Fanatical Lenin, after years of working for the revolution, would not let it slip away from him now. He struck back furiously. Slave labor camps were increased; dreaded secret police compelled conformity; churches were closed. “Enemies of the people,” those who opposed the Bolsheviks, were ruthlessly executed. Uprisings were cruelly suppressed. However, terror was not the answer. In March, 1921, sailors of the Red navy in Kronstadt, formerly strong Bolshevik supporters, rebelled. Lenin, with his keen sense of timing, realized that a change had to be made. The result was the NEP—New Economic Policy. Capitalist practices, so denounced by the Bolsheviks, were temporarily introduced to save the Russian government. Peasants were now allowed to keep surpluses of grain after taxation, instead of having them confiscated. They could even dispose of their surplus products as they chose, and private trade was allowed to develop. In the industrial field many businesses were returned to private owners, although the government retained control over larger concerns. To the surprise of Bolshevik leaders the NEP proved a relative success. It gave them the breathing spell they so desperately needed to consolidate their gains. Both agricultural and industrial production jumped. Lenin never lived to see the final results of the temporary NEP, but the revolution was no longer in immediate danger. Lenin’s scheming mind was laying the groundwork for extending the communist conspiracy throughout the world. In March, 1919, Lenin founded the Third International (better known as the Communist International or Comintern). The Third International was a keystone of Soviet policy, whereby Moscow, through Bolshevik discipline, could guide the activities of communists around the world, including those in the United States. To the communists, victory in Russia was only the first step. The whole world, they said, must go communist. “... victory is ours,” Lenin proclaimed at the First Congress of the Comintern in 1919; “the victory of the world Communist revolution is assured.” In early days the regime confidently expected communist revolutions in Western Europe. A communist regime sprang briefly into power in Hungary, another flickered in Germany. Although no permanent communist successes were achieved outside Russia, an effective agency of conspiracy now existed to undermine noncommunist governments.