That was one of the more interesting books I’ve read in the past ten years. Gist of it was that because of satellite and videotape, the people of the Soviet Block saw just how relatively prosperous were the Western nations. They wanted the same for themselves and more importantly, the brighter future for their children.
All these years, they had been told the Western cultures were poverty-stricken, and their collectivism was paradise. Then they actually saw what was happening, they rebelled.
Almost all of the captured Soviet troops in WWII were killed when they returned to Russia after the war.
They had seen the west and realized they were not in the ‘Workers Paradise”,
so Stalin had them executed. Their orders were to fight to the last bullet, and then use the bullet to kill theselves so they could not be used as slave labor to help the opposition.
There is a sad story of Cossak calvary troops who were in British custody and the British forcefully gave them back to the Soviets. Some had families with them and everyone knew they would die in Russia.