PARTISAN REVIEW
25
thought of that even as a child. Saw it once as something long, like
the stone step outside the house. Chronology. Counting. Time is form–
less. Has no shape till you begin to count. Sometimes I wake up
sobbing. Terribly disturbed. Like falling through a strange door. Into
a room you don't know.
An
odd light. Echoing voices. This searching
for connections. Books. Unknown words. References you don't un–
derstand. Everything at times like on a huge stage. When I first went
to a theater, Ilyich, it was overwhelming. Indescribable. Out of my
mind nearly at what was going on. Sat through all the intervals in
case I might miss something. Afterward they asked me: what did
you see? I couldn't say. What had I seen? What had I seen?
LENIN
is
lying mO'tionless on the camp bed.
FOUR SOLDIERS
come
in, as before, dressed in R ed Army uniforms. They march to the bed,
lift
LENIN
up and carry him off at back.
8.
TWENTY-FIFTH OF OCTOBER
A crowd O'f workers, sailors, soldiers come slowly forward. Torn
clothing, muddy military coats, head scarves, heavy fur caps, rifles
on shoulders, belts with ammunition pouches. They take
TROTSKY
up in their midst and lead him forward.
TROTSKY: There in their houses, there they're sitting now. The bour–
geoisie. Huddled together. Listening. Trying to guess what is happening
in the dangerous streets. Officials still writing out regulations which
will
never be read again. Schoolchildren sitting over books long out
of date. Poets sweating on verses which no one will read. Not a sound.
They expected barricades. Fires. Looting. Streams of blood. But all
is quiet. They can't understand it. Why is everything so terribly quiet?
There they sit. Before us. Slowly we have crept up on them. They
don't yet know. We needed no loud calls to bring us together. We've
come from the workshops, the factories. From the ships. From the
front. They pant and sweat a little. But prefer not
to
see us yet. They
can't accept that we, who always stood at the back, miles behind,
invisible, we are now at the front, right on top of them. We have
been preparing. For years. Now we are showing ourselves. We shall
force them to see us. They start to tremble.
The gathering moves slowly back. A part goes off. Others remain
as sentries, messengers, members of the Red Guard. A few stretch
out on the floor to sleep. A telephone
is
manned. Bread and sau–
sdges are brought, a can of tea.
Enter
LENIN, DZERZHINSKY, KAMENEV, RAKOVSKY, SVERDLOV,
SMIRNOV, SHLYAPNIK.OV, POZNANSKY, MRACHKOVSKY. TROTSKY
sits down at one edge of the desk,
LENIN
at the other. There
is
a
