On 6–7 October 1989 the national celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the East German state took place with Soviet Union preseident MichaelGorbachev in attendance. During the event, several hundred members of the Free German Youth began chanting,“Gorby, help us! Gorby, save us!”.[53] In a private conversation between the two leaders Honecker praised the success of the nation, but Gorbachev knew that, in reality, it faced bankruptcy; East Germany had already accepted billions of dollars in loans from West Germany during the decade as it sought to stabilise its economy. Attempting to make Honecker accept a need for reforms, Gorbachev warned “life punishes those who come too late”, yet Honecker maintained that “we will solve our problems ourselves with socialist means”. Protests outside the reception at the Palace of the Republic led to hundreds of arrests.
As the reform movement spread throughout Central and Eastern Europe, mass demonstrations against the East German government erupted, most prominently in Leipzig—the first of several demonstrations which took place on Monday night across the country. In response, an elite paratroop unit was dispatched to Leipzig—almost certainly on Honecker’s orders, since he was commander-in-chief of the army. A bloodbath was only averted when local party officials themselves ordered the troops to pull back. In the following week, Honecker faced a torrent of criticism. This gave his Politburo comrades the impulse they needed to replace him.