Commentary
After the Soviet Empire expired in the 1989–91 period, commentators worldwide revealed the autopsy results. The patient died of terminal socialism, a disease characterized by backward economies, massive shortages, and the absence of competition in both political and economic life. Powerful internal resistance movements (such as Solidarity in Poland), encouraged by the resolute leadership of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II, helped pull the plug. The state had indeed “withered away,” but not in the fashion the false prophet Karl Marx envisioned.
