What factor enabled Soviet satellites to declare their independence from Moscow in the 1980s?

Question

a) Mikhail Gorbachev’s program to combat Soviet corruption and inefficiency also promised non-intervention in the internal affairs of the satellite nations, and they took advantage of that.
b) Russians had rejected Marxist ideology in a national election.
Consider This: By the mid-1980s, Russia and its satellite states had fallen years behind the West in technological innovation, resource development, and overall standard of living. See 15.1: The “End of History.”
c) The Russian military had made it clear beforehand that it would not defend the satellites against Western incursions.
Consider This: By the mid-1980s, Russia and its satellite states had fallen years behind the West in technological innovation, resource development, and overall standard of living. See 15.1: The “End of History.”
d) The Russian government decided that World War II-era regulations could finally be abandoned.
Consider This: By the mid-1980s, Russia and its satellite states had fallen years behind the West in technological innovation, resource development, and overall standard of living. See 15.1: The “End of History.”

Answer 1

a) Mikhail Gorbachev’s program to combat Soviet corruption and inefficiency also promised non-intervention in the internal affairs of the satellite nations, and they took advantage of that.