Mission to Moscow Page #9

To make arrangements by which

our bloc would receive help

from these two countries

in our effort

to rise to power.

So, you were working out a deal.

Naturally-

germany and japan

were not going

to back us for the sake

of trotsky's

beautiful blue eyes.

Hmm, what were

their conditions?

The partition

of our country.

Japan was to get

our maritime province

and our guarantee

of siberian oil

in the event of war

with the united states.

And germany?

We agreed

to open the border

for german expansion

to the ukraine.

The main gates

for when germany

is preparing its blow

against ussr.

Citizen sokalnikov,

do you corroborate

this statement?

I do.

And you took an active part

in the conspiracy?

Periodically, i supplied

various secret information

to general seeckt,

who was

commander in chief

of the reichswehr.

Information of what kind?

Mostly

of a military character.

Such as secret data on the

strength of our air force.

How was that information

conveyed?

At that time

i was assistant

to the commissar

of foreign affairs.

I used my office

as a contact

for transmitting

information to the enemy.

And this was done

in accordance

with an agreement

with general seeckt.

With general seeckt

and rudolf hess.

In return for our

espionage activities

on behalf

of the reichswehr,

they undertook to pay us

250,000 marks annually

as a subsidy.

Accused bukharin,

before you could

successfully

partition your country

to its enemies,

you and your bloc,

as you call it,

had to come into power.

How was this

to be accomplished?

Our plan was

to seize the kremlin

and set up

a military dictatorship

financed

by the fascist government.

You had your fascist

dictator picked out?

I am not sure

we were all in agreement

on that point.

Who were

your candidates?

Naturally,

trotsky was one.

But our military leader

was tukhachevsky,

who, i suspect,

had ambitions of his own.

Tukhachevsky.

There's your wolf

in sheep's clothing.

Citizen tukhachevsky,

you've heard

bukharin's statement

to the effect that you

were the military leader

of the trotskyite plot.

As a witness, do you wish to

deny or affirm the statement?

The statement is true.

You were prepared to

seize the kremlin by force.

Yes.

And what was to happen

to comrade stalin

and the other

official administrators

of the soviet

government?

They were to be removed.

Removed?

What does that mean?

Removed means killed.

Do you have anything you wish to

say in defense of your actions?

Nothing,

citizen prosecutor.

I refuse to speak

for my defense,

because i'm

used to defending myself

with good weapons

and attacking with good weapons.

Now i have no good weapons

with which to defend myself.

Accused bukharin,

you are aware, of course,

that you have confessed

to the most serious crimes

a citizen can commit

against the state.

Yes, citizen prosecutor.

And you make

these damaging admissions

of your free will.

I mean by that,

no pressure of any kind

has been exerted

to make you confess.

None whatsoever.

The only pressure came

from my own conscience.

For 3 months i refused

to testify.

Then i decided

to tell everything.

Why?

Because while in prison,

i made an entire

reevaluation of my past.

For when you ask

yourself

if you must die,

what are you dying for?

An absolutely black

vacuity rises before you

with startling

vividness.

There was nothing

to die for

if one wanted to die

unrepentant.

And on the contrary,

everything positive

that glistens

in the soviet union,

acquires new dimensions

in a man's mind.

One has only to weigh

the wise leadership

of the present

government

against the sordid

personal ambitions

of those who would

overthrow it

to realize the

monstrousness of our crimes.

I am about to finish.

I, perhaps speaking for

the last time in my life...

my hope is

that this trial may be

the last severe lesson

in proving to the world

the growing menace

of fascist aggression

and the awareness

and united strength in russia.

It is

in the consciousness of this

that i await the verdict:

What matters

is not the personal feelings

of a repentant enemy,

but the welfare

and progress of our country.

Attention! Court convenes.

In the name of the

supreme court of the ussr,

we find the accused guilty

of organizing

a conspiratorial group

know as the trotskyite bloc,

whose aim was

to overthrow the soviet state

by means of wrecking,

terrorist, espionage,

and treasonable activities,

and to assist foreign aggressors

in defeating

and dismembering russia.

On the basis of the aforesaid

and guided

by the articles 319 and 320

of the code

of criminal procedure,

we sentence the defendants

to the supreme penalty.

To be shot-

with the confiscation

of their personal property.

Well, your father must be very

proud of you today, comrade litvinov.

Yes, general.

But not so much as i.

Oh, it was wonderful,

tanya, but i held my breath.

She held mine, too.

By the time

you hit the ground,

she nearly

had me strangled.

Congratulations.

Congratulations, dear.

We were thrilled.

Thank you.

You were magnificent.

Tanya, tell me, what were you thinking

when you jumped?

Well, first,

whether my chute would open

and then my nose was shiny.

How about a little celebration?

Let's go to the gorky palace.

Wonderful.

Come along then,

honey.

Let's be off

dancing.

This is much better.

Ivy, how can

you be so calm

with your daughter dropping

out of the sky in a parachute?

She is not as calm as

she pretends, marjorie.

It is her

english training.

How about you,

maxim?

Hiding your

emotions

behind that

smokescreen.

Well, anyway, the

midrinos are good jumpers.

They fall many times,

yes,

but they land always

on their feet.

Somehow, i can't quite imagine

our daughter doing it.

It is not

what we choose,

but it is better for them to

be prepared for what's coming.

Someday you

and your children

may be faced with the same alternatives.

Do you think

we're that close to war?

My friend,

you heard the testimony

at the trials.

We are at war.

Our enemy is not yet

quite ready to declare it.

Do you believe

that your government

has the support

and loyalty of the red army?

The army's

unquestionably loyal.

The soviet government is

actually strengthened

by the purge

of its traitors.

Now that

their plot's uncovered,

my guess is that germany

will move in a new direction

and move quickly.

Probably against austria

and czechoslovakia.

Can nothing be done

to stop this insanity

when every normal,

decent-thinking person

hates the very thought of war?

There is one way.

If the democracies stop feeding

hitler's vanity and making him

one concession

after another.

They should take

a firm stand together

and let him stew

in his own juice.

Collective security

is still

the one hope left.

At geneva i say it

over and over again.

But i think

only the statue

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