Was that in 1913 or 17?
I can't remember now.
I'm beginning to forget
all the people that I used to know, see?
Do I remember Louise Bryant?
Why, of course.
I couldn't forget her if I tried.
I can't...
I might sort of scratch my memory,
but not at the moment.
You know, things go
and come back again.
It was Christopher Street,
and I was thinking about
another street down there instead,
until it came back
that it was Christopher Street.
Sometimes I have lapses like that.
I'd forgotten all about them.
Were they socialists?
I guess they must've been,
but I don't think they were
of any importance.
I don't remember them at all.
I know that Jack went around
with Mabel Dodge,
and then he went around
with another gal,
and then he went around
with Louise Bryant.
I know there were shifts back and forth,
but it never occurred to me...
It never impinged on
my own personal life.
I like baseball.
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.
I recall his telling me
that he had two ambitions
when he came to college.
One was to be elected
president of his class.
He didn't know anyone in the class.
No one knew him.
The other was to make a million dollars
by the time he was 25.
Now, my idea about Jack Reed
is probably different from most.
But I knew him well.
I knew he was a man of strong views.
I knew he was independent.
And I have an idea,
I may be wrong of this,
that his wife was a Communist
and that his wife had influenced him,
as any wife does,
as you know and I know.
Louise Bryant?
Well, I thought she was something
of an exhibitionist.
No, I'm not gonna talk about people.
Don't fool yourself.
No, sir. I'm not... I'm not
a purveyor of neighborhood gossip,
or anything of the kind.
That's not my job.
He was quiet.
He was a nice fellow.
I would say, if I met him,
I would say he was a nice fellow.
He was, however, a fighting fellow
in regards to principles.
I said, I think,
that a guy who's always interested
in the condition of the world
and changing it
either has no problems of his own
or refuses to face them.
Jack...
Well, I wouldn't call him a playboy,
but some people did.
Jack Reed's life, short as it was,
happened at a time,
and all of us, after all,
are the victims of our time and place,
when he had the opportunity,
as a reporter,
to be in some very exciting
and dramatic places.
It isn't everybody can
be buried in the Kremlin,
and he's the only American.
Born in Portland, Oregon.
Now, isn't that something?
- What's he hugging?
- A statue.
Well, I can see that.
But what's it a statue of?
It's just a statue, Mr. Woodward.
- How much is it?
- It's $75.
- For a photograph?
- That's right, Mrs. Rudisile.
This is interesting, Mrs. Trullinger.
Not that it isn't very nice,
but it isn't a painting.
Mr. Woodward,
I'd like you to look at this.
- I think I see the intention here.
- Yes.
Eve dominates, you see?
The dream dominates the dreamer.
It's...
It looks blurry to me.
The other one looked blurry, too.
I think that's the intention
of the photographer, Mr. Woodward.
What? To be blurry?
But perhaps if you looked at it
from a different point of view...
Louise!
This is you?
Lovely figure.
Louise, have you taken
leave of your senses?
Don't be a fool, Paul.
You think I'm a fool
because I object to my wife
being displayed naked in front
of half the people I know...
Yes. My God,
it's a work of art in a gallery.
What's the matter with you?
You used to call Portland
a stuffy provincial coffin for the mind.
It may be stuffy and provincial,
but it also happens
to be a coffin where I earn a living.
You can take your living
and fill up teeth with it,
because I can earn my own living.
I have my work.
You consider a few articles in
The Oregonian and The Gazette work?
No, I'll tell you
what your work is, Louise.
It's making yourself
the center of attention.
It's shocking Louise Trullinger,
emancipated woman of Portland.
Now, we're gonna say good night
to these people and go home.
- I'm going to the Liberal Club.
- You're not going to the Liberal Club.
- I'm going to the Liberal Club, Paul.
- No, you're not...
It's very nice, Mrs. Trullinger. All of it.
It's very gratifying to hear,
isn't it, Louise?
Isn't it, Louise?
Of course, you know
who is going to be at the Liberal Club.
Patriotic Americans believe in freedom.
And unless we are willing to take arms
to defend our heritage,
we cannot call ourselves
patriotic Americans!
I'm proud to be free.
I'm proud to be an American.
And if the man
we elected President decides
that our freedoms are being threatened
and that the world must
be made safe for democracy,
then I know I won't be alone
in heeding the call of patriotism!
What is this war about?
Each man will have his own answer.
I have mine. I'm ready to be called!
Now, tonight we have with us
the son of Margaret
and the late C.J. Reed of Portland,
who has witnessed this war first-hand.
And I, for one, see no reason
why we here at the Liberal Club
shouldn't listen to what
Jack Reed has to say.
What would you say
this war is about, Jack Reed?
Profits.
What did he say?
Excuse me, Mr. Reed.
Hello, my name is Louise Bryant
and I am a journalist.
And I was wondering if you might
have time to give me an interview.
I'm sorry, I don't. I don't do interviews.
I had a piece in the Blast not long ago.
- Berkman's Blast? Really?
- That's right.
Well, when did you want
to do this interview?
Now.
I don't live here.
- I live in a house by the river.
- Oh, really.
My, my, my. Two places.
Yeah, I use this place as a studio.
Do you like white lilies?
They're my favorite flowers.
- You're not married, are you?
- No, I don't think I believe in marriage.
- Are you married?
- Marriage?
How could anyone believe in marriage?
I bet your mother's glad
to see you back in Portland.
Just glad when I'm not in jail.
Is this you?
Yes. Do you like it?
Yeah. I think they're...
- A little blurry, but this one's very nice.
- Yes.
It is. Now...
Granted, the profit motive
in the world economy
is a basic root cause for the war.
Do you feel that those
Americans who are pro-war
and who ascribe their motives
to patriotism are cynical or naive?
And, if they're cynical,
is it the cynicism of patriots
who feel that without a profit motive,
the power structure elite of this country
will not enter the war,
even though they feel
that the containment
of German militarism
may be necessary for...
All right, Miss Bryant, do you want
an interview? Write this down.
Are you naive enough to think
containing German militarism
has anything to do with this war?
Don't you understand that England
and France own the world economy
and Germany just wants a piece of it?
Keep writing, Miss Bryant.
Miss Bryant, can't you grasp
that J.P. Morgan
has loaned England and France
a billion dollars?
And if Germany wins,
he won't get it back.
More coffee?
America would be entering the war
to protect J.P. Morgan's money.
If he loses it, we'll have a depression.
So, the real question is,
why do we have an economy
where the poor have to pay
so the rich won't lose money?
All right, now, what haven't we covered?
Economic freedom for women
means sexual freedom,
and sexual freedom
means birth control...
Dissent! The Masses stands for dissent.
...we have a predominantly
upper-middle class readership.
So, we have to run around the country
raising money for the magazine
any way we...
What?
Well, I'm thinking that I guess I...
That I ought to offer you more coffee.
I hadn't realized the hour, but
I seem to have taken up
a lot of your time.
Well, that's okay by me.
Does this happen to you often?
Not often enough.
Well?
We certainly have come a long way fast.
Yeah.
Do you want to take it a step further?
Yeah.
What would you think if I asked you
to do something
that might seem a little selfish?
Well, I... I think you should.
Good. Good, because I'd like you
to take a look at my work
and tell me what you think.
You see, I really respect
your opinion so much.
Well, it's odd,
because I was just gonna ask you
if you had anything
I could take a look at.
I know it's an imposition
but I'd be very grateful and you see,
I've read everything
that you've ever written.
Well, I'd be happy to do it. So, that's...
Well, thank you.
Well, then I... I'll get your coat.
Oh, and I hope you won't
be gentle with me.
- Gentle?
- I'm a serious writer.
You can really be tough.
No, I will be. No, I will be.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Do you want me to leave?
- Not really, but I'm late.
- Late at 6:00 in the morning?
- Yes. I have an appointment.
Well, could I see you tomorrow night?
I'm busy tomorrow night.
- Because I'm leaving town the next day.
- Gee, I'm sorry.
So, if you have time,
let me know what you think,
and I'll send you a copy of the interview.
Some interview, huh?
Take a look sometime.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay, I understand.
- Bye.
- Bye.
Jack, dear,
do you remember Mr. Hardison?
Used to be at the First Presbyterian
Church, up the hill.
He's in Seattle now
at the big Plymouth church.
What brings you out here, Jack?
Just come out to see your mother?
