ABSTRACT
Lenin proposed, at first in broad outline, a 'new economic policy'. Lenin, to the stunned amazement of faithful Communists, proposed that foreign capitalist firms participate in, and profit from the development of Russian industry. Lenin's own realization of what was failing went deeper than an acknowledgment that the Communists had made mistakes. Lenin decided that the Communists must help the peasants in overcoming ruin, impoverishment, and starvation; if not, the peasants would overthrow them. Lenin realized that Communists were devoid of culture and, therefore, were being led by the bureaucracy. Lenin enjoined the party to fight against bureaucracy, bribery, 'Communist vanity', and illiteracy. Lenin's opposition to bureaucracy can be traced to his youth when he and his family read the first Iskra. Lenin grasped some of the advantages which a free enterprise system would possess over a state-controlled economy.
