The great political upheaval of the late 20th century-the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the collapse of the Soviet Union-is now generally regarded as the spontaneous product of long accumulating social pressures, and the political confusion and economic disarray that followed as nothing more than a passing phase in an inevitable march toward a more perfect democracy. One could only wish it was so simple. Is it possible that the political establishment in the West simply doesn't want to know the truth?