The Foundation Pit
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| Author | Andrei Platonov |
|---|---|
| Original title | Котлован |
| Language | Russian |
| Genre | Historical fiction |
| Publisher |
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Publication date | 1987 |
| Publication place | Soviet Union |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 150 |
| ISBN | 978-1590173053 |
The Foundation Pit (Russian: Котлован) is a gloomy symbolical and semi-satirical novel by Andrei Platonov. The plot of the novel concerns a group of workers living in the early Soviet Union. They attempt to dig out a huge foundation pit on the base of which a gigantic house will be built for the country's proletarians. The workers dig each day but slowly cease to understand the meaning of their work. The enormous foundation pit sucks out all of their physical and mental energy.
In terms of creative works, Platonov depicted one of the first state-controlled dystopias of the 20th century. The novel is often compared to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. However, both English novels were published long before a translation of The Foundation Pit became available.
Platonov's work is a representation of the conflict that arose between Russian individuals and the increasingly collectivized Soviet state in the late 1920s. The Foundation Pit critiques Joseph Stalin's domestic policies and questions the validity of any regime advocating the belief that the only existence a person can have is being one part of a whole. The novel was not published in the Soviet Union until 1987 due to censorship.
Plot summary
Voschev, a machine factory worker, is berated by management for sitting around on the job. When asked why he stands idly for hours when he should be working, Voschev responds that he is trying to find the true meaning of life and that, if he succeeds, his happiness will raise productivity. They don't buy the excuse. Management asks rhetorically, “What if we all get lost in thought—who’ll be left to act?” Voschev is subsequently fired. He leaves the factory in search of new work.
Along the way, Voschev comes across a couple fighting in front of their children. He yells at them for not respecting the ideals of youth, but they tell him to go away. He then sees a cripple named Zhachev, who Voschev thinks is about to harass a group of Pioneer girls. Zhachev responds, “I look at children for memory.” He claims that Voschev is “soft in the head” due to never having been at war.
Eventually Voschev joins a group of workers, all of whom are much stronger than him, a fact that Voschev attributes to his exhausting quest for truth. He learns that the group will be building digging an enormous foundation pit in which they will later construct a housing complex for the country’s proletarians. Voschev also works at a slower pace than everyone else except for one man, Kozlov, whom the others make fun of for masturbating so often. Safronov, the most politically active worker at the foundation pit, complains when managements tells them to stop working for the day.
The group’s supervisor quietly climbs out of bed in order to take a walk outside. His name is Prushevsky and, like Voschev, he feels that something is missing in his life. “People make use of me,” he says to himself, “but no one is glad of me.” He contemplates suicide but determines he will first write a letter to his sister.
Main characters
- Voshchev — Protagonist who is introduced in the novel immediately after being fired from a machine factory. Management claimed he did not work hard enough. He arrives at the foundation pit with the same work ethic problem. Voshchev has a soft spot in his heart for children and does not believe they have a bright future in the Soviet Union.
- Safronov — Most politically active worker at the foundation pit. He opposes the time limits that management places on workers’ schedules and condemns other workers’ attempts to contribute anything other than manual labor to the project. Safronov also dislikes Voschev’s necessity for truth. He deeply hates Kozlov.
- Prushevsky — Supervisor who, like Voshchev, feels that he does not understand the meaning of life. He contemplates suicide due to this feeling and spends one night sleeping in the barracks with regular workers.
- Pashkin — Chairman of the local trade union. He frequently urges the group to work harder and later brings in former bureaucrats to pick up the slack. Pashkin once went through a long court trial in which his patriotism and ethnicity, specifically due to the name of his father, Leon Ilych, were questioned.
- Kozlov — Worker who deeply hates Safronov and whom others make fun of for masturbating under the covers at night. He recites memorized quotations and slogans in order to instill fear in villages and to climb the ranks within the local trade union.
- Chiklin — Worker who feels no guilt about killing a random peasant while searching for the murderer of Safronov and Kozlov.
- Nastya — Daughter of Julia. She is brought to live with the workers and is treated as a special guest. She feigns loyalty to Vladimir Lenin, keeping the promise to her mother that she would not reveal her family roots.
- Julia — Mother of Nastya. She makes Nastya promise not to reveal her wealthy roots, lest she be punished as a member of the upper class. Julia is the woman who kissed Prushevsky many years earlier.
- Activist — Unnamed organizer who maintains a great deal of enthusiasm. The activist is not too intelligent. He is constantly worried about management’s opinion of him.
- Bear — Anthropomorphic bear who works as a blacksmith’s hammerer. He is talented at sniffing out kulaks, the members of a farming class whom the activist and others want to exterminate.
- Zhachev — Cripple whom Voshchev passes at the beginning of the novel and berates for allegedly harassing young girls. He also abuses Pashkin’s wife, knowing that Pashkin, who doesn’t want to return to court, won’t hurt him. At one point in the novel, a peasant refers to Zhachev as “comrade cripple.”