According to Carter Von Findlay: "The Soviets’ economic problems were worsened by the fact that the world-market price of oil, their main export, dropped again by the mid-1980s. As the Soviets’ export earnings fell, their foreign debt shot up, reaching $54 billion by 1989. The Soviet domestic economy was shrinking." Moreover, the scientific and technological revolution that began in developed countries rejected the Soviet Union in its development decades ago, and it lagged not only from the countries of America and Europe but also from the industrial countries of Asia (South Korea, Taiwan). Secondly, there were significant social problems. Alcoholism increased, as a result of which the birth rate and life expectancy declined. The protracted war in Afghanistan caused discontent towards the authorities in the population, and as a result, political nihilism gained wide popularity. Moreover, the corruption in the party apparatus becomes noticeable, corruption is growing. But speaking of the problems in communist countries, one should not forget about the states of Eastern Europe, which were the first to show their reluctance to remain under the influence of communist ideology and entailed changes and reforms in other countries, including the …show more content…
On the example of such significant and most influential countries in this case: the USSR, the GDR, Poland, and Czechoslovakia, it is clear that the problems in the communist countries were quite similar (they existed, of course, not only in the countries represented above, but also in the other communist countries states). The reasons for their occurrence were very diverse, but in most cases, it was not possible to solve these problems using the traditional methods of communist ideology. This is what brings us to the next section of my