The action takes place in a tannery. A young Jew fine tunes a machine to be used for mechanizing the work process. Some workers break it, instigated by a competitor who manipulates anti- Semitic feelings so that the young man is forced to leave the factory. A Komsomol unit shows up in time to stop the attacks against young Beïtchik. The screenplay was created as part of the demand for films for the campaign against anti-Semitism that began in 1927after a number of criminal episodes against Jewish factory workers. It was co-written by Naum Loiter, Meyerhold’s former assistant, director of the Proletkult Theater, and later director of the Jewish theater of Kharkov, and Alexandre Krein (better known as Kron), who made his screenwriting debut with this film. They used a number of elements from cases that had caused a stir (even giving the main character a name similar to one of the victims) and the issues dealt with by the press and the campaign brochures. The screenplay and the film caused censorship concerns, especially for the Party’s passive role.