Then, comrades, come rally
And the last fight Let us face
The Internationale
Unites the human race
Then, comrades, come rally
And the last fight Let us face
The Internationale
Unites the human race
That's how it goes.
Porter!
Confiscate it.
I'll take it with me to Washington on Wednesday.
On whose authority?
The authority of the Attorney General.
All right, pack it up.
- Attorney General? - Attorney General of the United States.
That's upside down.
- Louise! - Max!
How are you?
Max. Hi!
Hi!
Oh, God, Louise. You look good!
God, whatever you've been doing, you ought to bottle it.
Oh, thank you.
He's gonna write a great book, Max, and I'm gonna lecture while he's doing it
so we can have something to live on.
And he's gonna write wherever I'm lecturing.
And then we're gonna go back to Croton
and he's gonna help me edit my collection of articles
on women in the Revolution,
and then we're gonna help edit each other's books.
No more separations. We've really promised each other, Max.
We're really going to get down to living our own lives.
It's so moving. God, Max, you should've been there!
Well, they took my notes. Every goddamn note I have for my book.
Can they do that?
Welcome home. Let's go.
Come on, come on. We'll get your notes back.
You'll write your book.
A lot's been happening. Now what the hell is going on here, Jack?
I understand you and Louise have decided to be happy?
It's a very difficult situation
for a country who is conducting a war,
when one of its allies has a revolution
and the government is changed.
The thing that made the furor was that the Russians withdrew,
and we lost an ally.
We thought the Russians had gone back on us.
The Bolshevik Revolution, at the time,
was the most single striking event in the history of the times,
of the whole era.
The complete transformation of Russian society,
and the taking over by the peasants and the workers
of the machinery of the state.
It never had happened before in history.
You're a grand old flag
You're a high flying flag
And forever and e'er may you wave
You're the emblem of The land I love
The home of the free and the brave
Every heart beats true For the red, white and blue
Where there's never a boast or brag
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
Keep your eye on the grand old flag
Over There is not till 1918.
Over there, over there
Send the word, send the word
Over there That the Yanks are coming...
You know that one.
But the other one after Grand Old Flag,
or before, was I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy.
I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy
Yankee Doodle...
Real live nephew of my Uncle Sam
Born on the 4th of July
I've got a Yankee Doodle sweetheart
She's my Yankee Doodle joy
Yankee Doodle went to London Just to ride the ponies
I am the Yankee Doodle boy
That was a big hit.
- Do you believe in God? - I beg your pardon?
It's a simple question, Miss Bryant. Now do you want me to repeat it?
I'm sorry, for a moment I thought
you asked me if I believed there's a God.
That is precisely what I asked you.
I see. Well, I have no way of knowing.
Are you a Christian?
I was christened in the Catholic Church.
- Well, are you a Christian now? - I suppose I am.
Do you believe in Our Lord Jesus Christ?
I believe in the teachings of Christ. Am I being tried for witchcraft?
Miss Bryant, tell me,
are there no decent, God-fearing Christians among the Bolsheviks?
Does one have to be God-fearing and Christian to be decent?
Senator, the Bolsheviks believe that it's religion, particularly Christianity,
that's kept the Russian people back for so many centuries.
- Miss Bryant... - If any of you'd ever been to Russia
and seen the peasants, you might think they had a point.
On the subject of decency, Senator,
the Bolsheviks took power with the slogan, "An end to the war."
Within six months, they made good their promise to the Russian people.
Now, the present President of the United States of America
went to this country in 1916, on a "no war" ticket.
Within six months, he'd taken us into the war,
and 115,000 young Americans didn't come back.
If that's how decent, God-fearing Christians behave,
give me atheists anytime.
By the way, Senator Overman, in Russia, women have the vote,
which is more than you can say for this country.
Miss Bryant,
do you advocate a Soviet government for this country?
No. In this country I don't think it would work.
In other words, you mean the Red scare?
They got scared, or we got scared?
No, we didn't get scared.
They were afraid that the unions would grow in strength.
A radical movement in America. They were scared.
Oh, sure.
The Americans, they were frightened to death by it, you know.
That it could occur here.
Sure. Everybody was in mortal dread
of the government descending on them.
The FBI or whatever it was, don't you know.
We had to expose them.
And once they told American people what Communism was...
People won't have nothing to do with Communism now.
They know what it is.
But then, they didn't know. It was a new thing.
