It was March, the month of nine hundred and thirty-first year. In the village of Krutye Luki, the windows of the collective farm office burned until late — the board was in session, then the men just got together and judged endlessly about their affairs. Spring is approaching. Sowing. Just now, the collective farm barn was completely bombarded - this is after the floor was raised in the barn of Alexander Udartsev. The conversation now went on how not to mix seeds of different varieties. And suddenly someone from the street shouted: “We are burning!” They rushed to the windows - a barn with grain was burning ... They extinguished the whole village. Snow covered up the fire, pulled out the grain. Stepan Chauzov was operating in the heat. They pulled out of the fire as much as they could. But, and burned a lot - almost a quarter of the harvested. Then they started talking: “But it was no accident that they caught fire. Itself couldn’t ”- and they remembered about Udartsev: where is he? And then his wife Olga came out: “He is not. Run away. " - "How?" “He said he was dressed up in the city. Gathered and the horse went somewhere. " “Maybe he’s already at home?” - asked Chauzov. “Let's go see.” Only the old Udartsev met them in the house: “Well, bloom from here, damned! - And with a crowbar he moved to the peasants. “I’ll kill anyone!” The men jumped out, only Stepan did not budge. Olga Udartseva hung on her father-in-law: “Dad, come to your senses!” The old man stopped, trembled, dropped his crowbar ... “Well, get all the living out of here,” Chauzov ordered and ran out into the street. - Knock the crown out of the cliff, guys! Lay your lays on the other side! And ... heaped up. " The men rested against the wall, pushed, and the house crawled along the slopes on a slope. The shutter swung open, something cracked - the house hovered over the ravine and collapsed down, crumbling. “The house was kind,” sighed Deputy Chairman Fofanov. “From where she came from, our common life ...”

Excited peasants did not disperse, again converged in the office, and a conversation began about what life awaits them on the collective farm. “If the authorities continue to divide us into fists and the poor, then where will they stop,” reasoned Lame Nechai. After all, man, he was originally the master. Otherwise, he is not a man. But the new authorities do not recognize the authorities. How then to work on earth? This worker property is useless. He is ringing. What about the peasant? And it turns out that any of us can be declared a fist. ” Nechay said this and looked at Stepan, was that right? Stepan Chauzov was respected in the village - both for his economics, and for courage, and for a smart head. But Stepan was silent, not just everything. When he returned home, he also discovered Stepan that his wife, Klasha, had settled Olga Udartseva and their children in their hut: “You ruined their house,” said the wife. “Will you let the kids die?” And Olga stayed with their children until spring.

And the next day, Egor Gilev, a peasant from the most non-prolific in the village, went into the hut: “I am behind you, Stepan. The investigator has arrived and is waiting for you. ” The investigator began sternly and assertively: “How and why was the house destroyed? Who was in charge? Was this an act of class struggle? ” No, Stepan decided, you shouldn’t talk to this - what does he understand in our life, except for the "class struggle"? And he answered evasive questions evasively, so as not to harm any of the villagers. It seems to be beaten off, and in the paper that he signed, there was nothing superfluous. It would be possible to live on normally, calmly, but then Chairman Pavel Pechura returned from the region and immediately - to Stepan with a serious conversation: “I thought before that the collective farms were a village matter. but no, they are engaged in the city. Yes, how! And I realized that I’m not fit. Here, not only the peasant mind but experience is needed. Here we need a strong character, and most importantly, to be able to deal with new politics. Until spring I will be the chairman, and then I will leave. And as chairmen, in my opinion, you need Stepan. Think about it". A day later, Yegorka Gilev showed up again. He looked around and said so quietly: “Lyaksandra Udartsev calls you to his place noncheck”. - "Like this?!" “He's buried in my hut.” She wants to talk to you. Maybe they, the fugitives, want such a man like you. ” “What is it to me to do with them?” Against who? Against Fofanov? Against Pechura? Against Soviet power? I am not an enemy of my children when she promises their lives ... But you must be beaten to death, Egor! So as not to incite. From people like you - the main harm! ”

“And what kind of life is this,” Stepan was angry, “there is no day for a peasant to catch his breath and take up farming. I would lock myself in a hut, say that I was ill, and lay on the stove. ” But Stepan went to the meeting. He already knew what the meeting was about. In the Pechura region, I received a task - to increase crops. And where to get the seeds? The last, left for food, to be brought to the collective farm? .. The people were in the hut-reading room - not to suffocate. Koryakin himself came from the region. He was from the Krugoluchenskys, but now he is no longer a man, but a boss. The reporter, investigator, began to talk about justice, about social work, as the most correct: “Now the cars have gone, and who can buy them? Only rich. So, therefore, we must unite. ” “Yes, a car is not a horse,” thought Stepan, “it really requires a different management.” Finally, it came to the seed: “I think people conscious, dedicated to our cause, will set an example, replenish the collective farm seed fund from their personal supply.” But the men were silent. “I give pood,” said Pechura. “And how many Chauz will give?” Asked the speaker. Stepan rose. I stood. I looked. “Not a grain!” - and sat down again. Then Koryakin gave a voice: “To feed his family and the wife of the class enemy with the kids, is there grain, but not for the collective farm?” “Because there isn’t that there are more eaters.” - “So, not a grain?” “Not a single one ...” The meeting ended. And on the same night the trio to identify the kulaks met. No matter how Chauzov was defended, Pechura and the investigator, but Koryakin insisted: declare with a fist and evict with his family. “Here I sent Gilev to him to say that the Udartsev allegedly wants to meet with him, so even though he didn’t go to the meeting, he didn’t tell us anything. Clearly the enemy. ”

... And so Klashka is collecting junk for a long journey, Stepan says goodbye to the hut in which he grew up. “Where they’ll carry what they’ll do with you is not your business,” he argues. “You’ll be there, - then grab hold of life again, grab the gloomy land, some kind of hut ...” Lame Nechai came in a sheepskin coat with a whip: “Got it, Styopa?” I'll take you. We are neighbors. And friends. ” Pechura came running to say goodbye when the sled had already started. “And why is such a price set for ours, for peasant truths?” - Pechura asked Nechai. “And to whom is she for the future?” AND?" Nechay did not answer.