The same way that the West won the cold war and liberated Eastern Europe: information.
My parents and grandparents would sit and listen to Radio Free Europe at night, at low volume, so the neighbors couldn't hear and turn them in (years later we found out which neighbors told on them, it was.. interesting). That's how people in communist countries heard the truth and why they eventually overthrew their governments.
If you listen to defectors what made a huge difference for them is just seeing normal life in smuggled tv shows and soap operas. Seeing hard evidence for the fact that other people live far better than they do. The government of North Korea tells people they live a great life and everywhere else is miserable.
The problem is that today, the West has a huge disinformation problem. News networks like Fox routinely lie, politicians like Trump convince their people of things that are obviously false, etc. The truth simply doesn't play as much of a role.
Russia learned this lesson too. There are fervent pro-Putin supporters out there now. This wasn't the case under communism. People generally understood that the system was garbage.
My parents and grandparents would sit and listen to Radio Free Europe at night, at low volume, so the neighbors couldn't hear and turn them in (years later we found out which neighbors told on them, it was.. interesting). That's how people in communist countries heard the truth and why they eventually overthrew their governments.
If you listen to defectors what made a huge difference for them is just seeing normal life in smuggled tv shows and soap operas. Seeing hard evidence for the fact that other people live far better than they do. The government of North Korea tells people they live a great life and everywhere else is miserable.
The problem is that today, the West has a huge disinformation problem. News networks like Fox routinely lie, politicians like Trump convince their people of things that are obviously false, etc. The truth simply doesn't play as much of a role.
Russia learned this lesson too. There are fervent pro-Putin supporters out there now. This wasn't the case under communism. People generally understood that the system was garbage.