The Destruction of Chevengur

The destruction of the Chevengur commune by a “machine force” at the end of the novel has received various interpretations in the studies of Platonov scholars. According to some, it was destroyed during the Civil war by a unit of the White Army, according to others, by a unit of the Red Army, or by an abstract opponent who was part of a symbolic interpretation of the novel. Based on the analysis of the characters involved in this scene, as well as taking into account last researches, we prefer the interpretation according to which Platonov places ideological emphasis on the situation of 1927–1929 and sees Bolshevism, which gained the upper hand during these years, as the main enemy of Chevengur. Based on experiences with Hamburg students, the article raises the question of which kind of community, in a more abstract sense, was destroyed in Chevengur.