The correct answer is C) Stalin hoped to keep Germany and Western Europe weak.
Stalin declined to participate in the Marshall plan because Stalin hoped to keep Germany and Western Europe weak.
George Marshall, US Secretary of State, announced on June 4, 1947, the Marshall plan to provide millions of dollars to help in the reconstruction of European nations destroyed by World War II. The Soviet Union reject the invitation to participate. The Russians did not accept the idea of helping Germany after they invaded and devastated part of the Soviet territory. Joseph Stalin believed that the Marshall plan would allow Eastern countries that supported Russia, to escape the Soviet control. The USSR came up with a plan of their own called Molotov plan or COMECON, that was a program of trade between socialist countries.
