Editing Marshall Plan (section)

===Initial reactions===
Speaking at the Paris Peace Conference on October 10, 1946, Molotov had already stated Soviet fears: "If American capital was given a free hand in the small states ruined and enfeebled by the war [it] would buy up the local industries, appropriate the more attractive Romanian, Yugoslav ... enterprises and would become the master in these small states."{{sfn|McCauley|2016|p=147}} While the Soviet ambassador in Washington suspected that the Marshall Plan could lead to the creation of an anti-Soviet bloc, Stalin was open to the offer.{{sfn|Wettig|2008|p=138}} He directed that—in negotiations to be held in Paris regarding the aid—countries in the Eastern Bloc should not reject economic conditions being placed upon them.{{sfn|Wettig|2008|p=138}} Stalin only changed his outlook when he learned that (a) credit would only be extended under conditions of economic cooperation, and (b) aid would also be extended to Germany in total, an eventuality which Stalin thought would hamper the Soviets' ability to exercise influence in western Germany.{{sfn|Wettig|2008|p=138}}{{clarify|date=August 2021}}<!--The way in which 'aid being extended to Germany in total' could 'hamper the Soviets' ability to exercise influence in western Germany' is not obvious and should be explained.-->

Initially, Stalin maneuvered to kill the plan, or at least hamper it using destructive participation in the Paris talks regarding conditions.{{sfn|Wettig|2008|p=138}} He quickly realized, however, that this would be impossible after Molotov reported—following his arrival in Paris in July 1947—that conditions for the credit were non-negotiable.{{sfn|Wettig|2008|p=138}} Looming as just as large a concern was the Czechoslovak eagerness to accept the aid, as well as indications of a similar Polish attitude.{{sfn|Wettig|2008|p=138}}