Public opinion was solidly against anyone
who had a good word for the Russian Revolution.
But Louise was always communicating what she had experienced.
I brought blankets, here,
and a heavy coat, here.
Chase and Sanborn.
Gloves.
Thank you, Jack. Everyone else brought me hats.
And Louise sends you her best and this.
A scarf. Very kind.
I'm afraid your time is up.
Well,
we're going to keep fighting this.
Will you tell Max I'd like a picture of myself in the magazine?
And under it, I would like the words, "Deported in 1919.
"The government of the most powerful country in the world
"is afraid of this woman."
We're going to get you back, E.G.
The revolution needs you. We're gonna get you back.
Comrade, I'm not leaving the revolution.
In Russia, I'll be joining it.
I urged the deportation of all
alien Communists. All alien Communists.
It's bad enough having a Communist with us,
but to have alien Communists who are not citizens,
denouncing our form of government and our republic
and everything else, they should be deported.
And I led a big fight on that for a long while.
It wasn't a very healthy atmosphere.
So when John Reed came along,
well, he was a voice of what I love.
He was able to go into the most controversial subject of all,
Communism, Bolshevism.
He was considered one of the rare persons who could do a thing like that.
He knew he was on the threshold of history,
and he wrote it that way.
- A touch of this... - Jack, I'm back!
I'm in here, honey.
I talked to Edmund and Alfred today at Liveright's.
- What a day it's turned out to be. - Stay out, honey! Stay out, stay out.
What are you doing in there? Is everything okay?
- Can't I help? - No, no, no, no!
Sure smells good. What is it?
Stay out, honey. What did Edmund have to say?
He said in a few weeks the steelworkers will strike.
He thinks at least 200,000 of them, and maybe as many as 300,000.
But he doesn't think there's any stopping them this time.
Yeah? That's good.
You still thinking about doing a piece on it? I am.
Well, I can't really talk now, but what does he say the next step is?
Evidently the federal government's saying the steel organizers are Reds.
So what they're doing is forming a bureau of investigation
just to look into subversive activity.
And you know, with all this talk about the leadership of the AF of L
being in cahoots with the Steel Trust,
Alfred asked me if I was still gonna do the piece on the IWW.
So I said, "Alfred, for the moment I don't want to go any further away
- "than New Jersey." - Really?
Oh, that's good. That's good.
- Just... - Yeah, it is good.
Sit down. I'll just be a minute.
Jack, what are you doing?
- How did you leave it with Edmund? - He's gonna read the piece on Debs.
Okay, the first course.
- Yeah? - Sit down.
Sit down and close your eyes. Sit down.
Okay.
Oh, my.
My...
- Go ahead. - Oh.
What do you think?
Really? You serious?
Really? Thank God. I was gonna flambe them out here,
but the goddamn things flambeed themselves in the pan.
He was certainly the main inspiration
in the development of a revolutionary movement
through his history
of T en Days That Shook The World.
T en Days That Shook The World was, of course, his masterpiece.
He was there when the Bolshevik Revolution took place.
And his was the best report of it.
Max Eastman had this story that John Reed came down,
tousled hair all, you know... And said he was writing a book
and not to disturb him for ten days.
And that became Ten Days That Shook The World.
Supposedly.
He was an enormous, enormous success,
and this success largely changed his whole life, I think,
'cause he found out there was something that he could do well,
do practically better than anyone else.
"Comrades, we have made a great stride forward in our program
"to capture the Socialist Party for Revolution.
"The time of right-wing domination of the party has ended.
"They have fallen before the shining example of revolutionary Russia
"like so many bowling pins!
"Comrades, we have done better than we could have dreamed.
"The left wing has won 12 of the 15 seats
"on the Socialist Party Executive,
"including myself, Edmund MacAlpine and Jack Reed."
He took a tremendous jump forward from there on.
He became a revolutionist on the workers' side,
and he had no more illusions about people like Wilson.
We all have problems.
You can't escape having problems, don't you know?
But to take on the problem of all humanity,
to save all humanity,
my God, that was too big even for Jesus Christ.
Don't you know he got himself crucified?
How the hell do we expect to do those things?
Oh.
Louise. Is that you?
Hello, Harry.
Well, where have you been lately? I haven't seen you in a long time.
That's right. Is this thing gonna last all day?
It might. We've been kicked out.
- Kicked out of what? - The Socialist Party.
