Ehrenburg Ilya

Thaw

Ilya Grigorievich Ehrenburg

THAW

Maria Ilyinishna was worried, her glasses slipped down to the tip of her nose, and her gray curls bounced up and down.

The floor is given to Comrade Brainin. Get ready Comrade Koroteev.

Dmitri Sergeevich Koroteev slightly raised his narrow, dark eyebrows, as he always did when he was surprised; meanwhile, he knew that he would have to speak at a reader's conference - he had been asked about this a long time ago by the librarian Maria Ilyinishna, and he agreed.

Everyone at the plant treated Koroteev with respect. Director Ivan Vasilyevich Zhuravlev recently admitted to the secretary of the city committee that without Koroteev, the production of high-speed cutting machines would have to be postponed until the next quarter. Dmitry Sergeevich was appreciated, however, not only as a good engineer - they were amazed at his comprehensive knowledge, intelligence, and modesty. Chief designer Sokolovsky, man, general opinion, caustic, never once said a bad word about Koroteev. And Maria Ilyinishna, having once talked with Dmitry Sergeevich about literature, enthusiastically said: "He exclusively feels Chekhov! .." It is clear that the reader's conference, for which she was preparing More than a month, like a schoolgirl for a difficult exam, could not pass without Koroteev.

Engineer Brinin spread out a pile of papers in front of him; he spoke very quickly, as if he was afraid that he would not have time to say everything, sometimes he stammered painfully, put on his glasses and rummaged through the papers.

Despite the shortcomings that those who spoke before me rightly pointed out, the novel has, so to speak, a great educational value. Why did the agronomist Zubtsov fail in afforestation? The author correctly, so to speak, posed the problem - Zubtsov misunderstood the significance of criticism and self-criticism. Of course, Shebalin, secretary of the party organization, could help him, but the author vividly told what the neglect of the principle of collegial leadership leads to. The novel will be able to enter the golden fund of our literature if the author, so to speak, takes into account criticism and reworks some episodes...

The club was full, people stood in the aisles, near the doors. The novel of the young author, published by the regional publishing house, apparently excited the readers. But Brynin plagued everyone with long quotations, and "so to speak," and in a boring, official voice. He was applauded sparingly for decency. Everyone perked up when Maria Ilyinishna announced:

The floor is given to Comrade Koroteev. Get ready Comrade Stolyarova.

Dmitry Sergeevich spoke vividly, they listened to him. But Maria Ilyinishna frowned: no, he spoke differently about Chekhov. Why did he run into Zubtsov? It is felt that he did not like the novel ... Koroteev, however, praised the novel: the images of both the petty tyrant Shebalin and the young honest communist Fedorova are true, and Zubtsov looks alive.

Frankly, I just didn’t like how the author reveals Zubtsov’s personal life. The case he describes is, first of all, implausible. And there is nothing typical here. The reader does not believe that the overly self-confident, but honest agronomist fell in love with the wife of his comrade, a coquettish and windy woman, with whom he has no common spiritual interests. It seems to me that the author was chasing cheap entertainment. Right, our Soviet people spiritually purer, more serious, and Zubtsov's love is somehow mechanically transferred to the pages Soviet novel from the works of bourgeois writers ...

Koroteev was carried out with applause. Some liked the irony of Dmitry Sergeevich: he told how some writers, arriving on a creative business trip, with a notebook, briefly question a dozen people and announce that they have "collected material for a novel." Others were flattered that Koroteev considered them people more noble and mentally more complex than the hero of the novel. Still others applauded because Koroteev is generally smart.

Zhuravlev, who was sitting on the presidium, loudly said to Maria Ilyinishna: "Well, he whipped him, that's indisputable." Maria Ilyinishna did not answer.

Zhuravlev's wife, Lena, a teacher, seemed to be the only one who didn't applaud. She is always original! Zhuravlev sighed.

Koroteev sat down in his place and vaguely thought: the flu is coming. It's silly to fall ill now: I have Brainin's project on me. It was not necessary to speak: he repeated elementary truths. My head hurts. It's unbearably hot in here.

He did not listen to what Katya Stolyarova was saying, and flinched at the clapping that interrupted her words. He knew Katya from work: she was a cheerful girl, whitish, without eyebrows, with an expression of some unceasing admiration for life. He forced himself to listen. Katya objected to him:

I don't understand Comrade Koroteev. I won't say that this novel is classically written, like Anna Karenina, for example, but it is captivating. I have heard this from many. And what does the "bourgeois writers" have to do with it? A person, in my opinion, has a heart, so he suffers. What's wrong with that? I’ll say frankly, I also had such moments in my life ... In a word, it takes for the soul, so you can’t brush it aside ...

