Why did Lenin order the creation of a civil code based on western European civil law?

Vladimir Lenin ordered the creation of a civil code based on Western European civil law in 1921 to support the implementation of the New Economic Policy (NEP).1

Following the Russian Revolution, the initial post-revolutionary government had dismantled the legal structures of the market economy, including property, contract, and business law, under the belief that such institutions would eventually wither away. However, by 1921, the policy of War Communism had led to a total breakdown of the national economy.12

To maintain the Communist Party's hold on power, Lenin introduced the NEP, which necessitated the restoration of a legal framework to allow the economy to function. The resulting civil code provided the essential legal basis for this recovery by permitting the formation of business entities and establishing protections for basic contract and property rights.21