- Wait, wait. Who got kicked out? - Everybody in that room.
The Executive Committee kicked us all out.
- The whole left wing? - That's right. They nullified the election.
- Can they do that? - They've done it.
We're the majority. We have the votes.
We weren't expelled by the membership.
We were expelled by the executives.
And you're talking about doing exactly
what the Executive Committee wants us to do.
Give the party back to them without a fight!
Yes! And organize our own party!
Goddamn it, Louis, the Socialist Party is our own party!
We were voted into power by its membership
and we can't be expelled by the executives.
It's an illegal act, and if we fight it at the convention, we'll win.
Why do we have to fight?
What do you mean, "Why do we have to fight?"
For what do we stay in a party
in which we must win control from the minority, not once, but twice?
Well, what is it, Louis? You mean, if we must fight for what we deserve,
then to hell with it? Is that your idea of revolution?
I'd like to hear more about your revolutionary concept, Louis.
My idea of revolution is not a revolution in my own party!
And my idea of a socialist party is not a debating society!
It is a party of action!
Fine! Fine.
The best example we can give them is go to that convention
and take control of the party!
No! We form our own party!
And I hope that everybody here who believe in Bolshevism
will be there that night to help found that party!
All right, but I say you're wrong,
and I say that I'm gonna be there at that Socialist Party convention
to take the seat that belongs to me, and I urge everyone here today
to be there to take the seats that belong to you!
It's almost like they want to be separated from the masses.
They do want to be separated from the masses. That's the point.
Let's go.
I've been in a minority before.
Hello.
While he liked the draft manifesto,
he's a bit nervous about the social-patriot clause.
- Excuse me. - Tactically, he's gonna be trouble.
Is he gonna bring his people to the convention or not?
The man will talk theory with you all year.
Well, I don't think so. He'll go with Fraina.
Isn't that nice? He likes the manifesto. How about Carnofsky?
I don't think we're gonna have as much support as we thought, Jack.
We're gonna get in. What did Carnofsky say?
- Carnofsky said no. - I'm telling you, Jack...
- Just knowing on our own... - Half of Fraina's people would come...
Come in! Louise, please keep her quiet, will you?
- Hi, Eddie. - How can...
- Hello, Eddie. - Hello, Louise, Ben.
Hey.
Eddie, what about Levine?
- Eddie? - Yeah.
- What did Levine say? - He never showed. He...
I waited over an hour.
- Levine didn't show. - That doesn't sound like Levine.
Sure it does. Where were you meeting?
In Casey's.
Now, that surprises me. That really surprises me.
I could have missed him.
It was really busy in there.
- You could have missed him? - What's that supposed to mean?
I was late.
How late?
Forty, forty-five minutes.
Nora started spitting up blood again this morning.
I had to take her to the clinic,
and I had to wait for my mother to come and pick up the kid.
So you were 45 minutes late.
Yeah. I thought I could make it. I really did.
All right, we gotta get in touch with the guy. How do we do it?
He's on his way to Chicago.
That's one of the reasons I thought he would still be there.
Wait a minute, you thought he'd still be there?
- Yeah. - Who asked for the meeting, Eddie?
- Who asked for the meeting? - Who asked for the meeting?
- Did Levine want the meeting? - Yeah, I thought he wanted it.
Did he call us?
No. We called him.
Then why would he wait? We wanted the meeting.
I'm sorry.
Well, why didn't you call one of us and get somebody to take your place?
Because I thought I could make it.
I mean, I thought the man would still be there.
You thought, you thought, you thought. Try not to think too much, Eddie.
Not when your comrades are depending on you.
Be sure.
All right, look.
Do we have a contact for Levine in Chicago?
Let's call Singer.
- Do you have a number for him? - Yeah. Well, I've probably got it.
Here.
Thanks.
You know, they might work better
if you put something in your stomach besides coffee.
You're a little hard on Eddie, aren't you, under the circumstances?
You think my sympathies can help Eddie's wife?
Might help Eddie.
Listen to me. Building a party will help Eddie.
Four, eight, twelve...
You know, I think we all believe in the same things.
But with us,
it's more or less our good intentions.
And with Jack, it's a religion.
Our old friend Jack's getting serious on us.
Okay. Hey, Frank, how are you?
How are you?
Excuse me. What's happening here?
No one's admitted without a red card. That's the order of the Executive.
Well, I'm on the Executive, so is he, so is he...