Korotev thought: well, who could say that the laughing Katya had already experienced some kind of drama? "A man has a heart" ... He suddenly forgot, did not listen to the speakers anymore, did not see either Maria Ilyinishna, or a prickly brown-gray palm tree, or shields with books, looked at Lena - and all the torment recent months came to life. Lena never looked at him, but he wanted it and was afraid. This was the case every time they met. But even in the summer he talked to her at ease, joked, argued. Then he often visited Zhuravlev, although in his heart he did not like him - he considered him too complacent. He visited Zhuravlev, most likely because he was pleased to talk with Lena. Interesting woman, in Moscow, I did not meet this. Of course, there is less chatter here, people read more, there is time to think. But Lena is an exception here too, one can feel a deep nature. It is not even clear how she can live with Zhuravlev? She is a head taller than him. But they seem to live together, their daughter is already five years old ...

More recently, Koroteev calmly admired Lena. The young engineer Savchenko once said to him: "In my opinion, she is a real beauty." Dmitry Sergeevich shook his head. "No. But her face is memorable..." Lena had golden hair, red in the sun, and hazy green eyes, sometimes fervent, sometimes very sad, and most often incomprehensible - it seems, another minute - and she will be all gone, disappear into oblique beam of dusty, room sun.

It was good then, thought Korolev. He went outside. Well, a blizzard! But when I went to the club, it was quiet ...

Koroteev walked in semi-consciousness, did not remember either the reader's conference or his speech. Before him was Lena - the ruin of his life, feverish dreams recent weeks, powerlessness in front of him, which he did not know before. True, his comrades considered him a success - everything worked out for him, in two years he gained universal recognition. But after all, he had not only these two years behind him; he recently turned thirty-five, and life did not always indulge him. He knew how to deal with difficulties. His face, long and dry, with a high, convex forehead, gray eyes, sometimes cold, sometimes affectionately condescending, with a stubborn crease near the mouth, betrayed will.

A few years later, in a sultry August, he marched across the steppe with a retreating division. He was gloomy, but did not lose heart. For some reason, it was on him that the general took out his anger, called him a coward and a selfish person in front of everyone, threatened to bring him to justice. Koroteev calmly said to his comrade: "It's good that he swears. So, we'll get out ..." Shortly after this, a shell fragment hit him in the shoulder. He lay in the hospital for six months, then returned to the front and fought to the end. He was in love with the signalman Natasha; their battalion was already fighting in Breslau when it turned out that she reciprocated; she said: "You look cold, it's even scary to approach, but your heart is not, I immediately felt it ..." He dreamed: the war would end - there would be happiness. Natasha died absurdly - from a mine that exploded on the streets of Dresden on May 10, when no one thought about death anymore. Koroteev endured his grief steadfastly, none of his comrades had any idea how hard it was for him. Only much later, when his mother told him: “Why don’t you marry? After all, you’re over thirty, I’ll die - and there’s no one to look after,” he admitted: “I, mom, lost my happiness in the war. Now it doesn’t fit into my head .. ."

Khrushchev thaw- an unofficial designation of the period in the history of the USSR after the death of I.V. Stalin (mid-1950s - mid-1960s). In the internal political life of the USSR, it was characterized by the liberalization of the regime, the weakening of totalitarian power, the emergence of some freedom of speech, the relative democratization of the political and public life, openness Western world, more freedom creative activity. The name is associated with the tenure of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU N. Khrushchev (-).

The word "thaw" is associated with story of the same name Ilya Ehrenburg.

Story

The starting point of the "Khrushchev thaw" was the death of Stalin in 1953. The “thaw” also includes a short period when Georgy Malenkov was with the country’s leadership and major criminal cases were closed (“Leningrad case”, “Doctors’ case”), an amnesty for those convicted of minor crimes passed. During these years, uprisings of prisoners broke out in the Gulag system: the Norilsk uprising, the Vorkuta uprising, the Kengir uprising, etc.

De-Stalinization

With the strengthening of Khrushchev in power, the "thaw" became associated with the condemnation of Stalin's personality cult. At the same time, in 1953-55, Stalin still continued to be officially revered in the USSR as a great leader; during that period, they were often depicted in portraits together with Lenin. At the XX Congress of the CPSU in 1956, N. S. Khrushchev made a report "On the cult of personality and its consequences", in which Stalin's personality cult and Stalinist repressions were criticized, and in foreign policy The USSR was proclaimed a course towards "peaceful coexistence" with the capitalist world. Khrushchev also began a rapprochement with Yugoslavia, relations with which were severed under Stalin.

In general, the new course was supported at the top of the party and corresponded to the interests of the nomenklatura, since earlier even the most prominent party leaders who fell into disgrace had to fear for their lives. Many surviving political prisoners in the USSR and countries socialist camp were released and rehabilitated. Since 1953, commissions have been formed to review cases and to rehabilitate. Most of the peoples deported in the 1930s-1940s were allowed to return to their homeland.

