Marshall Aid

Abstract

The Truman Doctrine was seen as an answer to Communist subversion. But the Communist problem did not end there. Communists had been at the forefront of several European resistance movements. They also represented the antithesis to fascism. In France and Italy especially, the Communist parties were popular and broadly based. They might perhaps win power legally, through the ballot box. Nor were France and Italy the only states at risk. Communism, it was deemed, was fuelled by want and misery. There were plenty of both in post-war Europe. Unemployment, inflation, homelessness and hunger were commonplace. The winter of 1946–47 was one of the hardest in a century. This merely compounded Europe’s problems. The continent simply could not seem to recover from the war. The conditions appeared ideal for the spread of Communism.