Mr. Partlow, I just... I'm raising money
for this magazine that I write for.
- What?
- I say, I'm raising money
for this magazine that I write for!
- Magazine? What magazine?
- Yes, sir.
Well, it's called The Masses.
- The what?
- The Masses!
- The Masses.
- Masses.
Jack, do you remember
Mr. Potterson's sister?
The one with the bad arm?
- Is that religious?
- Oh, no, sir. No, sir.
Oh, you remember her, Jack.
Her name was Miriam.
She didn't eat meat.
Sounds religious.
You remember the fellow
that was courting her?
Sold spool thread.
Came from down around Eugene.
- Not religious, huh?
- No, sir.
- What was his name, Jack?
- I don't think I remember the name.
Well, I don't know about you people,
but I'm starved.
I don't know, Mrs. Partlow. I...
Jack, I heard you made a few people
a little unhappy
down at the Liberal Club last night.
Oh, Carl,
we're here to have a good time,
let's not go into that.
What was his name, Jack?
- Here you are!
- I can't...
Welcome. So happy...
- Hello, Jack.
- Hello.
Oh, you look wonderful.
Alma, this is Louise Trullinger.
Alma Boyle.
This is Ned Boyle and Jack Reed.
Jack, Louise is quite a progressive
in her own right.
Mr. Partlow.
- How do you do, Mr. Reed?
- How do you do?
Oh, Mr. Partlow, Mrs. Partlow,
this is Louise Trullinger.
- Pleased to meet you.
- Pleased to meet you.
Are you Paul Trullinger's wife?
Yes. Yes, I am.
Well, isn't that something?
He did Frank Rhodes' bridge.
Oh, Mrs. Trullinger, your husband's
the finest dentist in all of Portland.
- Thank you very much.
- Really?
And I think he did a plate
for Uncle Grover.
Oh, we won't wait for Harry and Martha.
I could eat a horse.
All right, let's go in.
What a shame Paul
couldn't come tonight.
- An emergency?
- Yes...
Not Uncle Grover's plate, I hope.
- No. Uncle Grover's plate's like new.
- Oh, well...
Did free love start
in Greenwich Village?
Very good wine, Carl.
- More, Jack?
- No, no. No, thank you.
It's just delicious, really.
Don't you think so, Mrs. Trullinger?
Yes, it's just delicious.
Thank you, Louise.
- Dupont, I think.
- Dupont.
It is Dupont, isn't it, Harry?
Mother doesn't want you to get Jack
started on the subject of marriage.
You got any children, Mrs. Trullinger?
Not yet, Mr. Reed.
- Call me Jack.
- I've been married 14 years now.
Don't get me in any arguments
about free love.
It's getting cold outside.
I'll just call you Louise.
George Waldorf.
That's it! George Waldorf!
Used to sell spool thread.
- What about George Waldorf?
- Well, he died.
I couldn't think of letting
you walk unescorted, Louise.
Tell me something.
Does Dr. Trullinger mind your
spending so much time at your studio?
People have to give each other
a little freedom.
Freedom, Mrs. Trullinger?
I'd like to know
what your idea of freedom is.
Having your own studio? Walk...
I'd like to see you
with your pants off, Mr. Reed.
Marching and shuffling along
I didn't realize the time.
So, if you like, there's some
very nice damson preserves.
And you can make toast out of that,
if you want.
So, bye.
Where you going?
Where you going?
If you're catching the 2:45, I mean,
you don't really have that much time.
- I'm sure you're gonna want to pack...
- Louise, it's 8:45, only.
It's 8:45.
Listen, I realize
that you're very busy in New York,
but I'd be grateful
if you could take the time
to write a few words to me
about my work.
Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
If you'll just send my portfolio back.
You can mail it to this address...
Louise, wait a minute. What are you
just walking out like that for?
Will you come upstairs, please,
and just talk to me for a minute?
Thank you.
- Listen...
- What is it?
Why don't you come?
- What?
- Come to New York.
You wanna write?
Come where the writers are.
If you wanna have freedom you gotta go
where the freedom is, don't you?
You're gonna go to waste in Portland.
Come to New York.
- You ought to be in New York.
- Thank you very much.
I'll remember that.
- What?
- I'll remember your advice.
Please come with me.
All right, wait a minute.
Let me get this straight.
You want me
to come with you to New York.
Yeah.
What as? What as?
- What do you mean, what...
- What as?
- Your girlfriend?
- What does that mean?
What as? Your girlfriend,
your mistress, your paramour,
your concubine?
Why does it have to be as anything?
Because I don't wanna
get into some kind
of emotional possessive involvement
where I'm not able to...
I want to know what as.
Well, it's nearly Thanksgiving.
Why don't you come as a turkey?
I always thought she was
a very earnest girl who went away.
Probably the dentist knew nothing
except about teeth,
and was mainly interested...
And then she had
this wonderful journalist
who could talk about all sorts of things.
I had a coat I brought from Germany.
And she wanted that coat
and made me all kinds of propositions.
But I wanted it, too.
But finally I gave in and gave it to her.
I had other coats.
So that's how she operated.
She went after him.
As I say, she got him.
So she wasn't any dummy.
But it was something to happen
in little old Portland.
You didn't hear the word "sex."
You didn't hear the word "lesbian."
You didn't hear the word "homosexual."
You didn't hear the word "abortion."
You didn't hear those things.
Men respected women.
They helped them on with their coats,
they opened the doors for them.
And the man and woman
who courted each other,
they married each other.
You know something that I think,
that there was just as much
fucking going on then as now.
Only now,
it has a more perverted quality.
Now there's no love whatever included.
Then, there was your heart,
a bit of heart in it.
Greenwich Village was there,
and New York was around it.
And the rest of New York did not act
the way Greenwich Village did, exactly.
It was sort of a center of dissent
and had been for a long time
in American life.
People from all over
the country came there.
They were regarded as bohemian.
Their ways of life were irregular.
The way they dressed
and certainly the way they thought
was outside the mainstream
of American life.
And as I recollect it,
marriage was not important
in Greenwich Village.
I remember hearing a line
Jack said to somebody
he was trying to lure into bed.
She was being very coy, and he said,
"Aren't you pagan enough?"
Hello?
Hello, Jack?
If it's illegal to hand out pamphlets
on birth control,
I'm proud to be a criminal.
No one is arguing with your
inalienable right to go to jail, Emma.
All I'm saying
is that this is not the right time
to go to jail for birth control.
Oh, there's a right time
to go to jail for birth control?
The Masses is governing
conscience now?
Soon you'll be indistinguishable
from The New York Times.
Emma, all I'm saying
is that you are too valuable
- to the anti-war movement.
- You're wrong.
- No, he's right. If we get into this war...
- And you're wrong.
- Will you let me finish my sentence?
- Your sentence is not worth finishing.
Thousands of American women,
overworked, underfed,
are dying, giving birth to anemic
children who can't last out a year.
Are their lives any less valuable
than thousands of American boys'?
- I want those back Tuesday.
- I'm not saying... Do you think?
- Oh, shit.
- Exactly.
Good night.
- You want some coffee?
- Chase and Sanborn?
- I'm out of coffee.
- Again? I'm leaving.
No, the conversation is over.
You're a journalist, Jack.
When you're a revolutionary,
we'll discuss priorities.
Hopefully over coffee.
- It's late, I'll walk you home.
- Why? I won't hurt anybody.
Well...
Yeah.
It's Friday night.
I'm so glad to see you.
Really, I'm so glad to see you.
I finished your articles.
They're very good.
The railroad piece, I think, is...
Needs polishing.
- It's repetitious, but...
- But that's deliberate.
I'm using repetition to make a point.
I don't want it to seem too polished.
Oh.
Well, I think
you're gonna love New York.
Emma, Emma, Emma.
I think it was Emma Goldberg.
I think so.
I never forgot Emma Goldman.
She inspired me to the very depths.
And Max Eastman was a beloved man.
The real radical, a free spirit.
He was in that same group
with that Emma Goldman.
That was her name.
Goldman, not Goldberg.
Floyd Dell was one of them.
He wrote novels, beautiful novels.
The radicals included people
like the IWWs
and Bill Haywood.
And there were Walter Lippmann,
and Lincoln Steffens
and Isadora Duncan
and Edna St. Vincent Millay.
Alfred Stieglitz...
Oh, and Margaret Sanger.
My Lord, I picketed for her.
