The story “Lyubimov” became a unique generalization of the artistic and philosophical experiments of Abram Tertz (pseudonym of Andrei Sinyavsky). It was initially read as a vicious parody of the Soviet history of communist construction. Former mechanic Lenya Tikhomirov is trying to accomplish what the Bolsheviks were striving for within the confines of a godforsaken regional center, but quickly and bloodlessly: through mass hypnosis. He manages to infect the population of Lyubimov with general enthusiasm, make them get drunk from mineral water, like from vodka, and mistake rotten cucumbers for Krakow sausage, and toothpaste for roach, “transform” river water into “Soviet champagne” and abolish money. But not for long. The ending of the bloodless utopia of mass hypnosis turns out to be just as bleak as the ending of the bloody Soviet utopia: “A man with gloomy calm, openly in full view of everyone, urinated in a pit with an empty concrete foundation.” What is the reason for the defeat of Lenya Tikhomirov and his seemingly win-win utopia? The search for an answer to this question forces the reader to take a closer look at the poetics of Lyubimov.