Margolina, a party member in trekhgornaia manufaktura, a textile factory, hurried home from work at the end of a chilly spring day in April 1937. The snow was melting, and for the first time in many months, it was possible to glimpse the topmost railings of the park benches poking through the drifts. Picking her way through icy slush and puddles, Margolina entered the vestibule of her building, where she checked the dented, rusty metal mailbox. Pulling out a postcard, she stared at its single scrawled line. The card seemed to be written, in Margolina's words, “in a sort of code.” The cryptic message, signed by her brother in Kharkov, stated that Vera, their married stepsister, “was alone.” Margolina knew what that meant, but she was unsure what to do. Anxious not to conceal information from the Party, she showed the postcard to Makarevich, a member of her factory's party committee. Makarevich scanned its message quickly. Now Makarevich faced a choice of her own: she could order Margolina to bring the postcard to the attention of the party committee and trigger an investigation, or she could let the matter drop. Makarevich did not discuss the card with Margolina. Making a swift decision, she told her that she must not correspond further with either her brother or her stepsister, “and that she knew this.” In their brief exchange, significant mainly for what was left unsaid, both women revealed that they grasped the full import of the message, and they tacitly agreed to ignore it. In going to Makarevich, Margolina had done what the Party required: she had reported receiving the information. Makarevich, for her part, took a political risk in providing Margolina with the small protection of negligence.