And, of course,
the great writer Eugene O'Neill
came from down there.
I don't think there's anybody
who can touch O'Neill today.
You have to be a bit of a rebel
to be an artist of any kind, I believe.
And everybody in Greenwich Village
was a bit of a rebel.
- What do you do, Louise?
- I write.
Good for you.
Could you pass the bread, please?
- Thanks.
- Because to the middle-class American,
everyone on the left is the same.
An anarchist, a socialist...
Would you pass the bread, please?
- What do you do, Louise?
- I write.
Good. Madame Schumann-Heink...
Jack tells me you write, Miss Bryant.
What do you write about?
Everything.
You write about everything?
Everything. Yes. Everything, nothing...
Just...
I see.
Now, about Davis and Sloan,
have they quit?
Not yet, but they...
I don't think they should sit here
like this. I don't. I think it's cruel.
- It's just...
- Organization, right?
Look, what does a capitalist do?
Let me ask you that, Mike.
Huh? Tell me.
I mean, what does he make,
besides money?
I don't know what he makes.
The workers do all the work, don't they?
Well, what if they got organized?
I mean, all the workers.
Not just the plumbers,
and the carpenters
and the goddamn cigar makers.
But all of them, all over the world?
Not in just one country.
Give him a beer, will you?
What if they all got organized?
Don't you think they could...
They could change society overnight.
They can make it into
anything they wanted.
Jack, can I tap you for $5? I'm flat.
Well, don't ask this pretentious
son of a bitch for money.
If you need $5, I'll give it to you.
Let me have $4.50, will you?
- What isn't fair?
- You see what I'm saying?
If all the workers in the world
belonged to one big union,
- there wouldn't be a war, would there?
- Are you listening to me?
Miss Bryant.
You've been nursing
that beer for an hour.
Can I get you a glass of wine
or something?
No, thank you. I'm fine.
Thank you, anyway.
- Beer's fine.
- You are an amiable person.
And a very good painter, I hear.
I write.
Read Jung!
"Read Freud, read Jung."
Read Engels, read Marx!
My God, you can't interpret Freud
in an economic context.
You know you got a taxi waiting?
Zosima represents
the corruption of religion.
I tell you you're wrong.
- And Jung is a mystic...
- But do you seriously believe...
- How long are they going to stay?
- I don't know. They'll get out in a while.
- I'll only be gone for a day.
- You just got back from Boston.
Hey, why don't you come
with me to Baltimore?
Really? What am I supposed
to come to Baltimore as?
What as?
Jack, you know, you got a taxi waiting.
Taxi's waiting, Jack.
See you tomorrow.
We've been trying for two years.
Capitalists can take this country into
war any time they damn well please.
The only impact you can make
is in the streets.
Of course, but...
But don't you think, Emma,
that if Debs gets a lot of votes,
it'll strengthen that image?
No, I don't. I think voting is the opium
of the masses in this country.
Every four years, you deaden the pain.
Yeah, but...
Don't you think...
I just made it very clear
what I think, Miss Bryant.
Come on, E.G.
Don't be so goddamn dogmatic.
- Louise has a point. She says...
- Suddenly I'm dogmatic.
Why does my status change
every time you get a new woman, Jack?
Bernie, could I have the red wine?
Louise, would you like a glass?
She's just... She's upset with me.
It's got nothing to do with you.
Nothing to do with you.
Thank you. It's a great comfort.
The house is completely filled
with people when you're gone.
They use it as if it was
a meeting hall or something.
- I can't get any work done.
- Just throw them out.
- How am I supposed to throw them out?
- Just kick them out.
Tell them to leave.
I'm not going to
say to Max Eastman, "Leave."
- Just throw them out.
- Jack?
Jack, is that you?
Jack, it's very good to see you.
- Hello, Horace. How are you?
- Very good to see you.
- You know Louise Bryant?
- Yes, hello. How are you?
- Very nice to see you.
- How do you do?
Great pleasure.
- Hi, Max. How are you?
- Divine, Horace.
- And Floyd, good to see you.
- Hello, Horace.
Still getting arrested, Jack?
I try.
How about you, Miss Bryant?
Are you trying to get arrested, too?
No, not really.
- What do you do, Miss Bryant?
- I write.
You write? Now, may I ask,
what are you working on?
It's impossible to describe.
It's impossible to describe?
She just did a hell of a piece
on the influence of the Armory Show
and you ought to read it.
Well, you know,
I very much would like to read that.
Why don't you give me a call
at The Metropolitan?
In fact, even better,
why don't we have a drink on Thursday?
- Fine.
- We can talk about the Armory Show.
- It's a date, then.
- Well, all right.
That's wonderful. Fine.
Jack!
Now, you stay out
of the slammer, now, okay?
Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.
It's nice to see you.
- Jack, please don't do that.
- What?
He's the editor of Metropolitan.
I've known him for years.
- Jack, I can speak for myself.
- So can your work.
- I don't want you to do that...
- Taxi's waiting, Jack.
Oh. Taxi's waiting, Jack.
Jack...
I'll see you at the end
of the week, okay?
- Okay?
- Wait. Wait.
Maybe I will call him about Thursday.
Yeah, call him about Thursday.
Yeah, yeah.
- See you, boys.
- Bye-bye, Jack.
- Bye-bye, Jack.
- See you.
See you, Jack.
"The railroad's opening new frontiers,
"and crisscrossing it all
are the railroads.
"The railroad's opening new frontiers,
"and in turn, these frontiers...
"And in turn, these frontiers..."
Oh, God.
It is repetitious.
We're not human beings,
we're a commodity.
- And how many days a week?
- Seven days.
- Every day?
- They said,
"If you don't come to work on Sunday,
don't come on Monday."
- What do you make an hour?
- 20 cents.
How many times have they
slammed the door on your face
because the labor you do
is called unskilled?
That's right, Bill.
Well, the IWW's not gonna
turn you down
- because you're unskilled.
- Listen to him, George.
Or skilled. Or black or white or yellow.
Seven days a week.
- What do you make an hour?
- 10 cents an hour.
One big union.
- All workers belong...
- Listen, read that. That's important.
I'm looking for a lathe worker
named Pasquale Alberti.
He had an industrial accident. He got
his leg crushed. Do you know him?
Yeah, sure, Harvard.
Is that what they wanna read about
in Greenwich Village now,
industrial accidents?
And for that, we need power.
And there's only one way to get power.
Organize!
All the workers together!
One big union!
And the war the IWW
wants you to get into is class war!
Not a war in Europe!
War against the capitalists!
You'll never get anything or anywhere,
until the whole working class
belongs to one big...
All right, gentlemen,
you've got 20 seconds
to vacate the premises.
May I ask on what authority?
On my authority.
This is an illegal assembly.
Excuse me, Officer. These men
have the legal right to assemble.
That's all they're doing.
We know what the hell they doing.
- What the hell you doing?
- Me?
You.
- I write.
- You write?
You wrong.
Get him out of here!
Here they are.
The folio. The oeuvre.
Well...
How is Jack?
I do hope he's being more careful
about what he's writing these days.
I'd hate to see him not able
to get into print.
Oh, I'm sure he'll do fine.
Did you tell him
where we were having drinks?
No, I will. He's out of town.
Mr. Whigham, excuse me, but
the Armory Show piece is on the top.
Oh, this is the Armory...
- Yes.
- Yes. Of course. Here it is.
Well...
I really ought to spend
more time on this.
Oh, yes, of course.
What about dinner?
- Dinner?
- Jack wouldn't mind.
- Why would he mind?
- Well, we're all grownups, of course,
but Jack's rather...
He's rather an odd duck, isn't he?
And I've never really known how...
Mr. Whigham, are you saying you need
Jack's permission
to make a pass at me?
Don't get so upset about it.
For Christ's sake,
I made two little tiny changes...
Don't rewrite what I write, Pete.
What the hell's the matter
with you, Jack?
The IWW's a bunch of Reds.
Come on.
We got Reds in the IWW,
got Reds in the Village.
We've got nothing
but Reds around here.
For Christ's sake,
you're the best goddamn writer around.
Now, what the hell
you wanna waste your time
with a lot of Red propaganda
nobody's ever gonna print?
It's the truth.
Does that mean anything around here?
Well, who the hell's to say
what the truth is?
A bunch of goddamn Reds in the IWW?
You're not being fair to the AF of L.
- Now, give me the goddamn article...
