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Abstract: The short story “Thirst of the Beggar” (1920) is one of the earliest works of Andrey Platonov. It reflects the main themes of the author’s interest, such as the development of the communist society and the cosmic revolution. Humanity is presented in this text at various stages of its evolution over long centuries, on the way to the domination of consciousness, to the end of the necessity of work, and the complete energy efficiency thanks to machines. The article aims to analyze the tale from an “energetic” point of view in light of the clash between organizational-structural (the Big One) and entropic-dissipative forces (the Residual), which is particularly polarized in this phase of the author’s work.