Derenik Demirchian’s “ER–ZE” (from the Russian abbreviation Remontny Zavod, “Repair Factory”) is a journalistic-literary essay depicting the industrial rise of Transcaucasia in the early 1930s. Set in the Tbilisi factory for repairing locomotives and railcars, the work portrays the site as a true “front of labor” — a battlefield of men and metal, sweat and creation. Through vivid descriptions of workers, machines, and the rhythm of production, Demirchian captures both the hardships and the heroism of industrial transformation. The piece becomes a meditation on work, progress, and human dignity within the socialist vision of a new world.