felt it was a necessary action, but he had been unable to put his plan fully into effect. Stalin was able to take a previously incompletely implemented Leninist policy and put it into action. In their attempts to bring the workers under governmental control, Leninists were willing to take drastic action. In May of 1918, a new decree stated that only one third of industrial management personnel could be elected, the rest being appointed to their positions. In April of 1920, Trotsky stated that "Deserters from labor ought to be formed into punitive battalions or put into concentration camps" ("How Lenin Led to Stalin"). Arguments have been raised which state that Lenin's New Economic Policy is a demonstration of the fact that Leninism's goal was not one of total governmental control. However, Lenin only instituted the New Economic Policy when it became absolutely necessary for the survival of Russia, and even then it was only intended to be a temporary measure before returning to state capitalism. Despite the temporary nature of the New Economic Policy, it was still viewed by many leading members of the Communist party as being too drastic a departure from Leninist doctrine. When Stalin abandoned the New Economic Policy, he was not abandoning a part of Leninism. Rather, he was banning a policy that even Lenin himself had not intended to be permanent, and that many people viewed as being a policy contrary to the aims of Leninism (Wood, p. 23-26). Stalin was also characterized by his strong suppression of opposition, which is once again a Leninist trait. A decree of the Sovnarkom on December 20, 1917 called for the creation of a commission "to persecute and break up all acts of counter-revolution and sabotage all over Russia, no matter what their origin" ("Russian History 1905-30"). The decree further read that "measures [to be taken against these counter-revolutionaries are] confiscation, confinement, deprivation of [fo...
