Reds Page #15

on all sides.

You were actually forbidden to go,

and you could only go illegally.

It was very dangerous

to go through Finland.

Because the Finns

were a White government,

and they were bitterly opposed

to the Reds.

They decided to strangle

the revolutionary Bolshevik infant

in its cradle.

And 16 armies went into Russia

from the east and from the west,

for the purpose

of wiping out the Bolsheviks

and wiping out the revolution

and restoring Christian civilization

to its rightful place.

Speak English.

Have a lemon.

You won't see one for a long time.

Thank you. I just want to know

if you think that I was clear

- in what I said about...

- Eminently clear.

Salt?

- Salt?

- For the lemon.

Thank you.

I see you eat the peel with the lemon.

Fights the scurvy. So does the onion.

Together, they fight better.

You see, what I really wanted to do

was ask your frank opinion

whether we...

You think we'll get the endorsement

from the committee.

- I ask unofficially, of course.

- Unofficially?

Unofficially, I don't know.

Yeah, well, it's such a...

It's a peculiarly American problem

and I...

- You do think I was clear?

- Quite clear.

In this case, however, clarity does not

necessarily guarantee endorsement.

Well, I don't know.

In this case, I think perhaps it might.

You know, in fact, I don't...

What I really want to do

is to make a detailed report

for the Executive Committee to read

on conditions in America.

You see, I'd like to deal in that report

with the entire history

of the American Federation of Labor.

I'd like to deal

with its support of the war, you see.

And I'm gonna talk

about the persecution of the IWW,

I'm gonna deal with the rise

of the patrioteering societies,

and the capitulation

of leading socialists.

- I'm gonna... Am I speaking too quickly?

- No, no. Go on.

And so I will deal with

the rising militancy of American labor.

I'll talk about the general strikes

in Seattle and Winnipeg,

the Boston police strike.

I'm gonna discuss the Plumb Plan,

and particularly the attitude

and the policies of the AF of L

and IWW toward them.

Now, after that, I think it's important...

Comrade Reed, the Executive

Committee of the Comintern

has decided against endorsing

either the Communist Labor Party

or the Communist Party of America,

and instructs the two parties

to merge forthwith.

Sit here, Comrade Reed.

This time, your usual chair,

as you can see,

is now occupied by your detailed report

on American conditions.

A most penetrating study.

Very, very clear.

Thank you.

Obviously, it wasn't clear enough.

Comrade Radek,

I think there must have been

some mistake

about my travel arrangements

about my return to the United States.

Well, it seems as if I've been asked

to report to the Propaganda Bureau.

That is right.

Comrade Reed,

the Executive Committee has decided

you are very much needed

at the Propaganda Bureau.

We plan for you to remain

in Soviet Russia until July.

You're very welcome

to the Bureau of Propaganda.

Well, thank you very much,

but I thought that these

travel arrangements had been made.

I have to get to the Latvian

or the Finnish border.

And to which border would you suggest,

Comrade Reed?

Well, I understand that train travel

is very dangerous at the moment...

Why does he need a train?

Because I have urgent personal

considerations and responsibilities

- in the United States and I...

- Of what nature?

- Excuse me?

- Of what nature?

- I have a family.

- We all have families.

Well, I can speak only for myself

and I must see my wife.

It's very urgent,

and I ask only

for a single place on a train.

But you have a place on the train!

You have a place

on the train of this revolution.

You have been like so many others,

the best revolutionaries.

One of the engineers

on the locomotive of this train

that pulls this revolution

on the tracks of historical necessity

laid out for it by the party.

You can't leave us now.

We can't replace you.

- What right do you have you to leave...

- I'm not sure.

To do what? To see your wife?

Last year at the International Congress

I learned that my son

was very ill of typhus.

I didn't go to see my son

because I knew I was needed

where I was placed by the party.

What you don't understand is...

Would you like to abandon this moment

in your life?

Would you ever get this moment again?

- I am not abandoning the revolution!

- Comrade Reed, you're a writer.

People know and respect your work.

- You speak with authority of feeling.

- Comrade Zinoviev,

for the past eight weeks,

I've been completely unable

to communicate with my wife

or with my comrades

in the United States.

I need to go back. I would like your help.

Comrade Reed, you can always go back

to your private responsibilities,

so can I.

You can never, never come back

to this moment in history.

I'm sorry.

I have no right to tell you

about your own life.

You know it better than I do.

Maybe it was impossible

to get out of Russia.

There was White armies all around,

so escape was not dreamt of.

We had a communication from Jack.

He was in prison in Finland

where he couldn't communicate freely.

But he got word out to me

to take a message to Louise.

And I remember walking over to Louise,

she lived right near me.

I walked over to Louise's apartment

on Patson Place,

and spent an evening with her

talking about Jack,

and she talked very earnestly

about Jack's plight.

Mrs. Reed, the United States

cannot involve itself

in the internal affairs of Finland.

Are you trying to tell me

the American Consul

- can't give you any information?

- I'm afraid that there's nothing

- that the State Department can do.

- Don't give me that garbage.

If his name were Rockefeller,

there'd be something you could do.

Mrs. Reed, if your husband's name

were Rockefeller,

I think he would hardly be

under indictment

for a conspiracy to overthrow

the United States Government.

He has only one kidney.

He could be dangerously ill.

That is a chance

that your husband took, Mrs. Reed,

when he left the United States

without an exit visa or a passport.

Good day, Mrs. Reed.

The United States

participated with the Allies

in military expeditions against

the Soviet Union

in an attempt to overcome them,

invade them,

and set up another government.

Oh, yes. Yes.

There was a noose

to be pulled around Russia

which gave you an idea

of how a whole country

can be surrounded

east, west, south, and north.

Your name,

and the name of your contact in Finland.

Your name,

and the name of your contact in Finland.

I don't know what color...

I'll just get it myself.

- Would you get some...

- Would you like us to do it now?

- Okay.

- Oh, okay.

- All right.

- I understand.

From the top?

Oh, I see. Then they made a map.

Terry spoke to me.

Louise, I don't think you realize

how difficult this trip to be for a woman.

You'd have to stow away.

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