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Lenin had achieved power by force rather than by popularity. To continue in power he had to retain the loyalty of his supporters and to improve the economic conditions of the Russian people. At the same time he needed to strengthen the control of the Communist Party over the Empire. Lenin had solutions for these problems; the replacement of War Communism by a new Economic Policy and the appointment of Joseph Stalin as General Secretary of the Communist Party. The first solution was a temporary retreat from Communism; but it was the second solution that he came to regret. .
War Communism was brutal, inefficient and total. During the desperate period of the Civil War, Lenin enforced great hardship upon the majority of peasantry of Russia-the economy relied heavily upon agriculture-by pursuing a policy of War Communism which ruthlessly enforced state control of all industry, by ending private trading and the use of money. It also involved the seizure of grain from the peasant farmers. Approximately 5 million died of disease and hunger. .
Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinovev among other party members of the left, had favoured War Communism because it had helped to win the Civil War but although War Communism had guaranteed Russia's survival, it was a bad system and had many problems. Many died, or at least came off worse; the Kulaks (wealthier peasants) did not want to surrender their crops, so burnt them rather than allow them to be taken. There was no incentive for the Kulaks to produce more, as they would not benefit.
Lenin put all of the economy under a new body: Verenkha. This was the Supreme Council of National Economy and controlled the transport and movement of grain. It was one body made up of inefficient and inexperienced servants of the party and commissars. Industrial output plummeted. Industry lost the incentive for profit and there was widespread inflation. People were desperate, and willing to barter anything, thus, the black market flourished.