''The Embezzlers'' () is a 1926 satirical novel by Valentin Katayev first published in the October-December (Nos. 10, 11, 12) issues of ''

Krasnaya Nov ''Krasnaya Nov'' () was a Soviet monthly literary magazine. History ''Krasnaya Nov'', the first Soviet "thick" literary magazine, was established in June 1921. In its first 7 years, under editor-in-chief Alexander Voronsky, it reached a circ ...

'' magazine. The play of the same name, based upon the novel and written in 1927, premiered in 1928 at the

Moscow Art Theatre The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; , ''Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr'' (МHАТ) was a theatre company in Moscow. It was founded in by the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright ...

.L. Skorino
Commentaries to Растратчики
The Collected Works by V.P. Katayev. Khudozhestvennaya Literatura. Volume 3. 1969

Background

Inspired by the Communist Party-instigated campaign against corruption and economical crimes, the story was based upon the real life stories Katayev had read in the periodicals he contributed to, like ''

Krokodil ''Krokodil'' ( rus, Крокодил, p=krəkɐˈdʲil, a= Ru-крокодил.ogg, ) was a Humor magazine , satirical magazine published in the Soviet Union and later Russia. The first issue was published on 27 August 1922 as the satirical supp ...

'', ''Rabochaya Gazeta'', ''Smekhach'' and ''Krasny Perets'' (Red Pepper). Katayev started working upon the novel in December 1925, although a 1925 short story titled "Grim Accident" (Мрачный случай), published in the No.26 issue of ''Smekhach'' magazine, is considered to be its direct precursor, containing the embryo of a storyline. In August 1926 the novel was finished.

Synopsis

The accountant Filipp Stepanovich, cashier Vanechka and courier Nikita fall victim to the latest embezzlement 'epidemic' that had swept 90 per cent of the Moscow commercial institutions. They steal 12 thousand rubles which they'd been supposed to deliver from the bank to their firm, and embark upon a massive spree which takes them first to Leningrad, then to the Russian South and finally, penniless, back to Moscow, straight to jail.

Theatre production

"''The Embezzlers'' endorsed me as part of a literary mainstream, marking the beginning of the whole new life for me. I received a phone call from the Stanislavski quarters and was asked to write a play based upon the ''Embezzlers''...", Katayev remembered in 1948. In 1927 the

started working upon the production, directed by Nikolai Gorchakov. In 1928 the play premiered to considerable critical acclaim. Among the actors engaged in it were the theatre's rising young stars: Mikhail Tarkhanov as the accountant Prokhorov, Vasily Toporkov as the cashier Vanechka and

Nikolai Batalov Nikolai Petrovich Batalov (; 6 December 1899 in Moscow – 10 November 1937 in Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. He performed in a number of notable films between 1924 and 1931. He was awarded the title Merited Artist of the ...

as Nikita the courier. A German version by Alfred Polgar was also successful in Berlin and was adapted into the film '' The Virtuous Sinner'' (1931).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Embezzlers, The 1926 Russian novels 1928 plays Soviet novels