To that end followed proposals reducing the administrative powers of Party posts, in order to reduce bureaucratic influence upon the policies of the Communist Party. Lenin advised Trotsky to emphasize Stalin's recent bureaucratic alignment in such matters (e.g. undermining the anti-bureaucratic Workers' and Peasants' Inspection), and argued to depose Stalin as General Secretary. Despite advice to refuse "any rotten compromise", Trotsky did not heed Lenin's advice, and General Secretary Stalin retained power over the Communist Party and the bureaucracy of the soviet government.[17]