Tens of thousands of German and Japanese prisoners of war were sent home. In some countries, relatively liberal leaders came to power, such as Imre Nagy in Hungary. An agreement was reached on the state neutrality of Austria and the withdrawal of all occupying troops from it. In the city of Khrushchev, he met in Geneva with US President Dwight Eisenhower and the heads of government of Great Britain and France.

At the same time, de-Stalinization had an extremely negative impact on relations with Maoist China. The CCP condemned de-Stalinization as revisionism.

In 1957 the Presidium Supreme Council The USSR banned the assignment of names of party leaders to cities and factories during their lifetime.

The Limits and Contradictions of the Thaw

The thaw period did not last long. Already with the suppression of the Hungarian uprising in 1956, clear boundaries of the policy of openness appeared. The party leadership was frightened by the fact that the liberalization of the regime in Hungary led to open anti-communist speeches and violence, respectively, the liberalization of the regime in the USSR could lead to the same consequences. On December 19, 1956, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU approved the text of the Letter of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On strengthening the political work of party organizations among the masses and suppressing attacks by anti-Soviet, hostile elements." It said: " Central Committee Communist Party Soviet Union considers it necessary to appeal to all party organizations ... in order to attract the attention of the party and mobilize communists to intensify political work among the masses, to fight decisively to stop the attacks of anti-Soviet elements, which in Lately, due to some aggravation of the international situation, intensified their hostile activities against the Communist Party and Soviet state". Further, it was said about the recent "intensification of the activities of anti-Soviet and hostile elements." First of all, this is a “counter-revolutionary conspiracy against the Hungarian people”, conceived under the guise of “false slogans of freedom and democracy” using “the discontent of a significant part of the population caused by serious mistakes made by the former state and party leadership of Hungary”. It also stated: “Recently, among individual workers literature and art, slipping from party positions, politically immature and philistine-minded, there were attempts to question the correctness of the party line in the development Soviet literature and art, move away from the principles socialist realism in the position of art without ideas, demands are put forward to "liberate" literature and art from the party leadership, to ensure "freedom of creativity", understood in the bourgeois-anarchist, individualistic spirit. The letter contained an instruction to communists working in state security agencies to “keep vigilantly guarding the interests of our socialist state, be vigilant against the intrigues of hostile elements and, in accordance with the laws Soviet power, stop in a timely manner criminal acts» . A direct consequence of this letter was a significant increase in 1957 in the number of those convicted for "counter-revolutionary crimes" (2,948 people, which is 4 times more than in 1956). Students for critical statements were expelled from institutes.

Thaw in art

Thaw in architecture

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Increasing pressure on religious associations

In 1956, the anti-religious struggle began to intensify. The secret resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On the note of the Department of Propaganda and Agitation of the Central Committee of the CPSU for the Union Republics" On the Shortcomings of Scientific and Atheistic Propaganda "" of October 4, 1958 obliged the party, Komsomol and public organizations launch a propaganda offensive against "religious survivals"; government agencies it was ordered to carry out administrative measures aimed at tightening the conditions for the existence of religious communities. On October 16, 1958, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted the Decrees "On Monasteries in the USSR" and "On Increasing Taxes on the Income of Diocesan Enterprises and Monasteries".

On April 21, 1960, the new chairman of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kuroyedov, appointed in February of the same year, in his report at the All-Union Conference of the Commissioners of the Council, characterized the work of its former leadership as follows: “The main mistake of the Council for Orthodox Church consisted in the fact that he inconsistently pursued the line of the party and the state in relation to the church and often slipped into positions of serving church organizations. Occupying a defensive position in relation to the church, the council led the line not to combat violations of the legislation on cults by the clergy, but to protect church interests.

The secret instruction on the application of the legislation on cults in March 1961 paid special attention to the fact that clergymen do not have the right to interfere in the administrative, financial and economic activities of religious communities. For the first time, the instructions identified “sects whose doctrine and nature of activity are anti-state and savage in nature, which were not subject to registration: Jehovists, Pentecostals, Adventist reformists” that were not subject to registration.

A statement attributed to Khrushchev from that period has survived in the mass consciousness, in which he promises to show the last priest on TV in 1980.

The end of the thaw

The completion of the "thaw" is considered the removal of Khrushchev and the coming to the leadership of Leonid Brezhnev in the year. However, the tightening of the internal political regime and ideological control was begun during the reign of Khrushchev after the end of Caribbean Crisis. De-Stalinization was stopped, and in connection with the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic war the process of exalting the role of victory began Soviet people in the war. They tried to bypass Stalin's personality as much as possible, he was never rehabilitated. A neutral article about him remained in the TSB. In 1979, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Stalin, several articles were published, but no special celebrations were held.

