Of special interest is the penultimate section, where the choir races up and down a C major scale (spanning more than two octaves), rather like a child practising piano scales: the British journalist, Alexander Werth (author of "Musical Uproar in Moscow"), "wondered whether hadn't just the tip of his tongue in his cheek as he made the good simple "kolkhozniks" sing a plain C-major scale, up and down, up and down, and up and down again...". The orchestra provides alternating G and A-flat pedal notes. The cantata ends in a blazing C major, a favourite key of Prokofiev (cf. Piano Concerto No. 3, "Russian Overture", and Symphony No. 4), while the choir sings, ""You are the banner flying from our mighty fortress! You are the flame that warms our spirit and our blood, O Stalin, Stalin!""