A policy introduced into the Soviet Union by Lenin in 1921. It represented a shift from his former “War Communism” policy, which had been adopted during the Russian Civil War to supply the Red Army and the cities but had alienated the peasants. The NEP permitted private enterprise in agriculture, trade, and industry, encouraged foreign capitalists, and virtually recognized the previously abolished rights of private property. It met with success which Lenin did not live to see, but was ended (1929) by Stalin’s policy of five-year plans.