Mass political repression, however, were not renewed, and Khrushchev, deprived of power, retired and even remained a member of the party. Shortly before this, Khrushchev himself criticized the concept of "thaw" and even called Ehrenburg, who invented it, a "swindler."

A number of researchers believe that the thaw finally ended in 1968 after the suppression of the Prague Spring. With the end of the thaw, criticism of Soviet reality began to spread only through unofficial channels, such as samizdat.

Mass riots in the USSR

• June 10-11, 1957, an emergency in the city of Podolsk, Moscow Region. The actions of a group of citizens who spread rumors that police officers killed the detained driver. The number of "groups of drunken citizens" - 3 thousand people. 9 instigators were prosecuted.
• January 15, 1961, the city of Krasnodar. Reasons: the actions of a group of drunken citizens who spread rumors about the beating of a serviceman when he was detained by a patrol for violation of wearing a uniform. The number of participants is 1300 people. applied firearms, one person was killed. 24 people were brought to criminal responsibility. See Anti-Soviet rebellion in Krasnodar (1961).
• June 21, 1961 in the city of Biysk Altai Territory 500 people participated in the riots. They stood up for a drunkard whom the police wanted to arrest in the central market. The drunk citizen during the arrest resisted the officers of the protection of public order. There was a fight with the use of weapons. One person was killed, one was wounded, 15 were prosecuted.
• On June 30, 1961, in the city of Murom, Vladimir Region, over 1.5 thousand workers of the local plant named after Ordzhonikidze almost destroyed the construction of a sobering-up honey tank, in which one of the employees of the enterprise, brought there by the police, died. Law enforcement officers used weapons, two workers were injured, 12 men were put on trial.
• On July 23, 1961, 1,200 people took to the streets of the city of Alexandrov, Vladimir Region, and moved to the city police department to rescue two of their detained comrades. The police used weapons, as a result of which four were killed, 11 wounded, 20 people were put in the dock.
• September 15-16, 1961, street riots in the North Ossetian city of Beslan. The number of rebels - 700 people. The riot arose because of an attempt by the police to detain five people who were in drunk V public place. Armed resistance was provided to the guards. One is killed. Seven have been put on trial.
• July 1-3, 1962, Novocherkassk Rostov region, 4 thousand workers of the electric locomotive plant, dissatisfied with the actions of the administration in explaining the reasons for the increase in retail prices for meat and milk, came out to protest. The protesting workers were dispersed with the help of troops. 23 people died, 70 were injured. 132 instigators were brought to justice, of which seven were later shot (See Novocherkassk execution)
• June 16-18, 1963, the city of Krivoy Rog, Dnepropetrovsk region. About 600 people took part in the performance. The reason is the resistance to police officers by a serviceman who was in a state of intoxication during his detention and the actions of a group of people. Four killed, 15 wounded, 41 put on trial.
• November 7, 1963, the city of Sumgayit, more than 800 people came to the defense of the demonstrators who were walking with photographs of Stalin. Police and vigilantes tried to take away unauthorized portraits. Weapons were used. One demonstrator was wounded, six sat in the dock (See Riots in Sumgayit (1963)).
• On April 16, 1964, in Bronnitsy near Moscow, about 300 people defeated the bullpen, where a resident of the city died from beatings. The police, by their unauthorized actions, provoked popular indignation. No weapons were used, there were no dead or wounded. 8 people were brought to criminal responsibility.

see also

Notes

Footnotes

Links

• Rudolf Pikhoya. Slowly melting ice (March 1953 - late 1957)
• A.Shubin Dissidents, informals and freedom in the USSR
• And I gave my heart to search and try with wisdom all that is done under heaven...

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .

Ehrenburg Ilya

Thaw

PART ONE

Maria Ilyinishna was worried, her glasses slipped down to the tip of her nose, and her gray curls bounced up and down.

The floor is given to Comrade Brainin. Get ready Comrade Koroteev.

Dmitri Sergeevich Koroteev slightly raised his narrow, dark eyebrows, as he always did when he was surprised; meanwhile, he knew that he would have to speak at a reader's conference - he had been asked about this a long time ago by the librarian Maria Ilyinishna, and he agreed.

Everyone at the plant treated Koroteev with respect. Director Ivan Vasilyevich Zhuravlev recently admitted to the secretary of the city committee that without Koroteev, the production of high-speed cutting machines would have to be postponed until the next quarter. Dmitry Sergeevich was appreciated, however, not only as a good engineer - they were amazed at his comprehensive knowledge, intelligence, and modesty. The chief designer Sokolovsky, a man, by all accounts, caustic, never once said a bad word about Koroteev. And Maria Ilyinishna, having once talked with Dmitry Sergeevich about literature, enthusiastically said: “He exclusively feels Chekhov! ..” It is clear that the reader's conference, for which she had been preparing for more than a month, like a schoolgirl for a difficult exam, could not pass without Koroteev .

