Bread

Bread was a powerful weapon in the New Comintern's fight on the Marshall Plan. The Soviet Union had already committed itself to distribute 850,000 tons among Eastern European satellites--Czechoslovakia (400,000), Poland (300,000), Finland (150,000)--plus unknown amounts to Rumania and Bulgaria. There were also hints of Soviet grain for France, Belgium, Norway in exchange for industrial machinery.

Last week, the Soviet State Planning Commission pointedly announced that Russia's 1947 crop was 58% more than last year's. Agriculture experts believed the actual figure was near 61,000,000 tons, or only about 25% above last year. Just how much grain Russia would be able to spare for bread-politics abroad depended on whether Joseph Stalin fulfilled his long standing promise to lift bread rationing at home. At any rate, on the hungry Continent, only Russia watched winter's approach without apprehension.

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