By 1947 a combination of the emerging Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union and growing social conflicts in France, linked to the increasing gap between wages and prices, put the three party union (SFIO, PCF and MRP) under heavy pressure. But the crisis came with the beginnings of the colonial war in Vietnam, with the communist deputies in the "Assemblée nationale" voting against the communist-participating government. That incident led Premier Paul Ramadier to dismiss his Communist ministers from the government on 7 May 1947. Contrary to a very common legend, the firing of the communist ministers was not linked to U.S. pressure, as a condition for France to benefit from the coming Marshall Plan. But the parallel movements in Italy and Belgium show that Cold War resistance to Communism was rising all over Western Europe at that time. The Communists' refusal to continue support for the French colonial effort in Vietnam on one hand and a wage-freeze during a period of hyperinflation on the other were the immediate triggers to the dismissal of Thorez and his colleagues from the ruling coalition in May 1947.