Engineer Brinin spread out a pile of papers in front of him; he spoke very quickly, as if he was afraid that he would not have time to say everything, sometimes he stammered painfully, put on his glasses and rummaged through the papers.

Despite the shortcomings that those who have spoken before me have rightly pointed out, the novel has, so to speak, a great educational value. Why did the agronomist Zubtsov fail in afforestation? The author correctly, so to speak, posed the problem - Zubtsov misunderstood the significance of criticism and self-criticism. Of course, Shebalin, secretary of the party organization, could help him, but the author vividly showed what the neglect of the principle of collegial leadership leads to. The novel will be able to enter the golden fund of our literature if the author, so to speak, takes into account criticism and reworks some episodes ...

The club was full, people stood in the aisles, near the doors. The novel of the young author, published by the regional publishing house, apparently excited the readers. But Brynin plagued everyone with long quotations, and "so to speak," and in a boring, official voice. He was applauded sparingly for decency. Everyone perked up when Maria Ilyinishna announced:

The floor is given to Comrade Koroteev. Get ready Comrade Stolyarova.

Dmitry Sergeevich spoke vividly, they listened to him. But Maria Ilyinishna frowned: no, he spoke differently about Chekhov. Why did he run into Zubtsov? It is felt that he did not like the novel ... Koroteev, however, praised the novel: the images of both the tyrant Shebalin and the young honest communist Fedorova are true, and Zubtsov looks alive.

Frankly, I just didn’t like how the author reveals Zubtsov’s personal life. The case he describes is, first of all, implausible. And there is nothing typical here. The reader does not believe that the overly self-confident, but honest agronomist fell in love with the wife of his comrade, a coquettish and windy woman, with whom he has no common spiritual interests. It seems to me that the author was chasing cheap entertainment. Indeed, our Soviet people are spiritually purer, more serious, and Zubtsov’s love is somehow mechanically transferred to the pages of the Soviet novel from the works of bourgeois writers ...

Koroteev was carried out with applause. Some liked the irony of Dmitry Sergeevich: he told how some writers, arriving on a creative business trip, with a notebook, briefly question a dozen people and announce that they "collected material for a novel." Others were flattered that Koroteev considered them people more noble and mentally more complex than the hero of the novel. Still others applauded because Koroteev is generally smart.

Zhuravlev, who was sitting on the presidium, loudly said to Maria Ilyinishna: "Well, he whipped him, that's indisputable." Maria Ilyinishna did not answer.

Zhuravlev's wife, Lena, a teacher, seemed to be the only one who didn't applaud. She is always original! Zhuravlev sighed.

Koroteev sat down in his place and vaguely thought: the flu is coming. It's silly to fall ill now: I have Brainin's project on me. It was not necessary to speak: he repeated elementary truths. My head hurts. It's unbearably hot in here.

He did not listen to what Katya Stolyarova was saying, and flinched at the clapping that interrupted her words. He knew Katya from work: she was a cheerful girl, whitish, without eyebrows, with an expression of some unceasing admiration for life. He forced himself to listen. Katya objected to him:

I don't understand Comrade Koroteev. I won't say that this novel is classically written, like Anna Karenina, for example, but it is captivating. I have heard this from many. And what does the "bourgeois writers" have to do with it? A person, in my opinion, has a heart, so he suffers. What's wrong with that? I’ll say frankly, I also had such moments in my life ... In a word, it takes for the soul, so you can’t brush it aside ...

Koroteev thought: well, who could say that the funny Katya has already experienced some kind of drama? “A man has a heart” ... He suddenly forgot, did not listen to the speakers anymore, did not see either Maria Ilyinishna, or a prickly brown-gray palm tree, or shields with books, looked at Lena - and all the torment of the last months came to life. Lena never looked at him, but he wanted it and was afraid. This was the case every time they met. But even in the summer he talked to her at ease, joked, argued. Then he often visited Zhuravlev, although in his heart he did not like him - he considered him too complacent. He visited Zhuravlev, most likely because he was pleased to talk with Lena. An interesting woman, I have not met such a woman in Moscow. Of course, there is less chatter here, people read more, there is time to think. But Lena is an exception here too, one can feel a deep nature. It is not even clear how she can live with Zhuravlev? She is a head taller than him. But they seem to live together, their daughter is already five years old ...

More recently, Koroteev calmly admired Lena. The young engineer Savchenko once told him: "I think she is a real beauty." Dmitry Sergeevich shook his head. "No. But her face is memorable ... "Lena had golden hair, red in the sun, and green foggy eyes, sometimes fervent, sometimes very sad, and most often incomprehensible - it seems, another minute - and she will all disappear, disappear in the oblique beam of dusty, indoor sun.