- You're gonna rewrite what I write.
I'm just gonna take it
to a magazine that won't.
Well, fine. Take it to The Masses.
- They're a bunch of Reds.
- Thank you.
- Who's gonna pay your rent?
- Rent's easy, Pete.
You just don't rewrite what I write.
You got that? Don't rewrite what I write.
You stubborn son of a bitch.
Who's gonna pay your rent?
Louise?
I got every one in the shop.
We're broke, but we've got them all.
Thanks.
- What's the matter?
- Nothing.
- What is it?
- It's nothing. How'd it go?
A lot better than we thought it would.
- You see Whigham?
- Yesterday.
- How was that?
- We mostly talked about you, of course.
Did he offer you work?
No, but he made a big point
of telling me
what wonderful friends
you and he have become over the years.
It was a fascinating meeting.
Are you angry at Whigham or me?
What is it?
It's nothing.
You said you'd be back Tuesday
and it's Saturday.
Didn't I say I'd back
at the end of the week?
- The end of the week is Friday.
- The end of the week is Friday?
Saturday's not the
end of the week anymore, huh?
Jack, you said you'd be back Tuesday!
What difference does it make?
What do you think I've been doing?
Running around listening
to the sound of my own voice?
How do I know whose voice
you've been listening to?
Obviously you like it
a lot better than mine!
Look at me. Oh, God!
I'm like a wife.
I'm like a boring, clinging,
miserable little wife.
- Who'd wanna come home to me?
- Me!
Well, I can't do this!
I can't do this anymore!
You can't do what?
I'm just living in your margins.
I don't know what I'm doing here.
I don't know what my purpose is.
- Well, tell me what you want.
- I want to stop needing you!
I want you to know something.
I asked Whigham
if he'd send me to France.
- Is that what you want?
- That's what I want.
- What are you doing, Louise?
- I can't work around you.
Will you tell me why you're doing this?
I'm not taken seriously
when you're around.
When I'm around
you're not taken seriously?
Oh, God, this is not good.
You mean
you think I'm taken more seriously?
Is that what you're talking about?
Do you mean you're not?
Come on, Jack.
You know what I'm saying.
You're not being honest with me.
I don't know what you're saying.
You're not being honest with me.
Please, be honest with me.
I am so being honest with you.
Maybe if you took yourself a little more
seriously, other people would, too.
I told you what I thought
about the Armory piece.
I was honest about that.
I think it's very nice,
but no, I don't take it very seriously.
- Thank you.
- Why do you even expect
to be taken seriously if you're
not writing about serious things?
I don't understand that.
I found myself an apartment.
I'm looking for one.
I'm not even sure I know
what things you're serious about.
One day you're writing
about the railroads,
and you don't even finish the piece.
The next day you're doing a piece
on an art exhibition
that happened three years ago.
Look, why do you give me
anything to read, anyway?
If I criticize it at all,
you tell me you like it the way it is.
And when we're out with other people,
if somebody doesn't ask you
a direct question,
you tell me you feel ignored.
But with everything
that's happening in the world today,
you decide to sit down and write a piece
on the influence of the goddamned
Armory Show of 1913!
Are people supposed
to take that seriously?
Well, I don't really care!
- You care!
- I'm not really... I don't care!
- You care!
- I don't care!
And I'm not interested
in whether your stupid friends
- take me seriously or not!
- Well, they don't take it seriously.
That's why they don't take it seriously.
I found an apartment on Houston Street,
and I'm moving in.
And I'll tell you something else,
Jack Reed.
I don't think we like the same people
or the same kind of life.
- And I wanna be on my own.
- Go ahead, be on your own!
I don't give a damn!
You're on your own anyway.
Oh! I know you don't give a damn!
Well, will you tell me
why the hell I should give a damn?
You shouldn't! Don't give a damn!
- I don't give a damn, either!
- That's right! I don't give a damn!
- I'm getting out of here!
- Good, fine! I'm leaving, too!
Honey, can we just
get out of New York?
Let's go somewhere
and just write what we wanna write.
Provincetown was
just a tiny little fishing village.
And it was very, very conservative.
We'd take the Fall River steamer
up there, I remember, every summer.
We used to save fares
by sleeping in tiers.
And we always got bedbugs.
You did whatever you pleased up there.
And we put on some very
interesting plays, experimental plays
that a commercial theater
couldn't possibly do.
Take Susan Glaspell's Trifles.
There's a whole play
without the protagonist
even appearing on the stage.
And they gave three one-act plays.
One of them was a play by...
I always thought it was by John Reed
and Louise Bryant.
But I see it's by her.
They were in it.
The play was terrible,
and they were worse.
And of course, Gene O'Neill
was known as the poet,
but I liked his plays
better than his poetry.
Will you never understand?
Are you so stupid
that you do not know what I mean?
I am offering myself to you.
I am kneeling before you.
I have promised you my body,
my body that men have
found so beautiful.
I have promised to love you,
a negro sailor!
Tell them not to stand behind the moon.
Don't stand behind the moon.
- Back?
- Can you step back a little bit?
'Cause of the moon.
This is the moon here.
- This way?
- Yes.
Take it from "I hate the sea."
Will you never understand?
Are you so stupid
that you don't know what I mean?
I'm offering myself to you.
I'm kneeling before you.
I... I, who have had so many men
kneel before me,
I'm offering you my body,
my body that men have
found so beautiful.
I have promised to love you.
You, a negro sailor.
Is that not humiliation enough
that you must keep me waiting so?
Answer me, please! Answer me.
Will you give me that water?
I have no water.
Old Teddy wants this war, doesn't he?
I wonder how long it'll take the public
to find out he's a maniac.
Teddy Roosevelt has rabies.
Universal military training.
Jack, your second speech is out.
And the ironic part of it is
that poor people, they love him.
Sure, they do.
They'll take him up San Juan Hill again.
You can't touch the bunny suit.
It's rented.
Did you read the piece
on the convention?
If the left doesn't defend Wilson,
we're gonna get President Hughes.
Think we ought to go to St. Louis?
I am not going to St. Louis
to defend Wilson.
- I think we should.
- Why? What good would it do?
I don't know,
if you don't think Hughes would have us
in a war in a few months,
it wouldn't do any good at all.
Wilson's kept us out so far.
Reed thought that he was a good poet.
He was a terrible poet.
He thought that he could write
good novels.
Short stories.
Of course, he was a poet.
And not a great poet,
but some of it was very fine.
But, as a journalist,
Jack Reed topped them all.
- Look. Pull this up.
- Hey, Jack.
See? That's good.
Jack, your ride's here.
- Excuse me. I'll wait outside.
- Okay. Okay.
- Do you see what I mean? If one...
- Jack, the taxi's waiting.
Yeah, I got to run.
Bye, honey.
Jack Reed wanted to stir up trouble,
he wanted to stir up trouble
for the capitalists.
And he also wanted
to arouse the working masses
to the necessity of some
kind of effective united action.
In other words, I am accusing him
of either being a busybody
or of being a fraidy-cat,
not wanting to face things
of his own nature.
Dear Louise, St. Louis is very hot
and very crowded with Democrats,
all having a wonderful time
and wearing little paper hats
in anticipation of Wilson's nomination.
I'd like to think it's because
he doesn't want the United States
to go into the war,
but who knows
the mind of a Democrat?
By the way, I've decided to throw out
the poem on white lilies.
The rhyming scheme was wrong.
Maybe when I get back
I can start it again.
Politics sure plays hell
with your poetry.
I keep thinking I see you.
It's the damnedest thing.
I miss you, honey.
I miss walking on the beach.
- Hello.
- Where's the whiskey?
Would you like a glass?
Don't try and decide.
I'll get you one.
I like your play.
I only hope I can do the part justice.
I think your dialogue is beautiful.
I really do, I love it...
Then why the hell
don't you just stand still and say it
instead of wandering all over the stage?
You're supposed to be looking
for your soul, not an ashtray.
Would you rather I didn't smoke
during rehearsals?
I'd rather you went up in flames
than put out your cigarette
in the middle
of a monologue about birth.
I'm sorry. You're absolutely right.
It makes me wanna cancel
the whole production.
I won't do it again.
Excuse me, I'm sorry.
You keep the glass. I'll take the bottle.
Are you leaving?
Give me your glass.
Are you nervous?
- Or is that a tremor?
- Why aren't you in Chicago with Jack?
Why should I be?
He has his things, I have mine.