- No one's admitted without a red card. - Where do we get the red cards?
You'll have to take that up with the Credentials Committee.
And where's the Credentials Committee?
I don't know.
I don't think he wants us to go in there.
Well, the way to take the hall is to take the hall.
Edmund!
Edmund! Jack!
Okay. Let's go. Let's go. Come on, this way!
To propose the agenda, I would like to read a message
from the Credentials Committee to the floor.
May we please have order back there?
In the back of the hall, could we have...
Sergeant-at-arms, would you see what's going on back there?
Ladies and gentlemen, it seems we have a group of intruders
who are trying to take over this conference.
We're not going to let them.
Now, please, please sit down. I need these aisles clear.
Sergeant-at-arms, I must have these aisles clear!
Please, everyone, sit down.
Now, these are Bolshevik sympathizers
who are trying to take over this party, and we're not going to let them.
The police are coming.
These people aren't socialists. These people are just thugs!
Now you see? That is Bolshevik tactics!
Come on, delegates. These people are imposters!
They were not elected to the leadership of this party.
Ladies and gentlemen, the police are coming!
- You see? The police. - What the hell is this?
That's the only way the Executive Committee can stay in power,
is by the use of the capitalist police.
Flash your red cards!
They'll resort to any tactics to keep the working class
away from its true leadership because they're afraid of revolution!
Officers, whoever has no red card does not belong in this room.
Hold up your red cards.
It's all right. We're going. You don't have to throw us out.
If you want to know where the true leadership
of the Socialist Party of America is,
it'll be in the basement of this building in five minutes...
- Red cards, everybody! - ...and you're welcome to join us.
I want anybody who does not have a red card to be out of this hall.
Comrade Chairman, I move that we immediately constitute ourselves
as the bona fide Communist party,
and that we call ourselves the Communist Labor Party of America.
I second that motion!
Well, look, if we're gonna have a really revolutionary party,
I think what we have to do is to find out from the American worker
what he wants the most and then we have to translate it back to him
in terms of the labor movement as a whole.
What we have to do is make him want more.
We have to make him want the whole goddamn revolution.
Those people upstairs think that Karl Marx was somebody
who wrote a good antitrust law.
And whether we call our party the Socialist Labor Party
or the Real Socialist Communist... Whatever we call the party,
it doesn't matter because it...
Hello, Lou, are you lost?
No. I'm not lost. I'm here to tell my friends
that the newly-formed Communist Party of America
is meeting at the Russian Federation on Blue Island Avenue.
We welcome your applications.
They will be judged on an individual basis.
You're gonna judge our applications?
We're gonna apply to you for membership?
Comrade Chairman, I'd like to call that question, please.
The motion has been made and seconded that
we immediately constitute ourselves as the bona fide Communist party
and that we call ourselves the Communist Labor Party of America.
All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.
Aye!
Opposed? Motion is carried.
Comrades! Comrades!
Comrades, this is the wrong time to be fighting against one another.
We should be united in our struggle against the capitalists.
You should have thought of that six weeks ago, Louis.
If your people had stayed with us, we'd have had a majority,
and we'd be in control of that convention upstairs.
We have five times your membership!
Louis, your arithmetic's something like your politics.
We will be at the Russian Federation on Blue Island Avenue.
I hope to see some of you there.
Comrade Chairman, I move we immediately send a delegate to Moscow
to gain recognition by the Comintern
for the Communist Labor Party of America,
- and that delegate be Jack Reed. - Second the motion!
The motion has been made and seconded to send Jack Reed
to Moscow immediately as the international delegate
to obtain recognition of the Comintern
for the Communist Labor Party of America.
All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.
Aye!
Opposed? Motion is carried.
Since the first question I'm going to be asked...
All right, thank you.
All right, comrades, since the first question I'm gonna be asked
by the Comintern is gonna be about membership eligibility,
I think I'm gonna have to be very clear what our position is
in relation to the Foreign Language Federation.
I'm gonna have to say exactly what our requirements are
as opposed to any other group,
and I think we'll have to make it clear on our Platform Committee
and be very clear in the manifesto.
- Good luck in Moscow, Jack! - Okay, Harry.
Well, I guess you boys think you can run a newspaper without me.
Hello, Jessie.
Good girl.
- Hello. - Hello.
Let me make it easy for you, Jack. I'm not going with you.
And if you go, I'm not sure I'll be here when you get back.
