Changes

The Marshall Plan marked a fundamental shift in American culture, from isolationism to internationalism, and from a minor role in world affairs to world leadership. The Marshall Plan made a significant contribution to victory of democracy over totalitarianism in the Cold War (1947-1991).  The European Union (EU) can trace its origins to the policy and philosophy of the Marshall Plan.     

The Marshall Plan marked a fundamental shift in American culture, from isolationism to internationalism, and from a minor role in world affairs to world leadership. The Marshall Plan made a significant contribution to victory of democracy over totalitarianism in the Cold War (1947-1991).  The European Union (EU) can trace its origins to the policy and philosophy of the Marshall Plan.     

==Labor issues==

==Labor issues==

The "politics of productivity," an attempt to raise levels of industrial productivity in Europe by transcending class conflict and creating a consensus in society for economic growth, was a prominent element in Marshall Plan thinking. It constituted a central focus of the ERP's labor program administered by American trade union officials who staffed the ERP's labor division. This program was supported by the American [[CIO]] until hostility to collective bargaining at the local level, combined with the unwillingness of senior Marshall Plan administrators to insist on collective bargaining as the price of receiving American assistance, blighted the project. By contrast to the CIO the rival American Federation of Labor's ([[AFL]]) used a more direct strategy of combating communism at the level of organization and propaganda. The competing claims of these two American labor organizations for US government funding became a significant factor in American labor's conduct of Cold War politics.<ref> Anthony Carew, "The Politics of Productivity and the Politics of Anti-communism: American and European Labour in the Cold War." ''Intelligence and National Security'' 2003 18(2): 73-91. Issn: 0268-4527 </ref>

The "politics of productivity," an attempt to raise levels of industrial productivity in Europe by transcending [[class conflict]] and creating a consensus in society for economic growth, was a prominent element in Marshall Plan thinking. It constituted a central focus of the ERP's labor program administered by American trade union officials who staffed the ERP's labor division. This program was supported by the American [[CIO]] until hostility to collective bargaining at the local level, combined with the unwillingness of senior Marshall Plan administrators to insist on collective bargaining as the price of receiving American assistance, blighted the project. By contrast to the CIO the rival American Federation of Labor's ([[AFL]]) used a more direct strategy of combating communism at the level of organization and propaganda. The competing claims of these two American labor organizations for US government funding became a significant factor in American labor's conduct of Cold War politics.<ref> Anthony Carew, "The Politics of Productivity and the Politics of Anti-communism: American and European Labour in the Cold War." ''Intelligence and National Security'' 2003 18(2): 73-91. Issn: 0268-4527 </ref>

===National studies===

===National studies===

On the political front the important of the Marshall Plan in halting Soviet expansion has been a major theme. Some leftist historians complain that the goal was to rescue the American capitalist economy--more so than Europe--and to make the world capitalist. Other have argued for a benign Soviet Union that turned hostile only after the Marshall Plan threatened to lure eastern Europe into the western orbit.<ref>  Michael Cox and Caroline Kennedy-Pipe. "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy? Rethinking the Marshall Plan," ''Journal of Cold War Studies'' 7.1 (2005) 97-134</ref> The Marshall Plan opened up  national boundaries to trade and investment and the joining of private and public initiatives within the plan helped lay the groundwork for later European unification, as well as the decisive choice of the American side by western Europe in the emerging Cold War. For the most part the debate depends on whether the historian favored a capitalist or Communist solution to Europe's future (the Socialists in Europe supported the Marshall Plan vigorously, especially in Britain.)  

On the political front the important of the Marshall Plan in halting Soviet expansion has been a major theme. Some leftist historians complain that the goal was to rescue the American capitalist economy--more so than Europe--and to make the world capitalist. Other have argued for a benign Soviet Union that turned hostile only after the Marshall Plan threatened to lure eastern Europe into the western orbit.<ref>  Michael Cox and Caroline Kennedy-Pipe. "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy? Rethinking the Marshall Plan," ''Journal of Cold War Studies'' 7.1 (2005) 97-134</ref> The Marshall Plan opened up  national boundaries to trade and investment and the joining of private and public initiatives within the plan helped lay the groundwork for later European unification, as well as the decisive choice of the American side by western Europe in the emerging Cold War. For the most part the debate depends on whether the historian favored a capitalist or Communist solution to Europe's future (the Socialists in Europe supported the Marshall Plan vigorously, especially in Britain.)