Stalin Page #2

So mashed, though.

Our revolution is so young

you both triumph.

Nikolai, always an optimist.

- Yes, yes!

An inclination to look on the brite

side of things...

somethig you want I share.

French champagne,

liberated from prince Volkonsky cell.

Nikolai, you do the honors!

- Gregory Zinoviev.

Nadya.

- Grisha.

Unfortunately we couldn't liberate

Volkonsky's crystal...

Smashed!

To life!

- To life!

Where're you going?

- Trotsky...

Kamenev and Zinoviev

were intellectuals.

My father didn't have their education

or their manners.

They looked down on him

and he knew it.

They were on Trotsky's side.

Trotsky was the son

of a prosperous land owner

who'd enjoyed all the

privileges of wealth

and was looked upon

by many as Lenin's era -

apparent.

French novel?

There's a better story

in Bucharin's apartment.

"The mountaineer" and Nadya Alliluyeva

have got married.

How was it you weren't invited?

Anything else?

- No.

Go right into the secretariat.

Just the same,

you come to work tomorrow.

The revolution demands it!

She'll be there. But not early.

bThe Kremlin

April 1922/b

My mother was very much the new

soviet woman:

she continued to work even after

she was pregnant.

Comrades.

Are you going to stop making history

because

no-one is here to record it?

Don't worry.

It won't be written anyway.

Comrades, we have

an one-point agenda today:

the secretariat -

how can we improve its work?

What's wrong with its work?

It's function is growing faster

than its structure.

It's the practical problem of

party organization:

dues, assignment of

personal membership...

its those that put devils on the secretariat

that have to deal with these things.

All we have at ease

is on the Politburo.

All we have to do is Think.

I think we should assign one of

ourselves to the secretariat...

As a...

General Secretary.

That way we have

a direct organizational link.

What about you, comrade Trotsky?

Don't settle me with that job.

Settle a mule. Settle Stalin.

Please, please! No personal remarks.

Comrade Zinoviev? Are you interested?

I nominee Stalin.

- Stalin.

Yes, Stalin.

You accept, comrade Stalin?

If no-one would do it, I would do it.

Yes. Thank you very much.

May I change the subject, comrade Lenin?

- Please do!

The wars are behind us,

we're in a new period now.

The police are supposed

to be accountable.

But they still do what they like;

they still terrorize people.

True!

- I think comrade Bukharin is right.

No brutality should be allowed.

Although, there's

no revolution possible

without terror.

What're you drawing there?

A little drawing.

They handed all this power, Sergo.

Control of all the levers!

They not even know what they're doing,

stupid bastards!

Trotsky:
Trotsky turns it down,

king of the Jews turns it down.

You know what they've given me -

a reward for doing the job... ?

A country house.

You know who'd belonged to the house?

Zuvalov.

- Zubalov?

The bastard we organized

the strike against.

And Trotsky turns it down...

How is she?

She - all right?

Men!

How would you like to go back

to Georgia, Sergo?

They knock a new hedge together.

- Whose?

Some of our old friends down there...

they're running the place

as though they own it.

They need a real kick in their ass!

So, will you go. You'll go.

All you need - a good pair of boots.

Feel there! Go ahead, feel it, nice!

I could have been making these

if my father had his way.

But was I nine.

He took me down to Tbilisi

to make me work in a boot factory;

wanted me to be a cobbler like him.

I ran away, came home -

nine years old.

He beat the sh*t out of me.

Beat the sh*t out of me.

But! I've never made a boot

for anyone.

No. I won.

And you know to wrest in them, Sergo?

When you wear boots

you kick the man in their head.

And you never find his teeth.

Wear boots, Sergo. Wear boots.

A healthy boy!

There's a boy.

Vasily. We'll call you Vasily.

Koba! Where's Koba? Where's he?

What is the matter?

Koba!

Koba! It's Lenin:

Lenin has had a stroke.

May I talk to him?

Since when do you ask permission?

Vladimir Ilyich!

Who authorized you to send this telegraph?

- What?

To Sergo Ordzhonikidze:

"Of the General Secretary"?

Who's made the copy?

"You will thoroughly punish

the following members

of the Georgian central committee:... "

Where did you get that?

I know they got into an argument

but he slapped the man.

A leading comrade - he struck him!

The man insulted Sergo!

A party member does not strike

a party member!

It is not permissible!

You're in pain?

No-no, it's nothing. It's nothing.

You will order Sergo to apologize.

He's a Georgian. He... he's...

I'm referring this

to the control commission!

Who gave you this telegram? Who, who?

Who told you this?

Just order Sergo to come back.

Immediately!

Comrade...

- Immediately!

What they are doing these boys?

They want to turn you against me;

they want to split the party.

The doctors have told you to rest,

to remain calm, calm.

Now why do they excite you,

these bastards, why?

To kill you, that's the reason!

We will not allow this;

I've one aim, one mission:

to get comrade Lenin back on his feet.

And able to lead us again.

I'll send for the doctors.

The job nobody wanted put my father

in charge

of the party security.

He surrounded himself with ruthless men

and pecked for their loyalty to him.

Kaganovich was one of them.

Natasha is at Lenin switch-board.

We will know about everyone who calls.

Who set this up?

- I myself!

Who else knows about it?

- No-one.

Make sure!

You know Koba, while Lenin is ill...

- The country needs a leadership.

And Trotsky, of course,

is ready to provide one.

Lenin knows so, of course, and he will

never listen to anyone else's opinion.

Yours especially!

- Not even ours.

We have been thinking: until Lenin

can return...

Restored health and vigorous, enabled

to deal with all our terrible problems...

We could lead.

- In the spirit of Lenin, of course!

We?

- Comrades Stalin, Kamenev and Zinoviev.

How many legs does a stool have?

Why?...

- Three.

Because it cannot stand on one or two.

- Good, good! - Good!

What are they plotting now?

- Let them take me for a fool.

Trotsky!

Comrade Trotsky, Lenin wants to see you.

- Good.

He says you must turn against Stalin

before it is too late.

You must help Lenin now!

- It's good. Tomorrow.

Where's he?

- He's not to be disturbed!

How're you doing?

I'm just reading...

I'm reading my essays from 1903.

They came out again.

It's very interesting to see it now

how stupid we were at that time.

Is those officials?

Yes. I'm reading official reports.

The doctors have...

I'm responsible to you -

they're, too, won't you see?

Organizationally - yes,

but medically...

It's you they worry about.

They do not want you burdened.

Burdened?

Is it a burden to reed newspapers?

To even talk politics?

A newspaper?

Yes. Real newspapers,

not the kind you have printed for me:

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