Louise, you know, the Comintern doesn't know Edmund or Alfred
from the New York Yankees. They know me.
Somebody's got to go over there who's got a background.
We'd be back by Christmas.
We can't merge with Fraina.
We can't deal with him on membership eligibility.
He wouldn't accept half of our people.
The man is gonna do nothing but alienate himself
from any potential broad base of support.
He's sociologically isolated,
programmatically he's impossible to deal with...
You mean he's a foreigner?
Don't do that, Louise.
Six months ago, you were friends.
These people can barely speak English.
They don't even want to be integrated into American life.
The Foreign Language Federations aren't gonna create Bolshevism
in America any more than eating borscht will.
Being Russian doesn't make a revolution.
Do you think the American workers
are gonna be led by the Russian federations?
Or an insular Italian like Louis Fraina?
He has no possibility of leading a revolution in this country.
Unlike you?
I'm just saying that the revolution in this country
is not gonna be led by immigrants.
Revolution? In this country? When, Jack? Just after Christmas?
Well, what do you think we could've done with the steel strike
if we'd been ready?
30,000 party members all armed with a unified theory and program
leading 365,000 steelworkers?
What it takes is leadership.
And we gotta get it by getting recognition from Moscow.
- I have to go. - You don't have to go.
You want to go. You want to go running all over the world ranting and raving
and making resolutions and organizing caucuses.
What's the difference between the Communist Party
and the Communist Labor Party
except that you're running one and he's running the other?
- I've made a commitment. - To what?
To the fine distinction between which half of the left of the left
is recognized by Moscow as the real Communist Party in America?
To petty political squabbling between humorless and hack politicians
just wasting their time on left-wing dogma?
To getting the endorsement of a committee in Russia
you call the International
for your group of 14 intellectual friends in the basement
who are supposed to tell the workers of this country what they want,
whether they want it or not?
Write, Jack.
You're not a politician, you're a writer.
And your writing has done more for the revolution
than 20 years of this infighting can do, and you know it.
You're an artist, Jack.
Don't go.
Don't run away from what you do the best.
Jack.
I'll be back by Christmas.
I'm going into the city. When do you leave?
Tomorrow.
- I see. - I'll be back by Christmas.
Will you be here?
I don't know. I'll see you when I see you.
Here. Your passport and papers. Your name's James Gormley.
Go now!
Well, Mrs. Reed. Sit down.
What can I do for you?
Hello, Gene. How are you?
Fine. And you?
I'm fine.
Sit down.
- How's Jack? - He's fine. He's in Russia.
- Is he? - Yes.
He's trying to get recognition from the Comintern
for the Communist Labor Party.
You see, they've split into two different factions.
And you? Left alone with your work again?
No.
Well, actually, yes, but my work is different now.
I do a lot of lecturing about what I saw in Russia.
Ah, yes, Russia.
Russia's been good for you and Jack.
Given you a way to meet people, given him a reason to leave home.
Russia.
Are you really that cynical, or are you angry with me?
I'm really that cynical. Why would I be angry with you?
Gene, if you'd been to Russia,
you'd never be cynical about anything again.
You would have seen people transformed. Ordinary people.
Louise, something in me tightens when an American intellectual's eyes shine
and they start to talk to me about the Russian people.
- Wait... - Something in me says, "Watch it.
"A new version of Irish Catholicism is being offered for your faith."
- It's not like that. - And I wonder why
a lovely wife like Louise Reed who's just seen the brave new world
is sitting around with a cynical bastard like me
instead of trotting all over Russia with her idealistic husband.
It's almost worth being converted.
Well, I was wrong to come.
You and Jack have a lot of middle-class dreams for two radicals.
Jack dreams that he can hustle the American working man,
whose one dream is to be rich enough not to have to work,
into a revolution led by his party.
And you dream that if you discuss the revolution with a man
before you go to bed with him,
it'll be missionary work rather than sex.
I'm sorry to see you and Jack so serious about your sports.
It's particularly disappointing in you, Louise.
You had a lighter touch when you were touting free love.
Boy, you've become quite the critic, haven't you, Gene?
Just leaned back and analyzed us all.
Duplicitous women who tout free love and then get married,
power-mad journalists who join the revolution
instead of observing it,
middle-class radicals who come looking for sex
and then talk about Russia.
It must seem so contemptible to a man like you
who has the courage to sit on his ass and observe human inadequacy
from the inside of a bottle.
