Identify the factors that led to the decline and fall of communism in the soviet union and eastern europe

1. The relative overemphasis of military support vs. economic needs, particularly in Russia proper but also endemic to the Warsaw Bloc as a whole.
2. The relative economic collapse of the Soviet collectivist system proper.
3. The military/economic impositions placed on the "Warsaw Pact" nations by the USSR, in contrast to the Marshall Plan and similar policies implemented shortly after WW2.
4. Chronic and systematic central planning in a command economy (economy by plan) contrasted with (economy by the people) where self-interest dominates the economic course of events vs. necessarily state-interests.
5. Lack of infrastructure and economic reinvestment - this is a problem for every major economy but in the old Warsaw bloc states, deteriorating conditions did not allow for the agressive reinvestment over time.