And he didn't go. But "one had to be aware of your Party member status, to lead the masses and to be a model." All secretaries and highly influential people stood hands on their back and looked at you like bailiffs and you, as a Party member, had to pick the cobs and all that stuff. The peasants sat on the edge of the road, ate sunflower seeds, smoked and laughed at us. Then we said: "Hm, that's why I am a Party member! To pick their maize and they could laugh at me!" (A.M., 115)

I was twice made the proposal to become a Party member. When I was a student, the Party Secretary told me once: "If you pass all the exams of this session you'll get into the party." It was the first and only time when I had a reexamination. They left me alone. Then, the same Secretary came to the Designing Institute and told me in private: "Would you like? I can deal with the necessary procedures." I told him not to insist and left me alone. (A.,M. 141)

"I was not a Party member, but I could afford to refuse as they needed me. I did my job very well. First you received the proposal. They didn't force you if you refused them, but they caused you problems. They insisted until you ended by asking them to become a Party member. They only did harm to you and pissed you off! If you were weak, you swallowed their bait. If you were strong-willed, they left you alone on condition that you shouldn't have talked ill about the party or done prohibited things like going to church etc. I agreed with the interdictions, but I did not become a Party member. They took me to militia district office by force to make me a Party member. They didn't arrest me but constrained me a bit (I was in good terms with my boss and I didn't want to cause him troubles because of that) and still they could not convince me. I was a good foreman. They badly needed me, so?I was invited to party meetings, attended them, but I never became a party member." (O.S., 41)