- What are they?
- What?
The things that you have that are yours.
What are they?
My work, for one.
He's a real mean
son of a bitch, isn't he?
What do you mean?
Leaving you alone with your work.
- You think I mind?
- You should.
It's the one thing
we mustn't be left alone with.
- You may feel that way, I don't.
- Good.
Don't let those village radicals keep you
from being what you should be.
What do you think I should be?
The center of attention.
Well, you must have been
with some very competitive women.
Let's just say possessive.
Possessive? That's something else.
It's a waste of time.
I'm not.
Neither is Jack, for that matter.
Oh, yes. I know.
You and Jack have your own things.
He has the freedom to do the things
that he wants to and so do I.
And I think anyone who's afraid
of that kind of freedom
is really only afraid
of his own emptiness.
Are you making this up
as you go along?
I'd like you to go.
Why?
Because I don't want to be patronized.
I'm sorry if you don't believe
in mutual independence
and free love and respect.
Don't give me a lot of parlor socialism
that you learned in the Village.
If you were mine, I wouldn't share you
with anybody or anything.
It'd be just you and me.
You'd be at the center of it all.
You know,
it would feel lot more like love
than being left alone with your work.
- I hope I haven't upset you.
- Not at all. I'm grateful.
But you seem to be looking
for something much more serious
than what I had in mind.
- Than what you had in mind?
- Yes.
You see, Jack and I
are both perfectly capable
of living with our beliefs.
But I think someone as romantic as you
would be destroyed by them.
And I don't want that to happen.
It would upset Jack too much.
You can't come and play in my yard
I don't love you anymore
You'll be sorry when you see me
Sliding down my cellar door
You can't holler down my rain barrel
You can't climb my apple tree
I don't want to play in your yard
If you can't be good to me
I don't want to play in your yard
I don't like you anymore
You'll be sorry when you see me
Sliding down our cellar door
You can't holler down our rain barrel
You can't climb our apple tree
I don't want to play in your yard
If you won't be good to me
Wonderful!
Floyd, I've been
waiting for this for weeks.
Tap your sensuality.
- Wonderful close.
- Extraordinary.
Very good. Excellent.
- Floyd, that's new for you, isn't it?
- Max, what about you?
- Okay. Who's next?
- I just recited
two-thirds of my new play.
You said it was a work
of uncanny perception.
Oh, did I? How quickly we forget.
- Well!
- Jack. Come in.
News from the front.
- Hello, Jack.
- Hello, Jack.
- Hi, Jack.
- How was the trip?
Welcome back.
- Who's next?
- Nobody's next.
Let's have a dance out of Gene.
Jack, you're just in time
to see O'Neill dance.
Okay. Do something Irish.
Come on, Gene.
Yeah. Let's have it, Gene.
- Yeah. Go ahead Gene.
- Recite something from your new play.
Hutch says it's wonderful.
Tell us about the convention, Jack.
How was Wilson's speech?
Never mind the speech.
What was he wearing?
- What about Wilson?
- Yeah. What about Wilson?
Oh, I don't think there's any reason to
believe that Wilson's gonna do anything
other than support the interest of the
ruling class and take us into the war.
But as long as he says he's against it,
then I think we have to support him.
Because he'll have to make good on
that campaign promise
for at least a few months
and that might give us time
to strengthen the anti-war coalition.
But there's a lot more pro-war feeling in
the streets now than there was before...
You want another drink, Gene?
I guess not.
- Good night.
- Night.
Good night.
Would you like
some cold tea with lemon?
No, thanks.
Well, I'll have some, anyway.
- What's this?
- A poem.
May I read it?
I didn't finish it.
Finish it.
Finish it?
Would that make you happy?
If I were a poet?
I'm happy.
- Jack.
- Why don't you get some sleep?
Jack.
There's something
that I have to tell you.
- You don't have to tell me anything.
- No?
No.
You want to get married?
Okay. There we go. I'll see...
- Oh, careful there. Careful.
- There's two more to come.
Two? No, there should be three.
Oh, excuse me. I'm sorry.
I'm very sorry to hover like this.
It's not that
you're not doing a wonderful job.
It's just that I'm very concerned
about this one particular box.
- Here. No. No.
- I'll take it.
Where's the whiskey?
- Lady, where do you want this?
- Oh, just put it over there.
That'll be fine. Thank you.
Yeah.
- Anything to drink in there?
- Drink?
Oh, here. Thanks.
Thank you very much. I...
- Thank you. Good.
- Thank you.
Oh. Well. Let's see now. Here we are.
- Gene?
- No glass?
Oh. Let's see.
Well, I guess I should have
labeled these, shouldn't I have?
No. No, that isn't the right one.
Try this one.
Well, what are you working on, Gene?
At the moment, Scotch.
I found a cup. Will a cup be all right?
- I'd prefer a glass.
- A glass.
You know,
you left without saying goodbye.
That's not like you, not that I have
slightest idea what you're like.
Success at last. See, a... Here we go.
Your skill as a bartender
seems to have deteriorated.
- Are you nervous?
- Yes. No. I'm...
Why should I be nervous? My God,
it's gonna smell like a saloon in here.
- What is it?
- It's a poem telling you that I love you.
And that I won't be possessive
and I won't be jealous.
And you can sleep with whoever
you want, live with whoever you want.
I'll do anything that you say.
I'd like to kill you, but I can't.
So you can do whatever you want to,
except not see me.
Or smoke during the monologue.
Gene, Jack and I,
we haven't told anyone yet
because we were too embarrassed.
But
we're married.
Jack and I got married.
- That is embarrassing.
- Yes. Isn't it?
We felt very silly, but we wanted to do it.
And it's gonna be good.
We're gonna work together.
We're gonna spend
all our time together.
That's why we took a lease
on this place,
so we wouldn't have to go back
to the city.
Does this mean that we have to cheat?
Or is this a free
and independent marriage?
- Gene.
- You're a lying Irish whore from Portland
and you used me
to get Jack Reed to marry you.
No, I didn't.
I just want us to be friends, Gene.
Oh, how genteel. That would be a
good role for you, wouldn't it?
"There's Louise with Jack and Gene.
"He's crazy about her,
but Jack doesn't know.
"Poor Jack. Poor Gene.
What a heartbreaker she is."
What a heartbreaker you are, Louise.
I'm sorry. I'm...
Where is he?
Washington.
Well, Mrs. Reed,
I'll do whatever you say.
What do you want me to do?
Wish us well?
I wish you well.
You and Jack.
Jack!
Oh, God.
I'm not sure whether she had an affair
with Eugene O'Neill or not
during this time.
And nobody seemed to know. Or...
It was nobody's business, anyway, so...
I don't know what that situation was.
The report was that
she and Reed and O'Neill
had a mnage trois.
Jack, what... What is...
Oh, God! I swear...
...that we love America!
We love her mountains, her forests...
There were mutinies
in the French army,
there were mutinies
in various parts of the front.
And then, in 1917, the troops,
poorly armed,
poorly equipped, poorly clothed,
went back to Russia
to talk it out with the czar.
And when they got through,
there wasn't any czar.
Revolution in Russia.
This was the spring of 1917.
And I became so excited
that I zigzag-jumped the benches
as we walked out of the park.
Oh, I was so happy as a young boy.
Revolution, the people take over,
down with the czar!
Naturally, I was happy.
Well, haven't you made the politics
a little nebulous here?
- What do you mean "nebulous"?
- Unclear...
- How can you say they're unclear?
- Well, they're unclear to me. I...
Why am I necessarily attempting
to define the politics
of a specific group of people?
It isn't what I said.
I think it's a vast oversimplification.
Oh, it's just an opinion.
You know,
if you made carbons of these,
I could take them on the train with me.
Wilson, of course,
was elected on the platform of
"Keep us out of war" in 1916.
But in 1917, Wilson reversed himself
and declared war against Germany.
The mission at that time was to make
the world safe for democracy.
Reed said,
"This is a war for democracy?
Where is the goddamn democracy?"
If men really disapproved of war, dear,
we'd have stopped wars years ago.
Men like wars. Always have.
So they all went and got little uniforms,
went to war.
- My country is at war!
- Yes.
And so today, I, too, am at war!
My name is Jack Reed,
I'm from New York.
This is not my war, and I'm not gonna
have anything to do with it!
All right. All right.
All right, folks.
There was a lot of anti-war feeling,
of course.
