If the Soviet Union and other Soviet-style systems had made such great
accomplishments, then why did they collapse and give way to something
different? I suppose their defenders will claim that this was the result of
Western constraints. That may provide some of the answer, but not most. Their
internal deficiencies were glaring also. I sort of recall massive popular
reaction against the state socialist regimes in Eastern Europe in 1989. That
tells us what most members of these societies thought about their
accomplishments.
Stephen Sanderson