24
PETER WEISS
cease to be the proletariat. The revolution will put an end to class
culture. What will come is mass art, communal art, that
is
to say,
classless art.
TRISTAN TZARA
pulls
ANNA BLUME
to the back.
TZARA: Brothers, sisters. Let us storm the marble halls, the crematoria
of the spirit. Out with the starch-shirted busts, the laurel wreaths. In
with the roofless. The armless, the legless.
BALL: The headless.
ANNA BLUME
turns towards
LENIN.
ANNA BLUME: Ilyich. Ilyich.
She is pulled off by
TRISTAN TZARA.
The whole group follows them,
laughing and imitating trumpet calls.
INESSA ARMAND, RADEK
and
RAKOVSKY
join them. All go off. Only
LENIN
and
TROTSKY
remain.
LENIN
presses his temples with both hands.
TROTSKY: The doctor ordered you rest. Relaxation. Walks.
LENIN: Hm. Holidays? We need every hour.
LENIN
goes to the camp bed and lies down.
Haven't time now even to listen to Inessa playing. The
Appassionata.
Ha. Ha ha ha. What wonderful things human beings can think up.
But I can't listen. Music affects the nerves. One wants to say nice
sweet things, stroke people's hair. Ha. Ha ha ha. To think such beau–
tiful thoughts, while they are living in hell. I can't bear it. No, stroke
them, and they bite off your hand. Beat them on the head, that's
what one must do.
TROTSKY: Vladimir Ilyich, one must relax sometimes. When were you
in Copenhagen with Inessa Armand? How many years ago?
LENIN: In nineteen ten. September. For ten days.
TROTSKY: And that is all?
LENIN
laughs.
LENIN: Piano-playing. A walk. A hotel room. That sort of thing is
quickly over. Leaves no traces.
TROTSKY: Live just for the revolution. Day and night. Firm. Clear.
Spotless. Exemplary.
LENIN: The work must be done.
(He puts his hands to his head)
TROTSKY: You had no sleep last night, I know. Yet up in the morning
laughing. Ha ha ha, how are you, what's new? How do you do it?
I know your nerves are upset. Chest, hips. Your whole body inflamed.
Rashes. Eczema. How can you stand it?
LENIN: It's not important.
TROTSKY: Not important? The body. Feel it all the time. Stomach.
Intestines. Heart. Kidneys. These functions often claim my attention
for days on end. Growing old. The beginning of death. Time. I