Well, I've never seen you do anything for anyone.
I've never seen you give anything to anyone,
so I can understand why you might suspect the motives of those who have.
But whatever Jack's motives are, how...
I seem to have touched a wound.
You're a wounding son of a bitch,
and whatever I've done to you, you've made me pay for it.
Louise.
Jessie!
Hey, Jess, come on! Come here, Jess.
Jessie, come here.
Jessie.
Jessie?
- Oh! - Good evening.
By the order of the Attorney General of the United States,
A. Mitchell Palmer, I have a warrant here
for the arrest of one John Silas Reed.
Look upstairs, Frank.
- Arrest for what? - Sedition.
- Where is he? - What do you mean by sedition?
Lady, don't ask me. Ask Woodrow Wilson.
Just tell me where he is.
I don't suppose there's a chance
of you being a Bolshevik agitator, is there?
Why don't you just look around, and see how agitated you get?
In 1919,
there were no more
than four or five Americans
who got into Russia
because the country was surrounded 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.
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.
If you got there at all, it would take you six months to...
Terry said that he thought that you could arrange a freighter for me
- as far as Norway. - Don't know why you're saying it.
You know what I mean?
Sit down.
I want to talk to you about something.
...indicates the map.
I could go.
I can sign on as a seaman. There'd be no questions asked.
I think under the circumstances...
Don't look at me like that. Jack Reed's a friend of mine.
I'm not gonna let the son of a bitch rot in jail.
Just seemed to me that I'm not as interested...
...and at this point...
Okay.
Wasn't he supposed to come over to me on this?
I'll talk to Terry in the morning.
Where the cross is made...
I wish these son-of-a-bitches could act.
Your blood pressure is very high.
They only give me some kind of salted fish.
The blood in your mouth is from the gums.
You have scurvy.
An impressive shade of red, comrade.
Could you send a cable to my wife?
Mr. Reed, I have something for you.
- Is there a cable? - There's nothing yet.
You should take one of these powders in a glass of water, once a day.
Has she sent word to me here?
They won't say. Our people can find out nothing.
You are being released.
You know, I must tell you, I lost sight of John Reed completely.
But what I heard was
the Bolsheviki traded some Finnish professors
for the release of John Reed.
John Reed.
We are here to welcome you.
Could you take me to the telegraph office?
- Yes. Get in. - Thank you.
"Louise Bryant, Croton-on..."
Hudson.
"...Hudson, New York, USA.
"I'm safe. Stop."
"Please contact..."
Contact. Please contact.
"Contact Petrograd telegraph office. Stop.
"Have received no word from you. Stop.
"Please for... Forgive..."
Please forgive Christmas.
"Please forgive Christmas. Stop. Love, Jack."
Could you send that right away?
Comrade Lenin said
he would trade, for John Reed, fifty professors.
"Louise Bryant, Croton-on-Hudson,
"New York, USA."
- USA. - "USA. Immediate."
- Immediate return... - "Immediate return..."
- ... United States... - "... United States..."
- ...impossible. - "...impossible."
- Louise Bryant, Croton... - Croton.
- "Croton-on..." - Croton-on-Hudson.
"Croton-on-Hudson, New York, USA.
"Still no word from you. Stop. Have no fixed address. Stop."
"Louise Bryant. Croton-on-Hudson, New York, USA.
"Must know, are you well? Stop."
- "Do not..." - Do not understand.
"Do not understand why no word from you. Stop."
"Louise Bryant. Croton-on-Hudson, New York, USA.
- "Need..." - Need word.
"Need word from you. Stop. Do not understand your silence. Stop"
"Louise Bryant. Croton-on-Hudson,
- "New York, USA." - Did you check R-E-A-D?
Yes. Yes.
And you checked R-E-I-D also?
I have looked R-E-I-D,
R-E-A-D,
R-E-D. I have looked Goldman and Bryant.
I'm just... Excuse me. One second.
If, if...
I thought maybe there's some other way of misspelling the name.
- You also looked under R-E-I-D? - Yes, Comrade Reed.
- Yes, yes. What do you want? - There's many people wait.
- Excuse me. - If something come, we'll notify you.
What have you heard?
Not much. What have you heard?
I don't hear. I wait. They've jailed more anarchists.
But they made Bill Shatoff head of the Siberian railway.
They treated me very well, and I'm reserving my judgment.
- Well, that's wise. - There's so much I don't understand.