It was good then, thought Korolev. He went outside. Well, a blizzard! But when I went to the club, it was quiet ...

Koroteev walked in semi-consciousness, did not remember either the reader's conference or his speech. Before him was Lena - the ruin of his life, the feverish dreams of the last weeks, the impotence before himself, which he had not known before. True, his comrades considered him a success - everything worked out for him, in two years he gained universal recognition. But after all, he had not only these two years behind him; he recently turned thirty-five, and life did not always indulge him. He knew how to deal with difficulties. His face, long and dry, with a high, convex forehead, gray eyes, sometimes cold, sometimes affectionately condescending, with a stubborn crease near the mouth, betrayed will.

A few years later, in a sultry August, he marched across the steppe with a retreating division. He was gloomy, but did not lose heart. For some reason, it was on him that the general took out his anger, called him a coward and a selfish person in front of everyone, threatened to bring him to justice. Koroteev calmly said to his comrade: “It’s good that he swears. So, we'll get out ... ”Shortly after that, a shell fragment hit him in the shoulder. He lay in the hospital for six months, then returned to the front and fought to the end. He was in love with the signalman Natasha; their battalion was already fighting in Breslau when it turned out that she reciprocated; she said: “You look cold, it’s even scary to approach, but your heart doesn’t, I immediately felt it ...” He dreamed: the war would end - there would be happiness. Natasha died absurdly - from a mine that exploded on the streets of Dresden on May 10, when no one thought about death anymore. Koroteev endured his grief steadfastly, none of his comrades had any idea how hard it was for him. Only much later, when his mother said to him: “Why don't you get married? After all, you are over thirty, I will die - and there is no one to look after, ”he admitted:“ Mom, I lost happiness in the war. Now it doesn’t cross my mind…”

Ilya Grigorievich Ehrenburg

"Thaw"

In the club of a large industrial city - a full house. The hall is packed, people stand in the aisles. An extraordinary event: a novel by a young local writer is published. Participants of the reader's conference praise the debutant: everyday work is reflected accurately and vividly. The heroes of the book are truly the heroes of our time.

But one can argue about their "personal life", says one of the leading engineers of the plant Dmitry Koroteev. Not a penny is typical here: a serious and honest agronomist could not fall in love with a windy and flirtatious woman, with whom he has no common spiritual interests, in addition - the wife of his comrade! The love described in the novel seems to be mechanically transferred from the pages of bourgeois literature!

Koroteev's speech causes a heated debate. More discouraged than others - although they do not express it aloud - are his closest friends: the young engineer Grisha Savchenko and the teacher Lena Zhuravleva (her husband is the director of the plant, who sits on the presidium of the conference and is frankly pleased with the sharpness of Koroteev's criticism).

The argument about the book continues at Sonya Pukhova's birthday party, where she comes straight from Savchenko's club. " Clever man, but performed on a stencil! Grisha gets excited. - It turns out that the personal has no place in literature. And the book touched everyone to the quick: too often we still say one thing, but in our personal lives we act differently. The reader yearned for such books! “You are right,” one of the guests, the artist Saburov, nods. “It’s time to remember what art is!” “But in my opinion, Koroteev is right,” Sonya objects. — soviet man learned to control nature, but he must learn to control his feelings ... "

Lena Zhuravleva has no one to exchange opinions with about what she heard at the conference: she has lost interest in her husband for a long time, it seems, from the day when, at the height of the “doctors’ case,” she heard from him: “You can’t trust them too much, that’s indisputable.” The dismissive and merciless “him” shocked Lena. And when, after a fire at the factory, where Zhuravlev showed himself to be a fine fellow, Koroteev spoke of him with praise, she wanted to shout: “You don’t know anything about him. This is a soulless person!”

That's also why Koroteev's performance at the club upset her: he seemed to her so whole, extremely honest both in public, and in a conversation face to face, and alone with his own conscience ...

The choice between truth and falsehood, the ability to distinguish one from the other, calls on all the heroes without exception to lead the time of the “thaw”. The thaw is not only in the social climate (Koroteev’s stepfather returns after seventeen years of imprisonment; relations with the West are openly discussed at the feast, the opportunity to meet with foreigners; there are always brave souls at the meeting, ready to contradict the authorities, the opinion of the majority). This is the thaw of everything “personal”, which for so long it was customary to conceal from people, not to let out of the door of one’s house. Koroteev is a front-line soldier, there was a lot of bitterness in his life, but this choice is painful for him too. At the party bureau, he did not find the courage to stand up for the leading engineer Sokolovsky, to whom Zhuravlev feels hostility. And although after the ill-fated party bureau, Koroteev changed his mind and directly announced this to the head of the department of the city committee of the CPSU, his conscience did not calm down: “I have no right to judge Zhuravlev, I am the same as him. I say one thing, but I live differently. Probably, today we need other, new people - romantics, like Savchenko. Where can I get them? Gorky once said that we need our Soviet humanism. And Gorky has been gone for a long time, and the word "humanism" has disappeared from circulation - but the task remains. And solve it - today.

