Did Reagan Topple Communism?

Liberals and reactionaries seem to agree that the Reagan administration was the main reason for the restoration of capitalism in Eastern Europe. I have my doubts. Of course the West's encirclement of the region had a lot to do with its collapse, necessitating a huge investment in the military (which isn't always a bad thing for the economy as Reagan knew) and helping to prop up the dictatorship by creating a viable threat (NATO) a la Cuba. But Trotsky talked about the bureaucracy's capacity to sell out long ago. In Revolution Betrayed and other works Trotsky pretty much predicted that the Soviet ruling elite would hand over economic power to themselves in a capitalist regime because Stalinism had already capitulated a central tenant of socialism, workers democracy, and thus would give up without much of fight because they would probably be better able to keep more surplus for themselves under capitalism.

Here's a discussion of the issue on Maxspeak.