But the N.E.P. was not abrogated , and new nepmen took the places of those whom the Cheka removed .sx Stalin , with the facility of a parrot , repeated what Lenin said .sx " Can the Communist Party impose its leadership on the people by force ?sx No , it cannot .sx If such a thing were done the leadership would not last long .sx " Zinovief was strongly opposed to the N.E.P. and doubted Lenin's judgment .sx " It is a retreat and nothing more , " said he .sx " No , " said Stalin .sx " It is only at the outset that the N.E.P. can be looked upon as a retreat .sx It is so designed that in the course of this initial retreat we may be able to regroup our forces and resume the offensive .sx " One of the main objects of the N.E.P. commonly overlooked in the bewildering spectacle of city trading was the re-establishment of the agricultural community , whose life had not only become intolerable but senseless owing to State robbery .sx The peasants sowed less and less because their harvests were stolen from them .sx If persecuted further by marauding bands the peasantry had the power in their hands to starve out the whole of the rest of the nation .sx Socialising the peasantry by rude force had already proved a failure .sx It was necessary to find some more practical mode of compulsion .sx Stalin's peace with the N.E.P. may be expressed in the words of Lenin :sx " Out of the Russia of the New Economic Policy shall arise a socialist Russia .sx " It was Stalin's view that the position of the peasant should be stabilised temporarily by the N.E.P. and then when a new method was found they should go to the country again and socialise it .sx Trotsky , however , interpreted the compromise of the N.E.P. to mean that a full complete proletarian revolution could only be accomplished in Russia after world revolution .sx Russia must wait on the West .sx " The real growth of the Socialist economy in Russia can take place only after the victory of the proletariat in the more important countries of Europe .sx " Trotsky was nearer to Lenin's international outlook at that time .sx Lenin still warmly entertained the thought of general European revolution , but Stalin's gaze was riveted upon Russia , probably also upon his own career .sx Russians in general knew little about Europe and cared less , and Stalin was like them in that .sx " Russia first :sx Europe afterwards , " epitomises his view .sx After Lenin's death the development of the N.E.P. proved naturally a matter of considerable dispute .sx It became a testing stone for the genuineness of revolutionary opinions .sx It had compromised Lenin's position as a good Communist .sx It was a practical admission that pure Communism would not work and was such an outrage on the life of the individual that it must result in social chaos and counter-revolution .sx That in Lenin's purpose it was to lead in course of time to stricter Communism is doubtful .sx It was a compromise which led logically to the establishment of a commercial republic .sx But whatever it was intended to be , it has not proved easy to get rid of it .sx And the interpretation of what Lenin meant by it has ruined the career of many Russian politicians .sx BOTH Lenin and Stalin began to be troubled by symptoms of physical ill health .sx Both felt the strain which the incessant work and anxiety of the revolution had placed upon them .sx Since the death of Sverdlof ( March , 1919 ) Lenin had been over-burdened with work .sx Sverdlof acted as secretary and intermediary for Lenin , taking off his hands an enormous amount of routine labour .sx Lenin was no man of steel like Stalin but a nervous , pot-bellied man with impure blood .sx Periods of brilliant intellectual vision and free use of undivided will alternated with periods of apathy and weakness .sx Stalin , who in war time lived on bread and salt , onions , garlic , red wine , was menaced by abdominal trouble .sx He had pain after eating , followed by enforced abstinence and consequent weakness .sx The trouble was , however , intermittent .sx After nursing himself for a while the pain and weakness would disappear and he found himself as fit and energetic as before .sx He had a severe attack of pain after the campaign against Denikin , and was obliged to rest and do nothing .sx Lenin wished him to follow up his successes and deal with Wrangel as he had dealt with Denikin , but he made various excuses such as " the local party organisations may think me frivolous , jumping from one sphere of activity to another .sx " The Central Committee , however , ordered him to go .sx He went therefore to organise the new front but broke down and was unable to continue .sx That was in September , 1920 .sx In the winter he recoveredand proved well enough to deal energetically with the insurrection at Kronstadt when he was sent to quell it .sx But after that he fell seriously ill once more and even seemed to be threatened with death .sx Though loth to consult doctors or other skilled members of the bourgeois class he was bound now to seek expert medical aid if he wished to survive .sx Doctor Rozanof , to whom he had recourse , diagnosed an acute attack of appendicitis .sx There were complications ; a considerable amount of bowel had to be cut away .sx Stalin was operated upon in the Soldatenkovsky Hospital , in Moscow .sx The operation did not appear to be entirely successful .sx It had , perhaps , been delayed too long .sx For some days the patient hovered between life and death .sx This illness touched a soft spot in Lenin .sx Those threatened by death are more sympathetic toward the dying than those possessed of robust health .sx Lenin had been surprised by the capacity and energy of the humble Stalin .sx He heartily disliked Stalin's feud with Trotsky and was afraid of it .sx He had penetrated the psychology of Stalin and began to see his overweening ambition .sx It had undoubtedly occurred to him while Stalin was in good health :sx Stalin is going to be dangerous .sx But Stalin dying was different .sx Then he remembered that Stalin was the one Bolshevik who had never swerved in