On 16 June 1947, British cartoonist Leslie Gilbert Illingworth illustrates the threat represented by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who is methodically trying to extend his area of influence in Central Europe to include the countries of Western Europe.

On 22 September 1947, Andreï Zhdanov, Third Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), violently attacks the policies of the United States in a report on the international situation which he presents during a briefing conference of the communist parties in Szklarska Poreba in Poland. This conference brings together delegates from communist parties in the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.

In September 1947, a briefing conference of the Soviet, Bulgarian, Czechoslovak, French, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Romanian and Yugoslav Communist Parties is held in Szklarska Poreba, Poland. During this conference, a statement is issued criticising US and Western imperialism.

On 7 October 1947, the French daily newspaper Le Monde sets out the political objectives of the new Communist International and emphasises the predominant role of the Soviet Union in the new organisation.

On 15 February 1948, in the Brussels weekly newspaper Le Phare Dimanche, the cartoonist Gacq attacks the protective attitude feigned by the Soviet Union towards Europe, a continent that is being bled dry.

In March 1948, British cartoonist David Low illustrates the Communist threat facing the whole of Europe and deplores Moscow’s stranglehold on a number of countries including Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria. From left to right, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and his Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov.

On 13 March 1948, in Luxembourg, Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, delivers an address during which he describes the nature of and the threats posed by the Soviet Union’s foreign policy.

With a view to the parliamentary elections due to be held on 9 October 1949 in Austria, the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) warns the country’s voters against the threat posed by the ‘Communist octopus’.

‘The stepfather: I already have enough children, but I like you so much that I’d like to adopt you.’ On 1 April 1950, the German daily newspaper Der Mittag illustrates the Soviets’ desire to take over West Berlin and extend their zone of influence in Central Europe.

On 12 October 1951, the Russian daily newspaper Izvestia emphasises the positive action taken by the Soviet peoples and their leader, Joseph Stalin, to uphold peace in the world, and emphasises the determination of the Socialist States and the USSR to adhere to the commitments made in the Stockholm Appeal.

‘Joseph the insatiable’. In June 1952, in the Luxembourg Socialist daily newspaper Tageblatt, the cartoonist Simon portrays the downside of Soviet economic planning.

In December 1952, Paolo Emilio Taviani, Junior Minister in the Italian Foreign Ministry, criticises the political aims of the Moscow leadership and describes European unification as a bulwark against the Communist threat.

At the beginning of the Cold War, the ‘Molotov Plan — the definitive solution to all the world’s problems’ predicts that the world will evolve according to Communist and Soviet principles. Molotov was Soviet Foreign Minister from 1939 to 1949 and from 1953 to 1956.

On 10 March 1953, the Catholic daily newspaper Luxemburger Wort analyses the workings of the Communist ideology and warns the West against the latent dangers of Communism.