Can the people oppose their interests, be anti-people? And what should an artist do if he wants "work with everyone together"? Answers to these questions were sought, each in its own way, by M. Bulgakov, O. Mandelstam, M. Nesterov, A. Platonov and A. Solzhenitsyn. These answers formed a certain plot of Russian culture of the twentieth century - the subject of philosophical and art history research of the author of the book. The third way ("gap") between the "camp" of Stalin's times and the "brothel" of liberalism made it possible for the "great conservatives of humanity" to find the ideal of high classical artistry, which at all times reflected the deep folk meaning of historical events.