MARK POLIZZOTTI
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mate enjoyment, "laughing, commenting in whispers to everyone about
the film's plot and form."
He and Breton also indulged in a mutual passion for the outdoors:
strolling in the country, fishing for
axolotls,
hunting for butterflies. "It
was all very merry," recalled Jacqueline . "They both fished with their
hands. They took off their shoes, rolled up their trousers, and stepped
into water that was often ice-cold ... During their long walks they
marveled at nature. I remember their conversations on the beauty of but–
terflies ... It was a complete surprise for Andre, who certainly hadn't
expected
L.
D. to be interested in butterflies."
But as with their initial discussions, not all the contacts were quite
so harmonious . Breton later recounted how Trotsky watched disdain–
fully as he and Rivera combed the small village for pre-Columbian fig–
urines - one interest the Russian did not share - representing voluptuous,
ornately sculpted nudes. And Heijenoort recalled Trotsky's anger when,
one afternoon in a village church, Breton discovered the marvelously
decorated votive plates left by several generations of townspeople. Full
of admiration for these examples of popular art, Breton "started to slip
some of the votive offerings, perhaps half a dozen, under his jacket. He
felt even fewer scruples by virtue of the fact that it was a church, and he
perhaps even considered his act to be a legitimate expression of anti–
clericalism." (This was, after all, the same man who had defended Mal–
raux's theft of idols in the Temple of Angkor in 1924.) Trotsky, how–
ever, who did not appreciate this form of sacrilege, and who moreover
feared that the incident could be used to discredit him, was furious - al–
though for once he held his tongue.
For his part, Breton was outraged when Trotsky (keeping open his
own "little window on the beyond") referred to a favorite dog as his
"friend" and asked Breton whether he didn't think the animal had a
"human look." Shocked by Trotsky's animism, Breton retorted that
calling a dog "friendly" was just as senseless as saying a mosquito was
"cruel" or a crayfish "reactionary." But Trotsky clung to his position,
finally concluding with a laugh that only a third creature, "half dog, half
man," could settle the debate. Breton remained annoyed by the incident,
and on his return to Paris he fumed to Luis Bufiuel: "Can you imagine
how someone like Trotsky could possibly say such a stupid thing? A dog
doesn't have a human look! A dog has a dog's look!"
But the most pronounced dispute between the two men concerns
not a point of ideological divergence but a project on which they
agreed: Trotsky's plan for a federation of revolutionary artists.
It
was
during their second talk, on May 20, that Trotsky had spoken of such a
