The English name for an economic organization of Soviet-bloc countries. It was established by Stalin among the communist countries of eastern Europe in 1949 to encourage interdependence in trade and production as the second pillar, with the Warsaw Pact, of Soviet influence in Europe. It achieved little until 1962, when agreements restricting the satellite countries to limited production and to economic dependency on the Soviet Union were enforced. Its members were: Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Mongolian People’s Republic, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union, and Vietnam (Yugoslavia had associate status). Albania was expelled in 1961. In 1987 it began to discuss cooperation with the European Community, and it was dissolved in 1990, following the collapse of communist regimes in eastern Europe.