The reason for the conflict between Zhuravlev and Sokolovsky is that the director disrupts the housing construction plan. Storm, first spring days having flown into the city, destroying several dilapidated barracks, causes a response storm - in Moscow. Zhuravlev goes to Moscow on an urgent call for a new appointment (of course, with a demotion). In the collapse of his career, he blames not the storm, and even more so not himself - Lena who left him: the departure of his wife is immoral! In the old days for this ... And Sokolovsky is also to blame for what happened (he was almost in a hurry to report the storm to the capital): “It’s a pity that I didn’t kill him ...”

There was a storm and it went away. Who will remember her? Who will remember director Ivan Vasilyevich Zhuravlev? Who remembers the past winter, when loud drops fall from icicles, until spring is just a stone's throw away?..

It was difficult and long - like the way through snowy winter to the thaw is the path to the happiness of Sokolovsky and the “pestician doctor” Vera Grigorievna, Savchenko and Sonya Pukhova, drama theater actress Tanechka and Sonya’s brother artist Volodya. Volodya passes his temptation with lies and cowardice: in the discussion art exhibition he lashes out at Saburov, a childhood friend, "for formalism." Repenting of his meanness, asking for forgiveness from Saburov, Volodya admits to himself the main thing that he did not realize for too long: he has no talent. In art, as in life, the main thing is talent, and not loud words about ideology and popular demands.

Be people need now Lena is striving, having found herself again with Koroteev. Sonya Pukhova also experiences this feeling - she confesses to herself that she loves Savchenko. In love, conquering trials in both time and space: they barely managed to get used to one separation from Grisha (after the institute, Sonya was assigned to a plant in Penza) - and here Grisha has a long way to go, to Paris, for an internship, in a group of young specialists.

Spring. Thaw. She is felt everywhere, everyone feels her: both those who did not believe in her, and those who were waiting for her - like Sokolovsky, going to Moscow, to meet his daughter Masha, Mary, a ballerina from Brussels, completely unknown to him and very dear, with whom he dreamed of seeing all his life.

A local young writer published his novel. On this occasion, a conference was started in the club of the industrial city, where everyone came. The writer introduced the heroes of his story modern people, whose work is well and vividly described in the text of the book. But Dmitry Koroteev, a factory engineer, did not much like the plot of the book, because he does not approve of the love of an agronomist and a windy woman, especially when she is also the wife of his friend. These words cause a great discussion, which develops into an argument. Koroteev's words struck his friends: teacher Lena Zhuravleva, whose husband is the director of the plant where Koroteev works, and engineer Grisha Savchenko. Grisha transferred the conversation about the book to Sonya Pukhova, who invited him to her birthday party, while Lena, on the contrary, came as a quiet and calm lady, because she had already lost all interest in communicating with her husband after he dismissively and reproachfully referring to the actions of doctors. But the chagrin after the words of Dmitry in the club has not yet disappeared, because she considered him honest and whole. Melted in the thaw feelings were lost. It was a thaw of everything personal, which was hidden from everyone.

Dmitry Koroteev himself went through the front, his life was pretty battered. He did not find the strength to intercede for Sokolovsky, the leading engineer, in the party bureau, when Zhuravlev reproached him. According to Ivan Vasilyevich Zhuravlev, it was Sokolovsky who caused his demotion. And this happened because of a storm that swooped in at the beginning of spring and destroyed several barracks. Because of her, Zhuravlev stopped the construction of houses, which disrupted the schedule. Upon learning of this, Moscow urgently calls him to the carpet and demotes him, which is why his wife Lena leaves him. At that moment, he blamed Sokolovsky, who sat him up and, after waiting for a moment, immediately dripped about what was happening to Moscow.

Lena Zhuravleva found herself again, building relationships with Koroteev, and Sonya Pukhova catches herself on the feeling that Grisha Savchenko is not indifferent to her, and most likely she loves him.

After the cold weather came the long-awaited spring. Thaw. A lot has changed in the life of the factory workers, but everything boils, boils, and makes them move only forward.

In the club of a large industrial city - a full house. The hall is packed, people stand in the aisles. An extraordinary event: a novel by a young local writer is published. Participants of the reader's conference praise the debutant: everyday work is reflected accurately and vividly. The heroes of the book are truly the heroes of our time.

But one can argue about their "personal life", says one of the leading engineers of the plant Dmitry Koroteev. Not a penny is typical here: a serious and honest agronomist could not fall in love with a windy and flirtatious woman, with whom he does not have common spiritual interests, in addition - the wife of his comrade! The love described in the novel seems to be mechanically transferred from the pages of bourgeois literature!

