<P> As the Soviet Union rapidly withdrew its forces from Central and Southeast Europe, the spillover from the 1989 upheavals began reverberating throughout the Soviet Union itself . Agitation for self - determination led to first Lithuania, and then Estonia, Latvia and Armenia declaring independence . However, the Soviet central government demanded the revocation of the declarations and threatened military action and economic sanctions . The government even went as far as controversially sending Red Army troops to the streets of the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, to suppress the separatist movements in January 1991, causing the deaths of 14 people . </P> <P> Disaffection in other Soviet republics, such as Georgia and Azerbaijan, was countered by promises of greater decentralization . More open elections led to the election of candidates opposed to Communist Party rule . </P> <P> Glasnost had inadvertently released the long - suppressed national sentiments of all peoples within the borders of the multinational Soviet state . These nationalist movements were further strengthened by the rapid deterioration of the Soviet economy, whose ramshackle foundations were exposed with the removal of Communist discipline . Gorbachev's reforms had failed to improve the economy, with the old Soviet command structure completely breaking down . One by one, the constituent republics created their own economic systems and voted to subordinate Soviet laws to local laws . In 1990, the Communist Party was forced to surrender its seven - decade monopoly of political power when the Supreme Soviet rescinded the clause in the Soviet Constitution that guaranteed its sole authority to rule . Gorbachev's policies caused the Communist Party to lose its grip over the media . Details of the Soviet Union's past were quickly being declassified . This caused many to distrust the' old system' and push for greater autonomy and independence . </P> <P> After a referendum confirmed the preservation of the Soviet Union but in a looser form, a group of Soviet hard - liners represented by Vice-President Gennadi Yanayev launched a coup attempting to overthrow Gorbachev in August 1991 . Boris Yeltsin, then president of the Russian SFSR, rallied the people and much of the army against the coup and the effort collapsed . Although restored to power, Gorbachev's authority had been irreparably undermined . Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary of the Communist Party following the coup, and the Supreme Soviet dissolved the Party and banned all Communist activity on Soviet soil . Just a few weeks later, the government granted the Baltic states their independence on 6 September . </P>

How many european nations had communist governments in 1955