We had no one against the war.
There wasn't a soul against the war.
Well, I'm not talking about saying it
to the workers any other way.
How do we move them?
Right. How do we organize them?
The Socialist Party...
The Socialist Party of America
is nothing to sneeze at.
You think the Socialist Party
is going to take a position?
You boys are Reds, aren't you?
The Socialist Party is useless.
Jack, is that right?
Now, that's the truth. Jack?
The United States is at war.
Your friends are talking to you.
If the workers of the world act together,
they can stop the war. And I'm not...
This one even pisses red.
You ran around saving the world
until your kidney acted up again.
Very intelligent.
And you're gonna keep running around
making speeches
until you wind up
in the hospital. Brilliant.
And then,
you're gonna lose your kidney. Perfect.
Harry, how much is the government
paying you to keep me quiet?
- Very funny. Keep laughing.
- Yeah.
That hurt, didn't it?
Listen, I'm gonna tell you something.
You're not gonna be able to keep doing
what you've been doing.
This is a serious condition.
It could kill you.
Harry, look, I want to know if...
Could this thing interfere
with having children?
- Yes. You cannot have sex if you die.
- No, come on, Harry. Seriously.
Are you thinking about having children?
Not at the moment,
but I want to be able to...
Is Louise talking about it?
No.
Well, just because
she isn't talking about it
it doesn't mean
she isn't thinking about it.
Don't worry. You don't make babies
with your kidneys.
Look, I'm gonna send you home
to Louise.
Tell her to keep you there,
put you in bed,
give you lots of liquids.
I'm gonna write it all down.
Look, Louise doesn't know about
this. And I don't want her to, okay?
- Fine.
- So, can you give me my bill here?
- I don't want it sent to the house.
- Do you have any money?
Not at the moment.
Then why the hell
should I give you a bill? Go home.
It is my belief that socialism and peace
are inseparable.
And I reiterate that the Socialist Party
will stand firmly behind
its resolution to oppose
American involvement in this war!
Mr. Chairman, Louis Fraina,
Local Boston.
The chair recognizes
the delegate from Boston.
And I still want to know
what specific action
we are going to take against the war.
Your resolution is all very nice,
but will it stop even one boy from
being killed? I don't think so.
...stigmatized as unpatriotic.
The task that confronts us is difficult.
Let us hope
that we can handle it properly.
What's that supposed to mean?
Stupid!
I'd like to know if the Socialist Party
is gonna fight conscription or not.
- That's what I'd like to know.
- Will the delegate identify himself?
I am not a delegate, Mr. Chairman.
My name is John Reed,
I write for the magazine The Masses,
and I want to know if the Socialist Party
is gonna organize demonstrations...
I'm sorry, Mr. Reed.
You have no credentials here.
Now, this floor is reserved
for delegates, not journalists.
Mr. Chairman,
is the Socialist Party prepared
- to take a position on the draft or not?
- Hey, shut up!
I'm sorry, Mr. Reed.
You have no credentials.
Let him speak, will you?
Mr. Reed,
you're getting into party politics, eh?
I'm just trying to be a journalist.
Mr. Chairman...
So is Trotsky.
Let us see what happens in Russia.
Why don't you join the Socialist Party?
We need good people like you.
Big things are happening in Russia.
As appalling as it may seem
to see socialists supporting bloodshed,
I can understand the necessity
of supporting one's government
during times of war.
The task that confronts us is a giant!
In that,
we must continue our opposition!
- We have to give this dog a name.
- Well, she has a name.
What's the matter with her name?
- I can't find anything in this house.
- I'm not going to call a dog "Dog."
I suppose if she were a baby,
you'd wanna call her "Person."
Not really.
I think I might wanna call her "Jack."
No. No. Bad.
See, now this is why
I can't find anything.
You put things anywhere.
Dog! Dog!
She's still not housebroken.
You got to grab her
when she squats like that,
and then take her outside. That's right.
And then when she goes,
you've got to give her a reward.
All right. Now, stay, Dog.
Are we having garlic for dinner, honey?
No, no, no.
Why? Why, do you think
I'm using too much garlic?
I thought I'd put a little in the sauce.
Garlic doesn't bother me.
- That's from Gene.
- Sorry. I didn't mean to read it.
I didn't realize what it was.
He gave it to me in October.
I haven't seen him since.
- You don't have to explain.
- I'm not explaining.
- I'm just telling you it's over.
- Louise, look.
I don't expect you to tell me
everything you do.
What about if you tell me something,
just tell me the truth?
- Jack, I haven't seen him.
- Don't do that, Louise.
Don't tell me that Gene gave you
a love poem six or seven months ago,
but you put it in a book
and you haven't seen him since.
I don't care
whether you've seen him or not.
- I just care about dishonesty.
- Oh, I see.
You don't care
that I had an affair with another man,
you just care about dishonesty?
Look who's being dishonest.
You care. You care so much,
you won't even talk about it.
- You won't even mention...
- Wanna talk? I'll talk about it.
You want to be honest about it?
If I didn't wanna be honest about it,
do you think I'd be silly enough
to leave a poem he gave me
lying around in the house
in a book of Walt Whitman?
Why not Whitman?
I'm sure Gene would feel right at home
in that company.
Oh, no. You don't care.
Why the hell should I care that
you slept with somebody else?
Do you think I haven't?
I don't think we have to report
to each other
every time we go to bed with somebody.
It doesn't mean anything.
It doesn't mean that I love you any less.
Do you love me any less
'cause you went to bed with Gene?
What difference does it make?
I just don't think we should lie about it.
That's all.
- Who?
- What do you mean, "Who?"
- Who was it?
- Who was what?
Who was it?
What do you want, a list?
It doesn't mean anything.
Louise.
Louise.
- What are you doing?
- I'm not sure.
- I wanna know where you're going.
- I don't want to talk about it.
- Well, I wanna talk about it.
- You said it all, Jack.
What? What did I say now
that we both haven't said 100 times?
Please forward my mail
to John K. Wheeler,
Wheeler Bell Syndicate.
I'll have someone pick up
the rest of my things in the morning.
Didn't we say that people had to give
each other freedom
- if they were gonna live together?
- We said a lot of things.
I thought
we weren't going to be possessive.
- I thought you loved me!
- Who says I don't?
You love yourself! Me, you fuck!
When you're not fucking other people,
that is!
Freedom? You mean I should just be
like you and not give a damn, is that...
Is that what fucking Gene means?
You don't give a damn about us?
I'm not packing my bag.
I wanna know where you're going.
- Get out of my...
- Where you going?
- Get out of my...
- You're not going...
Get away! Get out of my way.
- How many were there?
- Come on, Louise.
You don't know the first thing about
what living together means.
Go ahead. I know where you're going.
I thought you needed someone
to share your life with. But I was wrong.
As long as you get your two shots of
limelight every day.
You don't need a thing.
You go to hell! Both of you!
It could possibly have been
a matter of prestige, you know,
to say that you had an affair
with Louise Bryant.
I haven't been spared
the legends about men that are
supposed to have had affairs with me,
because I was known by name.
Affairs which never occurred at all.
It's very difficult to tell, you know.
Do you know there is nothing
more bewildering
than when you get a letter
from a loony who says,
"That marvelous week
we spent in Venice."
- Yeah.
- And it happens about every two years.
- Yes.
- It's most extraordinary.
One day, I was out walking
with my aunt in Portland.
And she was quite something.
She was six feet tall.
And I said to her,
"What is all this ado about Louise?
"What do you think of her, Aunt Belle?"
She said,
"Well, she had something
that just appeals."
That's my story.
- How you feeling?
- Oh, better.
- Here you are.
- Oh. Thanks, Harry.
Thanks.
Well, we got it out just in time.
But since God only knows what
condition the one you've got left is in,
you better treat it well.
That means, tell that goddamn Eastman
you got to be in bed by midnight.
If you get an infection now, that's it!
Absolutely no salt!
"Dear Jack,
I'm relieved you're feeling so well again.
"I talked to a specialist here in Paris.
"And he said you can lead
a perfectly normal life.
"I hope you're not neglecting
your writing.
"Please don't spend your energy
"getting caught up in things
you can't afford."
"Dear Jack, I'm enclosing a piece
I've written
"on a volunteer ambulance driver
"from the New York City
Police Department.
"Also, please don't keep asking me
if you can come over here.
"It just makes me think you have no..."