There are forests within easy reach of Petrograd.
Why is this city freezing?
I asked Zinoviev.
He said our enemies have destroyed all the means of transportation
and killed off our horses as well as our men.
How would we get at it?
I said, "What about the people of Petrograd?
"They could go there together on foot and haul the wood back with ropes."
He said, "Oh, yes, it would make the people warmer,
"but it would interfere with the carrying out of the main political policy."
- You get letters from America, E.G.? - Oh, yes.
All opened by the Justice Department. I hope they enjoy what they read. I don't.
So I asked him, "What are the main political policies?"
He said, "Concentration of all power in the hands
"of the proletarian avant-garde.
"The avant-garde of the revolution, which is the Communist Party."
Anybody mention Louise?
I don't think so. You haven't heard from her?
I've sent her cables, but I don't get any answer.
- For how long? - A long time.
Wait.
Rhys Williams mentioned her in his letter.
He hasn't heard from her, either.
What'd he say?
I think he said that he'd tried to reach her
sometime after Christmas, but she'd left New York.
How long ago was that?
Well, you know how these letters take a couple of months to get here.
By the time I get them, whoever sent it is either in jail or deported.
- That's it. - Which?
- There. - Rhys Williams.
Oh.
- First the eyes go, then the legs. - Yeah.
Yeah, I don't understand the fuel situation, either.
I don't know...
He says she seems to be out of town.
That's all he said?
Yeah.
What did he say about O'Neill?
O'Neill? Nothing.
Come on, what did he say?
Nothing.
Can I see it?
I'm sorry.
I just don't know where...
Jack, sit down.
If Louise were to come here,
she'd have to leave the United States illegally,
then live in exile with you, and never go home again.
All for the sake of a revolution she was never any part of.
Why should she?
You chose the life of a revolutionary.
She didn't.
Your cables only focus the Justice Department's attention on her,
and the most seditious thing they can accuse her of
is being your wife.
Leave her alone.
Let her choose her own future.
Why hasn't she answered me?
I think she has answered you.
He's been released. They won't tell me where he is.
Do you know, she was much hated
for her extravagance in clothes.
Well, a long time ago, somebody said to me,
"People who...
"Women whose lives have been in danger
"over a long period are always the most extravagant."
Comrades, as wrong-headed as many of its policies are,
the IWW is a revolutionary union
and the American Federation of Labor is not.
To think we can infiltrate the American Federation of Labor
and convert it to revolutionary policies is hopeless.
Translation.
Comrades, that's the wrong translation.
That's not what he said.
What's he saying?
For us to make a point on the floor of the Congress,
we have to go
from our own English language into the official German language
to the Italian, or Spanish, or French language.
- And then, when the response from... - What is your question, please?
Simply for the labor union issue,
could we have the English language as an official language
on the floor of the Congress?
Comrade Reed, this is the third time you have raised this proposal!
The issue has been decided.
We must move on to the national and colonial issues!
Real revolutionary workers in the United States
quit the AF of L a long time ago
and joined the IWW.
We have to make the Russians understand this,
and that's why we want your support
to extend the session of congress and to keep the debate open.
Jack, are you okay?
- Did you talk to Sadoul? - Yes, I did.
Comrades, I'm still opposed to closing the discussion here.
I think that this discussion is being closed
to avoid hearing the American and the British delegations.
And if for no other reason than that,
it shows that discussion should continue.
Comrade Radek uses this sort of remark
in place of an argument and as a result, he doesn't want to talk about it.
What Reed says is not distinguished by excessive fear of distorting the truth.
He goes on day and night and has the cheek to claim
that the discussion is being broken off
because of fear of the great might of John Reed.
Comrade Reed, you may have time to discuss it until tomorrow morning.
Other people do not have the time.
Comrade Radek, other people that don't have the time for this discussion
are 101 leaders of the IWW
who are in jail today in the United States
because of their revolutionary views.
And if we turn our back on these comrades
out of some pipe dream to radicalize the American Federation of Labor
which cannot be done, it is a disgrace.
We've discussed this during six sessions of this commission.
We spent whole day today discussing it,
and you insinuate we are trying to dismiss the issue?
We haven't had enough discussion...
We haven't had enough discussion for my friend here
to realize that Louis Fraina and I think alike on this problem.
Every American on our delegation,
- every man on the English delegation... - You are a member of this committee.
You are not an independent political party.
