In January of 1968, Czechoslovakian leader Alexander Dubcek introduced a program of unprecedented economic and political liberalization, intending to revitalize the nation. The eight months of freedom provided by the leadership of Dubcek revealed to the citizens of Czechoslovakia not only that autonomy was universally desired, but also that it was attainable. The brief lifting of censorship and following military occupation demonstrated to all the true nature of the Soviet Union. The rise and subsequent suppression of freedom in the Prague Spring revealed for the first time the cracks in the armor of the Communist regime. "Socialism with a human face" demonstrated that the Soviet Communist system could only function when individual liberties were severely curtailed. Through the leadership of Alexander Dubcek in his introduction of democratic reforms, the Prague Spring left as a legacy the renewal of democratic ideals and paved the way to the fall of Communism from Czechoslovakia in 1989.