 The poem opens with former factory worker Zamarashkin (from Russian "Zamarashka" - puny, albeit likable, squalid person) standing guard near the rail line.He is confronted by irate commissar Chekistov (made-up name meaning literally "Cheka man") who engages in a long diatribe telling of his contempt for Russians being lazy, insensitive and brutal savages.Zamarashkin retorts that Chekistov's real name is Leibman and even despite the fact he arrived to Russia from Weimar he really should belong to some shtetl in the Mogilev area.