Veshenskaya.
What is it?
That's it!
We're not going anywhere.
Either we all go,
or none.
We'll stay!
Save and protect us,
Mother of God.
Leave me alone, l've put it on.
Sinilin, lvan Andreyev.
Spread propaganda
against the Soviet power.
Right.
Good day to you!
Come on in.
What's your complaint?
l'm not complaining.
l've come to talk and ask you
not to commandeer our horses.
They've gone lame.
And the oxen?
Can't drive oxen when it's slippery.
l've got so cold, guys.
Hello, Grigory.
Hello.
l've been to the chairman.
He shook hands with me and said:
<>
And he's only a district chairman.
And what did we have before?
General-Major!
He had us stand at attention.
That's what it means to have our own
government. Now all are equal.
Why all the rejoicing?
Because l'm treated as a human being.
How can l not rejoice?
What did we fight for, then?
For the generals?
- What did you fight for?
- For myself.
l care for neither Reds nor Whites.
What do you have to blame these
authorities for?
And why are you putting yourself
out for them?
Don't you... dare
defame the Soviets!
Because l'm the Chairman here,
it's not for me to argue with you.
Excuse me, but there's nothing
good about your government.
What is it giving us Cossacks?
What Cossacks?
There are all kinds.
All of them! Will it give them land?
Liberty? Equality?
We've got plenty of land as it is.
Give us freedom and we'll start
massacring each other.
lt was you who elected atamans,
now you lock them up.
Your words are counter-revolutionary!
You won't talk me over.
You're an enemy of the Soviet power!
Goodbye!
Korshunov.
Kashulin.
Sinilin spread...
What did he spread?
Propaganda against the Soviet power.
- l want to see the Chairman.
- l'm the Chairman.
Osip Davydovich!
Hit me if l'm wrong.
l don't believe my eyes.
l knew that if he survived he'd be
the Chairman at Tatarsky.
Misha.
Hello.
- Do you have anything to sit on?
- Sit in the armchair.
- ls it Mokhov's?
- Yes.
Where did you come from?
Where l came from? From the Army's
Political Department.
l've come to you along with the
revolution. lt's simple, brothers.
Yes... it's all very simple...
All very simple...
Well, everything seems to be right.
But l don't see everybody here.
Where are the Melekhovs, for example?
The Melekhovs?
Yes, the Melekhovs.
Wasn't it Grigory that l bumped
into in the doorway?
Yes, he was here.
So you spared him?
Yes, we did.
Do you think he will spare you?
Have you forgotten Podtyolkov?
Are you aware of the situation?
The front is 150 miles away.
lf we don't arrest the most
active enemies now,
they'll rebel again.
The Cossacks have been brainwashed
for 300 years.
The majority of the Cossacks
are hostile to us.
That's the situation.
<< You can't make revolution with
your gloves on,>> Lenin said.
We can arrest Melekhov
this night.
- Why wait till the night?
- People won't talk that much.
Well, you know...
it's a lot of nonsense.
Send those over.
l'll deliver Melekhov right away.
Will you?
No, man, you can go
whistle for him now.
Good day to you.
They slipped away.
Well...
Never mind, let's sort it out.
May l speak?
Shoot.
But first you tell me
if l can speak frankly?
- Speak up.
- You won't arrest me for it?
Go on, speak.
We think here among ourselves
that the Communists want
to wipe us out.
Watch out, or they'll include you
in the book.
l'm like a drunk man: what soberness
conceals drunkenness reveals.
To wipe us out, that no Cossack
will be left on the Don.
Now you can't say there will be
no shootings anymore.
- The Communists...
- What about the Communists again?
The Communists want only one thing:
an end to bloodshed,
Cossack or no Cossack.
But as long as our enemies are savage,
we can't say
there will be no more shootings.
Let us see now what
the enemies of the Soviet power
in our village were shot for.
Take Korshunov...
You all know him.