"Dear Jack, yes,
Wheeler's very happy with my work.
"Life here is so hectic and exhilarating
that I don't have a minute..."
"Dear Jack, don't worry, I'm well.
"My only problem is keeping up with
Wheeler's demands for more stories."
"...serial newsletter under the heading,
'Letters from France.'
"Please don't mention this to anyone.
"I promised Wheeler I wouldn't
say anything to you."
"Dear Jack, I feel I've really grown
through my work for Wheeler,
"and there's no reason to worry about
my being here alone."
Bolsheviks, Sandy. The Bolsheviks!
Jesus Christ,
if the Bolsheviks get in, Sandy,
you can just bend right over
and kiss your ass goodbye.
Because they'll pull Russia
right out of the war.
Right off the Eastern Front.
They quit, that's all.
Pete, the Bolsheviks are small potatoes.
Russia isn't gonna get out of the war.
You want to walk down
the Champs-Elyses someday
and see 500,000 Krauts
come barreling out of Fouquet's?
You better hope that the Bolsheviks
are small potatoes.
Now, let's have another drink. Waiter!
Waiter, another round here.
Hey! Oh, God. It's Red Emma, Jr!
Hey, come over here!
Speak up, Pete, speak up.
They can't hear you in the next room.
- How are you, Jack?
- Good to see you.
God. You look 20 pounds lighter
since you lost that kidney.
- Oh, yeah?
- I bet you only piss about half as much.
Yeah, but twice as often. Sarsaparilla.
Jack, can the Bolsheviks
overthrow Kerensky?
Okay. Why don't you ask
an impartial observer?
Goddamn it, Jack. What the hell
you got against this war anyway?
Shit, why don't you bury the hatchet
with Wilson?
Get back into print so we can all read
some decent writing, you know.
- I'll drink to that.
- You'll drink to anything.
Well, that's right, too.
It's good to see you.
Jesus Christ. It's good to see you.
Goddamn, how's Louise?
Not so good.
- She's good.
- Tell her from me that I said
that John Wheeler wouldn't know
a story if it fell right on top of him.
I'll tell you.
Hey, Jack, what are you doing?
What the hell are you doing?
You're driving them crazy.
You realize that?
They think you're some kind
of goddamn German!
I love it! Goddamn, I love it!
Give them hell, Jack. Give them hell.
- Is that a sarsaparilla with ice?
- Yeah, thanks.
You bet your sweet patoosie,
that's sarsaparilla with ice.
Why wouldn't John Wheeler
know a story if it fell on him?
John Wheeler's a dumbbell, that's why.
No, he's all right.
I just hate to see Louise get hurt.
That's all.
What are you talking about?
Jesus Christ.
Don't tell her that I told you. All right?
Told me what?
Well, Ben Parsons told me
that Wheeler had to let her go
because she hadn't turned anything in
that he could use,
other than some story about a cop
that went over there to drive
a police department ambulance.
- He let her go?
- Fired her.
- When did you hear that?
- A couple of weeks ago.
No, it was a month.
More than a month and a half ago.
Oh, look, Jack,
Wheeler's a goddamn moron.
Tell her she shouldn't feel ashamed
about being fired.
- I'm gonna see you later, huh?
- Jack, what's the matter?
Hell, we've all been fired.
I've been fired.
Hell, I'll drink to it.
Imagine, 65 million
go to war. Right?
or wounded.
You had catastrophe in Europe.
You had a holocaust in Europe.
You had a desire for change.
Who can stop them
when there was
such a revolutionary sentiment? Huh?
Who could stop them?
You know, I think I'm gonna have to get
a new typewriter...
- What are you...
- What?
You look fine. Are you all right now?
Oh, God, yes.
Nobody needs two kidneys.
The second one's just for show.
Sorry, this isn't a very good time.
They're moving me
to another communications center.
So, I'm just not going to be able to
talk to you right now, Jack.
Could we just go out here a second?
Just for a second?
- Look, I'm on my way to Russia.
- Oh, really? Have you enlisted?
Very funny.
I know you're doing work here
that's good,
'cause I read the ambulance piece
and I thought that was good.
- Thank you.
- And I know you're working on your book
and I know how important that is to you.
But you got to have enough sense
if you're trying to build up
your reputation as a journalist,
to be in the right place at the right time.
- I appreciate your advice.
- Well, the place to be now is Russia.
- Thank you. I'll remember that.
- Louise, it's chaos. They can't last.
They're in their third
provisional government in six months.
You know what that means? It means
there might be another revolution.
The workers are deserting the factories,
the army's deserting the battlefronts.
The exiles are all coming back.
The Jews, the anarchists, the socialists.
All of them are going back,
only this time
it might be the real thing.
And if they have
a real workers' revolution in Russia,
they'd have one in Germany,
and if they had one in Germany,
- it could happen all over the world.
- Got a match?
Louise, that'd be the end of the war.
You don't have to tell me
what's happening in Russia.
- I read the papers.
- Well, come with me.
As a colleague,
I'm not talking about anything else.
Come with me as a colleague.
You ought to be in Petrograd.
Oh, yeah? Well, that's what you said
about New York!
- I was right about New York.
- No, I have work I'm doing here.
And I happen to think my work is...
It is important. But it's not important as
what you could be doing in Russia.
I wanna work together. As partners.
I don't want a partner. And if
I wanted to go to Russia, I'd go alone.
- I wouldn't need you to take me.
- Louise.
Russia is not the safest place
in the world for a woman to be alone.
You may be a hell of a journalist.
But that doesn't mean...
Louise, we'd better hurry along.
So, moving you out of here, huh?
Yes. I've been promised an interview
with General Plumer.
Well, I've got to run along myself.
- Sorry I don't have any time.
- No. I don't want to keep you.
I just...
Look, the seat's already reserved.
You've wasted your money, Jack.
I don't want it.
Change the date. Go by yourself.
You can use it whenever you want to.
Keep up the good work.
Jack.
Good luck.
Yeah, you, too.
I got a taxi waiting.
Jack! Jack Reed!
- Joe, Joe Volski.
- How are you?
Oh, fine, fine.
Are you going to Petrograd, too?
- Yes. Yeah.
- Fine. Wonderful!
Great things are happening.
Are you traveling by yourself?
- I think I am.
- Well, then I'll switch.
We met in Chicago.
Boy, oh, boy. Were you a speaker!
You don't remember me, eh?
Well, it's not that.
- Maybe I just... Maybe it's the hat.
- My hat?
Yeah. Maybe I just don't recognize you
in this particular hat.
Oh, then I'm a revolutionary
returning in disguise.
Well, comes the revolution,
I'll buy you a new hat.
- I see you're studying Russian.
- Yeah. I'm trying to.
Know what?
- What?
- I mean,
ask me anything you want in Russian.
Thank you. I'll keep that in mind.
Let's see...
Excuse me.
Excuse me, now here's the thing.
I'd be a goddamned fool not to take you
up on this offer. So, here's what I want.
I want to sign my own name
to my own stories
and I don't want to use a double byline.
I want to be responsible
for my own time and my own actions.
I want to be referred to as Miss Bryant,
and not as Mrs. Reed,
and I want to keep an account
of every cent we spend
so that I can pay you back.
Now, I assume you know that
I'm not going to sleep with you,
so just don't confuse the issue
by bringing it up.
That's it.
- Fine.
- Good.
You like salami?
He says,
"Wait a minute, I have to go back.
"I forgot my teeth on the table."
He says, "Hell with your teeth!
"What do you think,
they're bombarding with sandwiches?"
After the revolution,
you'll buy me a new hat.
Thank you very much.
I'll keep you by your word.
By the way, did you hear this one?
A man...
Lenin asks,
"Why do you let your beard grow?"
I says, "I want to remember
what I ate yesterday."
This is a hard word,
but it means "I don't smoke."
Okay.
"Are you one of the family?"
He said, "No. That's why I'm crying."
There's a foreman of a logging camp,
he's trying to hire a crew.
You know, and he goes down
a long line of very big men
and he gets to a little man in the back
and he says, "Who the hell are you?
What're you doing here?
"Don't you know that I need men who
can chop down dozens of trees a day?
"Where the hell
have you ever worked before?"
And the little man says,
"Well, I worked in the Sahara forest."
And the foreman says,
"You mean the Sahara Desert."
And the little man says,
"Yes, sure, now!"
A woman knocks at the door
of her neighbor.
