Party still apparent in ACC
         • Spring 1947: opposition shattered when arrested by Soviets for conspiring against the occupation = increasingly in Soviet sphere
           • 8 Dec 1947: friendship and co-operation with Yugoslavia and mutual aid treaty
             • March 1948: Communist and socialist parties merged: Hungarian People’s Independent Front
               • May 1949 elections: only Independent Front allowed to stand

8. Italy

   • Initial attempts to balance power: Communists joined coalition government
     • Stalin conceded Italy had little choice but to support West as it had been liberated and occupied by them
       • Dec 1945 new coalition under de Gasperi won US support for economic policies
         • May 1947: Communists dismissed = cleared the way for the Marshall Plan