Why did communism in the soviet union collapse in the late 1980s? consider: political factors: what did leaders in the soviet union, the united states, and europe do to further the fall of communism? military factors: what effect did military policies and actions in the united states and in the soviet union have? economic factors: what effect did the economic situation in the soviet union have? social/cultural factors: what was the attitude of the people of the soviet bloc countries? what impact did glasnost have? what was the impact of dissidents?