I didn't tell you that?
She says, "My husband just died.
I want to sell his jacket."
He says,
"What's the matter with the pants?"
She says, "The pants, I wear."
The Russian border.
The Russian border.
He's already fighting for three months.
Now he joined the Bolsheviks
and he's not going to fight anymore.
I don't think he's afraid.
There are many Bolsheviks in the army.
And the Bolsheviks will stop the war.
He's 14 years old.
The Communists obviously wanted
peace. Rightly so.
Because the country was completely
unable to sustain a war.
There was treason
and there was corruption.
There was everything under the sun.
But certainly...
There was certainly no possibility
of conducting a war.
Kerensky was anxious to conduct it,
produce some battalions of women
who were going to go and fight.
Jack Reed!
Alex, what the hell are you doing here?
- You have someone to meet you?
- No.
Then what luck I am here!
- Lois?
- Yes.
Alex Gomberg.
- Looking for accommodation?
- No. Just a hotel.
More good luck.
I know of an empty apartment.
You have transportation?
No problem. Follow me.
A lot of people had an idea
that Utopia was growing up.
I could not blame them
for being pro-Bolshevik,
but I wasn't.
The one person
who was awfully ignorant about Russia
- was Beatrice Webb.
- Yes, she was.
She didn't know a thing.
Do not be misled by the quiet
in the streets.
Underneath is great tension.
Alex, how much time
has the Kerensky government got left?
Any day now, the Bolsheviks will strike.
Fantastic, isn't it?
A quiet street,
and yet we are in the heart of Petrograd.
Give him four rubles.
Jack, Lois. Lucky for you, I am here.
Yeah. Thanks. Thanks again.
Only one bed? That's a double.
Single. That's a single!
This is where I'II...
This is good for me. I can just...
Good.
I don't mind this at all.
He's calling for an insurrection,
isn't he?
Day and night. Day and night.
"Another insurrection will ruin Russia."
"Another insurrection will save Russia."
"The war is ruining Russia."
"Without England or France,
Russia will be isolated."
"The Bolsheviks are ruining Russia."
Lois, lucky for you, I am here.
Louise.
- This is the line for bread.
- Yes.
There's another line for boots.
And there is still another line for cards
on which they'll get the boots
in two, three months.
Did we have to get rid of the czar
to stand in line for bread?
- What does that mean?
- I don't know.
Vosstanie means "Insurrection,"
and "Kerensky" means "Kerensky,"
and Bolsheviki means Bolshevik.
So I think it calls for an insurrection
by the Bolsheviks
against the Kerensky government
and the kornilovtsy.
- What's a kornilovtsy?
- Louise, I'm not that fluent in Russian.
Look, if they buy this,
they're gonna cut you down
to 400 or 500 words, aren't they?
- That starts out like you got 5,000.
- Where would you cut?
I'd lose this. I'd lose this.
But what's your lead?
Oh, I know what you think.
You think the strongman line.
Well, I just don't know if you're gonna
take anybody's breath away
with that for a lead. You know?
You're right.
It's too long, it's too general.
And the strongman line
is the best lead.
You've been right
about something else, too.
The Bolsheviks will take Russia
out of the war.
- Good night.
- Night.
"In the streets the talk
is of peace and bread.
"Neither of which
Kerensky has provided."
"Everybody knows that
something is going to happen,
"Everybody knows that
something is going to happen,
"but nobody knows just what."
Yes?
I'm sorry, I don't speak Russian.
I'm English.
"Petrograd does not sleep.
"At night, the arguments grow louder
and the crowds thicken."
"Nobody is satisfied with Kerensky.
"The far right wants a strongman,
the far left wants peace.
"Everyone waits to see
what the Bolsheviks will do."
"It is not easy to write fairly about
the Bolshevik leader Lenin.
"He is absorbed, cold,
impatient of interruptions."
- You're editorializing here.
- I never editorialize.
- At the end.
- You're right. Cut it.
What I don't understand is...
Why did you take out the piece
about the gunshot? It was very good.
- It is good, isn't it?
- Yeah.
Put it back in for me.
Mr. Zinoviev, do you still feel
that the timing is wrong
for a Bolshevik insurrection?
"I interviewed Zinoviev at Smolny.
"He'd been in hiding with Lenin."
...had another whole decade,
less than a day.
"His style is still that of a man in hiding.
"We hear Trotsky speak at Smolny.
"If Lenin represents thought,
Trotsky represents action.
"He is essentially an agitator."
"The meeting hall at Smolny
was packed. At one point,
"someone in the platform
asked the comrades not to smoke,
"and everybody, including the smokers
took up the cry,
"'Don't smoke, comrades! '
And then they went on smoking."
"At the point Trotsky said,
'We are trying to avoid insurrection,
"'but if the Kerensky government
attacks us,
"'we shall answer blow by blow,'
"the audience broke into wild cheers."
"Lenin is a strange popular leader,
a leader purely by virtue of intellect.
"Colorless, humorless,
uncompromising,
"he seems to have
none of Trotsky's force of personality
"or his gift for phrasemaking,
and yet it is Lenin who is the architect."
Kerensky is some socialist, huh?
"The Winter Palace of the czar, where
Kerensky's government holds office,
- "is vast and magnificent..."
- "It is quiet in the Winter Palace.
"There's no sign here
of the strikes and lockouts
"that convulse Moscow and Odessa.
"No evidence that
transportation is paralyzed,
"that the army is starving
and in the big cities, there is no bread."
"Kerensky is full of old-world manners
and charm, totally unlike Lenin."
"'Provisional government will last,'
Kerensky said during the interview,
"'in spite of the Bolsheviks.'"
"He seemed bitter, defensive."
since January the 1st.
That's 14% of the Russian army. I...
I'm sort of braising the cabbage.
'Cause I thought it'd be a nice change.
You know that house
where Rhys Williams is staying?
Evidently, the banker's daughter
came home in hysterics the other night,
'cause some woman streetcar
conductor called her "comrade."
So after dinner, they all voted
they preferred the Germans
to the Bolsheviks by 10-to-one.
Anyway, the Social Revolutionaries
asked the British ambassador
to please not to mention their visit,
because they were already considered
too far to the right.
And you know,
it's the same group of people
you couldn't even see a year ago,
'cause they were too far to the left.
Karsavina is dancing tonight.
And, oh, Manny Komroff says
that Charlie Chaplin will be...
Jack...
Thanks for bringing me here.
Will they strike?
Do you speak English?
Do you speak English?
Do you speak English?
Do you speak English?
Do you speak English?
Do you speak English?
- Do you speak English?
- Yes.
Will they strike?
- New York?
- Yes.
- You know Broome Street?
- Yes!
I know,
but can you tell me what he's saying?
- I lived there four years.
- Really? What's he...
What is he saying?
Can you tell me what he's saying?
He says don't strike.
He says it's not right
to leave our Russian soldiers
at Front without guns.
You are a long way from New York.
He says that our Russian
soldiers at the Front
are also strike.
That is why they're leaving the Front.
What's that?
He said that the workers of England,
France and America
will be left alone to fight Germany.
Tell him he doesn't know
how many workers
in England, France and America
are against the war.
You lived in New York. Tell him that.
You are right, American.
Go ahead, you speak.
Go ahead.
Tell them about your American workers.
No, I can't speak here, I don't have
any credentials to speak here.
- I'm an American...
- Credentials? What credentials?
Everyone has credentials here.
He ask you to speak.
Speak. I translate.
I only want to say that if you strike,
the American workers
will not feel betrayed.
They're waiting for your example.
They're waiting for your leadership.
If you refuse to support
the capitalist war machine,
they will follow your example.
And if workers of the world
stand together,
the war can be stopped.
They support you
and will join you in revolution!
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...
- lf 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?
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 flamb them out here,
but the goddamn things flambed
themselves in the pan.
He was certainly the main inspiration
in the development
of a revolutionary movement
through his history
of Ten Days That Shook The World.
Ten 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?
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?
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.
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?
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.
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-l-D also?
I have looked R-E-l-D,
R-E-A-D,
R-E-D.
I have looked Goldman and Bryant.
I'm just... Excuse me. One second.
Lf, if...
I thought maybe there's some other way
of misspelling the name.
- You also looked under R-E-l-D?
- Yes, Comrade Reed.
- Yes, yes. What do you want?
- There's many people wait.
- Excuse me.
- Lf 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.
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!
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.