loyalty to himself , the man who had believed in him more fervently than any other .sx Stalin was his protege , the man he had protected from intrigue , the man whose hidden intelligence and ability he had himself spotted when others had called him a Caucasian monkey .sx He therefore was a constant visitor at the hospital during the critical days of Stalin's illness .sx and when at last he learned that he was out of danger , he thanked the doctor effusively for his care .sx Rozanof recommended that his patient be moved as early as possible to his native Georgia for convalescence .sx " Yes , " said Lenin .sx " That's a good idea , somewhere far away from Moscow where there will be no one to bother him .sx " This was Trotsky's hour of glory .sx Now that the Whites had been dispersed on every front , for which he took most of the credit , he comported himself with royal state , rode his white horse on parade , drove in the Tsar's automobile with guards on the step , lived in sumptuous apartments .sx Out of Russia his fame was even greater than within .sx He was second only to Lenin and was regarded as the natural inheritor of his power .sx The army seriously believed he was a great soldier and the envious whispered that he dreamed of becoming a second Napoleon .sx The history of the French revolution has proved an untrustworthy guide as to the development of the revolution in Russia .sx Becoming a Napoleon must have been far from Trotsky's thoughts , but undoubtedly he did believe that in due course he would become the controller of the revolution .sx He was the second in command and he had no serious rival .sx Neither Zinovief nor Kamenef were sure of themselves .sx They had been excitable timorous wobblers from the first and intellectually Trotsky was their superior .sx Also though he disagreed with the president on many matters he had the ear and confidence of Lenin and he was on good terms with Lenin's wife , Krupskaya , who preferred his influence to that of Stalin .sx The first Politbureau , the equivalent of a cabinetin Western parlance , was composed of Lenin , Trotsky , Stalin and Kamenef .sx The secretaries of the central committee of the Communist Party were Krestinsky , Serebriakof and Stasof , who were in the nature of clerks and had no political initiative or influence .sx Lenin , in a sense , was above the Party and above the government .sx In 1922 the control of the Party over the government was not complete .sx It is possible that had Trotsky got into the saddle he would have divorced the government from the Communist Party and made it elective and responsible to an electorate purely and simply .sx The Sovnarkom would then have had undivided authority .sx The apparatus of the Party for controlling the government was not perfected at that time .sx The triple secretariat had no directing force .sx Lenin told the Party what it should do and it did it .sx The Party in fact cloaked the autocracy of Lenin as the will of the revolution .sx In essence the dictatorship of the Party meant " We , the leaders , are going to have what we want , not what the proletariat of Russia may think they want .sx " Lenin felt the need of a strong man in the secretariat of the Party , someone who could organise it and control it and settle out of hand a hundred and one small matters that were being referred to him .sx He had not the strength to cope with all the business of the Party .sx The shadow of illness was over Lenin and he alone knew it .sx He began to be seriously concerned as to the future of the revolution .sx The post of secretary to the Communist Party was one which , while seeming modest enough at the time , might become exceedingly important after his death .sx Stalin had offered himself for the post but Lenin , who knew the concealed strength and .sx oriental craftiness of the Georgian , feared at first to give it him .sx There was , however , no intrigue to get the post .sx Trotsky did not want it .sx He must have overlooked its significance .sx As for Stalin , although he had thwarted him in the war , Trotsky still under-rated his intelligence .sx He thought that Stalin was a rather stupid aboriginal from the Caucasus , a merciless barbarian who had been useful in extirpating the enemies of the revolution , now tolerated in power by the friendly loyalty of Lenin .sx The war finished , there was nothing for a Georgian to do .sx Naturally he fell ill .sx Stalin , the sick man , virtually banished to the Caucasus , did not disturb the ambitious vision of Comrade Trotsky .sx But Stalin recovered and returned .sx Lenin , against his better judgment , decided to make him secretary of the Party .sx Lenin was getting weaker ; perhaps he was overborne by a will that was stronger than his own .sx He told Trotsky of his decision .sx " The new cook will prepare us some peppery dishes , " said Lenin .sx Trotsky shrugged his shoulders .sx In the spring of 1922 the appointment was made and Stalin set to work at once to gather the whole power of the Communist Party into his own hands .sx Lenin watched him with misgiving , but his strength of personality was failing him .sx Instead of bearding him in the office of the Party and turning him out , he wrote his opinions weakly on a tablet .sx " Comrade Stalin , " he wrote , " having become general secretary , has concentrated enormous power in his hands , and I am not sure that he knows how to use thatpower with sufficient caution .sx .. He is too rough , and this fault , entirely supportable in relations among us Communists , becomes insupportable in the office of secretary , and I propose to the comrades to find a way to remove Stalin from his position .sx .. " .sx But Lenin was ill .sx In May , 1922 , he had a stroke and lost the use of his right arm and left leg .sx He was threatened with general paralysis .sx His enemies said he had venereal or tabes ; his friends called it degeneration of the spinal tissues .sx The doctors did not hold out much hope for him .sx The disease would extend and even if he did not die speedily he must be rendered quite helpless .sx