Reds Page #18

- I'm sorry for my English.

- Your English is fine, comrade.

Zinoviev, did you do

the translations of my speech?

I supervised it. Yes.

I didn't say "holy war."

I said "class war."

I took a liberty

of altering a phrase or two.

Yes, well, I don't allow people

to take those liberties with what I write.

Aren't you propagandist enough

to utilize what moves people most?

I'm propagandist enough

to utilize the truth.

And who defines this truth?

You or the party?

Is your life dedicated to speaking for...

You don't talk about what

my life is dedicated to!

Your life? You haven't resolved

what your life is dedicated to.

You see yourself as an artist

and at the same time as a revolutionary.

As a lover to your wife, but also as a

spokesman for the American classes.

Zinoviev, you don't think

a man can be an individual

and be true to the collective,

or speak for his own country

and the International at the same time,

or love his wife

and still be faithful to the revolution,

you don't have a self to give!

Would you ever be willing

to give yourself to this revolution?

When you separate a man

from what he loves the most,

what you do is purge

what's unique in him.

And when you purge

what's unique in him,

- you purge dissent.

- Comrade Reed.

And when you purge dissent,

you kill the revolution!

Revolution is dissent!

- Comrade Reed.

- You don't rewrite what I write!

Comrade Reed, counter-revolutionaries!

Counter-revolutionaries,

Comrade Reed!

Papa!

Papa!

Don't leave me.

Please don't leave me.

Comrade, the doctor

would like to see you now.

The doctor thinks

that we must do more analysis.

And a picture of his illness

will be clearer in a few days.

And he wants you to know

that we shall do the best conditions

for Comrade Reed

to prevent possibility

of high blood pressure

to cause a stroke.

I really... I know...

What?

How are you?

No.

Jack?

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

You hear it?

- Huh?

- What was that?

The water plays little songs.

It's not December, is it?

My, my, my, my.

God. What a time it was, huh?

- Want to come to New York with me?

- New York?

I got a taxi waiting.

I wouldn't mind.

What as?

What as?

What as?

Gee, I don't know.

Comrades?

Comrades.

Well, I want to go home.

Yeah.

I'll get you some water.

Oh, God.

It was in the afternoon,

sometime in the fall, I think.

October, I think.

Somebody came to tell me

that Jack Reed died.

You can imagine how...

How I felt.

I'd forgotten all about them.

Were they socialists?

Many of them were idealists.

You know,

things go and come back again.

I don't know what the outside world

thought of them,

but they were a couple.

I mean, you always spoke

of Louise Bryant and Jack Reed.

He was just a man in the prime of life.

I don't even know.

Did they ever have any children?

They probably didn't have any children,

he and Louise.

Again, you can't tell,

when you have children,

whether they will carry on

your revolutionary tradition or not.

Why did he do it?

Well, it's impossible to say

why Edison invented,

or why Galli-Curci sang...

He was definitely a stirrer-up of people.

That was his field.

That's what he came to do, apparently.

He's well-known amongst a few,

but not everybody.

They don't know who in heck he is.

I look for myself to die any day.

He was asked by Lenin,

"Are you an American?"

He said, "Yes."

And Lenin said,

"An American American?"

And Reed said, "Yes."

Of course,

nobody goes with the idea of dying.

Everybody wants to live.

I don't remember his exact words,

but the meaning was

that grand things are ahead,

worth living and worth dying for.

He himself said that.

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