About the book: year / Collection of stories and stories “The Vologda People Were” is a book imbued with love for the Fatherland, sincere patriotic feelings, calling for mercy, humanity, justice. The author's mental pain for the past, present and future of the big and small Motherland shines through in each of his works. Empathy, compassion, sympathy for people who selflessly devote themselves to serving higher goals, for the benefit of citizens who often do not even think about or appreciate the feat of an ordinary person, a policeman , working not for money, not for fear, but for conscience and because of the internal need for goodness and justice. The huge Russian Vologda spaces in the narrative act as an internal and accompanying spiritual factor of the breadth of the Russian soul. Commitment to divine ideas and principles, love for God here does not mean participation in rituals, “just in case,” but the desire for knowledge and merging with the best and noble, which all humanity should strive for. In the story “The Truth of Lieutenant Sokolov,” which describes real facts and events, Lieutenant Andrei Sokolov - a simple sincere person, for whom valor is not a slogan, patriotism is not a willingness to sacrifice one’s interests for the glory of the master, but for the sake of one’s fellow citizens, one’s city and country. Love for the Motherland is not an obligation of readiness to sacrifice oneself, but a sincere desire emanating from the depth and greatness of the soul. The patriotism of the governor in the revelation novel “Captain of the Dawn” is the patriotism of a chauvinist from the golden calf, for whom a simple person is lower in rank and position - an empty space, an insignificant cog. “You are a booger, you are a zero, you are a nonsense, “the voice of one is thinner than a squeak” - the words of V. Mayakovsky, who compares the individual and the party in a similar way. The Fatherland has every right to melancholy chew you, digest and throw you away, and the rest of the “patriots” of the near-government persuasion will only welcome this if they generously consider that what they eat will benefit the body as a whole. Lieutenant Sokolov devotes himself to serving people, but his sincere nobility is trampled underfoot for the sake of the ruling structures, and his comrades, for fear of falling out of favor, only hide their eyes, not daring to support truth and justice. Where power is despotic, where the king-priest appears symbol of the country, the government positions itself as the quintessence of patriotism - outrages happen that are dangerous not only for the inhabitants of the country, but also for the power itself. A “true patriot,” as in the warning novel “The Holder,” must, according to the “sun-faced” version, be obedient and blindly follow instructions from above, monitor his fellow citizens, and suppress any attempts at “dangerous or erroneous” behavior not approved by the highest authorities. Honest the description of the everyday poverty of the people, and, as a result, the horrific incidents and events that have become the norm, make you shudder and wonder how to live on and how long to put up with this. What and what tests must society go through in order to gain immunity from repeating mistakes, so that the “Races” of masters and rulers like Zhutin, oligarchs Mutin and Mammon Dukhalov would remain in history as fairy-tale characters, and not the embodiment of a nightmare for people and the country. What is needed is not official lies, but sincerity and honesty. When officials of the Russian North betray the Hero, who more than once saved the city from scoundrels, scumbags and scumbags, when meanness is presented as the norm, and the savior is trampled into the mud only because he tried to get to the truth and justice - where is the humanity and mercy for which they pray to the crucified Christ or supposedly pray. Where is such a society heading and what will it achieve?.