Koroteev's speech causes a heated debate. More discouraged than others - although they do not express it aloud - are his closest friends: the young engineer Grisha Savchenko and the teacher Lena Zhuravleva (her husband is the director of the plant, sitting on the presidium of the conference and frankly pleased with the sharpness of Koroteev's criticism).

The argument about the book continues at Sonya Pukhova's birthday party, where she comes straight from Savchenko's club. “A smart man, but he acted according to a stencil! Grisha gets excited. - It turns out that the personal has no place in literature. And the book touched everyone to the quick: too often we still say one thing, but in our personal lives we act differently. The reader yearned for such books! - “You are right,” one of the guests, the artist Saburov, nods. “It’s time to remember what art is!” - “But in my opinion, Koroteev is right,” Sonya objects. “Soviet people have learned to control nature, but they must also learn to control their feelings…”

Lena Zhuravleva has no one to exchange opinions with about what she heard at the conference: she has lost interest in her husband for a long time, it seems, from the day when, at the height of the “doctors’ case”, she heard from him: “You can’t trust them too much, that’s indisputable.” The dismissive and merciless “him” shocked Lena. And when, after a fire at the factory, where Zhuravlev showed himself to be a fine fellow, Koroteev spoke of him with praise, she wanted to shout: “You don’t know anything about him. This is a soulless person!”

That is also why Koroteev’s speech at the club upset her: he seemed to her so whole, extremely honest both in public, and in a conversation face to face, and alone with his own conscience ...

The choice between truth and lies, the ability to distinguish one from the other - this calls for all the heroes without exception to lead the time of the "thaw". The thaw is not only in the social climate (Koroteev’s stepfather returns after seventeen years of imprisonment; relations with the West are openly discussed at the feast, the opportunity to meet with foreigners; there are always brave souls at the meeting, ready to contradict the authorities, the opinion of the majority). This is the thaw of everything “personal”, which for so long it was customary to conceal from people, not to let out of the door of one’s house. Koroteev is a front-line soldier, there was a lot of bitterness in his life, but this choice is painful for him too. At the party bureau, he did not find the courage to stand up for the leading engineer Sokolovsky, to whom Zhuravlev feels hostility. And although after the ill-fated party bureau, Koroteev changed his mind and directly announced this to the head of the department of the city committee of the CPSU, his conscience did not calm down: “I have no right to judge Zhuravlev, I am the same as him. I say one thing, but I live differently. Probably, today we need other, new people - romantics, like Savchenko. Where can I get them? Gorky once said that we need our Soviet humanism. And Gorky has been gone for a long time, and the word "humanism" has disappeared from circulation - but the task remains. And solve it - today.

The reason for the conflict between Zhuravlev and Sokolovsky is that the director is disrupting the housing construction plan. The storm that swept over the city in the first days of spring, destroying several dilapidated barracks, causes a response storm - in Moscow. Zhuravlev goes to Moscow on an urgent call for a new appointment (of course, with a demotion). In the collapse of his career, he blames not the storm, and even more so not himself - Lena who left him: the departure of his wife is immoral! In the old days for this ... And Sokolovsky is also to blame for what happened (he was almost in a hurry to report the storm to the capital): “It’s a pity, after all, that I didn’t kill him ...”

There was a storm - and it was gone. Who will remember her? Who will remember director Ivan Vasilyevich Zhuravlev? Who remembers the past winter, when loud drops fall from icicles, until spring is just a stone's throw away?..

Difficult and long was - like the path through the snowy winter to the thaw - the path to the happiness of Sokolovsky and the "pestician doctor" Vera Grigorievna, Savchenko and Sonya Pukhova, drama theater actress Tanechka and Sonya's brother artist Volodya. Volodya overcomes his temptation with lies and cowardice: at a discussion of an art exhibition, he falls upon his childhood friend Saburov - "for formalism." Repenting of his meanness, asking for forgiveness from Saburov, Volodya admits to himself the main thing that he did not realize for too long: he has no talent. In art, as in life, the main thing is talent, and not loud words about ideology and popular demands.

Lena is now striving to be needed by people, having found herself again with Koroteev. Sonya Pukhova also experiences this feeling - she confesses to herself that she loves Savchenko. In love, conquering trials in both time and space: they barely managed to get used to one separation from Grisha (after the institute, Sonya was assigned to a plant in Penza) - and here Grisha has a long way to go, to Paris, for an internship, in a group of young specialists.

Spring. Thaw. She is felt everywhere, everyone feels her: both those who did not believe in her, and those who were waiting for her - like Sokolovsky, going to Moscow, to meet his daughter Masha, Mary, a ballerina from Brussels, completely unknown to him and very dear, with whom he dreamed of seeing all his life.