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In November 1922, Soviet leader Vladimir Illyich Lenin coined “commanding heights” during his speech [which he delivered in German] to the Fourth Congress of the Communist International in St. Petersburg (then known as Petrograd). In this speech, Lenin defended his New Economic Policy that permitted the resumption of small-scale trade and private agriculture in the Soviet Union against militant communists who attacked Lenin for compromising with capitalism. Although the New Economic Policy allowed some elements of a market economy to function, Lenin declared that the state would control the “commanding heights,” the most important elements of the Soviet economy. The British Labour Party adopted “control of the commanding heights of the economy” to describe its policy of nationalizing many British industries after World War II. Then, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru used this expression to describe the similar policies of the Congress Party in India.