Comrade Zinoviev, I will not be steamrollered by this committee
that has not had a proper education on this problem.
On the fact...
The discussion is closed.
However, if Comrade Reed wishes to make a statement,
he will have two minutes to do so.
I would merely want to say that on behalf of the American delegates,
that we will refuse to vote on these theses,
and that I myself will resign my seat on this committee.
Jack, I think we have to face it.
The dream that we had is dying in Russia.
If Bolshevism means the peasants taking the land,
the workers taking the factories,
Russia's one place where there's no Bolshevism.
You know, I can argue with cops, I can fight with generals.
I can't deal with a bureaucrat.
You think Zinoviev is nothing worse than a bureaucrat?
The Soviets have no more local autonomy.
The central state has all the power.
All the power is in the hands of a few men
and they are destroying the revolution.
They are destroying any hope of real Communism in Russia.
They're putting people like me in jail.
My understanding of revolution
is not a continual extermination of political dissenters,
and I want no part of it.
Every single newspaper's been shut down
or taken over by the party.
Anyone even vaguely suspected of being a counter-revolutionary
can be taken out and shot without a trial. Where does that end?
Is any nightmare justifiable
in the name of defense against counter-revolution?
The dream may be dying in Russia, but I'm not.
It may take some time. I'm getting out.
You sound like you're a little confused by the revolution in action, E.G.
Up to now, you've only dealt with it in theory.
What did you think this thing was gonna be?
A revolution by consensus
where we all sat down and agreed over a cup of coffee?
Nothing works.
Four million people died last year.
Not from fighting a war,
they died from starvation and typhus in a militaristic police state
that suppresses freedom and human rights
where nothing works.
They died because of a French, British and American blockade
that cut off all food and medical supplies
and because counter-revolutionaries have sabotaged the factories
and the railroads and the telephones, and because the people,
the poor, ignorant, superstitious, illiterate people,
are trying to run things themselves, just as you always said that they should,
but they don't know how to run them yet.
Did you really think things would work right away?
Did you really expect social transformation
to be anything other than a murderous process?
It's a war, E.G., and we gotta fight it like we fight a war,
with discipline, with terror, with firing squads,
or we just give it up.
Those four million people didn't die fighting a war.
They died from a system that cannot work!
It's just the beginning, E.G.
It's not happening the way we thought it would.
It's not happening the way we wanted it to,
but it's happening.
If you walk out on it now,
what's your whole life meant?
Could you tell me if my resignation is ready for signature yet?
- It is. - Good.
May I see it?
Thank you.
- Thank you, Comrade Reed. - Welcome back, Comrade Reed.
Now you'll be able to represent the American workers
at the forthcoming congress at Baku
to inspire revolution among the peoples of the Middle East.
Prepare for a difficult trip.
Our only route is through divided territory.
Some of these intellectuals spread rumors
that he changed his mind afterwards,
trying to, you know,
show that he came to his senses.
It's preposterous.
These men, well, I don't even remember them.
I don't want to remember them.
All trains to Baku canceled because of attacks
by counter-revolutionaries.
There must be some train to Baku.
All trains to Baku canceled
because of attacks by counter-revolutionaries.
There has to be something to Baku.
Louise?
Emma?
Emma.
How in the name of God did you get into Russia?
- I had no idea how long it would take. - So, you'll wait for a while.
By the time you got there, he'd be back here anyway.
Go on in. Go on in.
Oh, I'm sorry.
It's all right. It's all right.
Here. Louise, sit down. Sit down.
I want to tell you something.
It's late, I know.
I want to thank you for that scarf.
Oh, yes.
I was wrong about you.
So was I.
The American oil companies are trying to establish
a world monopoly of oil.
In 1898, the Filipinos rebelled against the cruel colonial government of Spain.
But after the Spaniards had been driven out...
The Americans have promised the Filipinos independence.
Soon an independent Filipino republic will be proclaimed.
The government of United States sent soldiers and sailors there...
...under a dictatorship worse than the British tyrants.
What's that for?
They are supporting you for your call for a holy war
of Islamic people against the western infidels.
Excuse me, Comrade Reed.
They said you are not happy with the translations of your speech.
I did the German into Turkic
and Comrade Ossinsky did the Russian into German.
Russian?
Who turned it into Russian in the first place?
Well, I don't know.
They were already in Russian when we got them
from the office of Comrade Zinoviev.
- 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!
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?
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.