Mikhail Gorbachev's reformist policies in the Soviet Union fuelled opposition movements to the Communist regimes in the Soviet bloc countries. The structures of the Eastern bloc disintegrated with the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and Comecon. The Soviet Union broke up into independent republics.
Karl Marx predicted that Laidsez-faire capitalism would result in an equal distribution of wealth and income
Answer: They feared the empire had become too large to defend efficiently.
