Comecon set up ⇒ in response to Marshall Plan.
- Stalin wanted to make sure satellite states → were free from any kind of control / influence from the US.
Idea was that Comecon → members would trade mostly with one another rather than the west.
Satellite states → promised benefits → similar to Marshal plan. Reality → Comecon → favoured → USSR far more than any of its other members.
- e.g. Poland was forced to sell its coal to the USSR → at 1/10 the price → it could have sold on the open market.