LEST WE FORGET

A MORALITY PLAY BY JENNIFER, NIKUKO, JULU, AND ALAN

Act I

Scene 1

PROLOGUE BY BUKHARIN: Repentance is often attributed to the Dostoyevskymind, to the specific properties of the soul ("l'ame slave" as it iscalled), and this can be said of types like Alyosha Karamazov, the heroesof the "Idiot" and other Dostoyevsky characters, who are prepared to standup in the public square and cry: "Beat me, Orthodox Christians, I am avillain!" But that is not the case here at all. "L'ame slave" and the psy-chology of Dostoyevsky characters are a thing of the remote past in ourcountry, the pluperfect tense. Such types do not exist in our country, orexist perhaps only on the outskirts of small provincial towns, if they doeven there. On the contrary, such a psychology is to be found in Western Europe.

JULU: Excellent. And this is what I want you to do, Alan, and this is whatI want you to say. You will learn from a very good way to learn:

VYSHINSKY: Tell us the nature of your wrecking activities.

ZUBAREV: When I was working in the seed cultivation department of the Peo-ple's Commissariat of Agriculture of the U.S.S.R., they were of the naturethat the accused Chernov spoke about yesterday: causing confusion in seedcultivation, lowering the quality of the seeds, employing bad quality mat-erials, bad sifting, careless storing, and the result of all this was notonly a reduction of yield, but also a hostile mood of the peasantry, dis-satisfaction with these so-called selected seeds.

Alan: This is excellent, and I will do my very best.

VYSHINSKY: What was the nature of your criminal activities in the People'sCommissariat of Agriculture of the R.S.F.S.R.?

ZUBAREV: Here my criminal activities consisted first of all in wronglyplanning the sowing of vegetables; in particular, little attention waspaid to the development of vegetable growing in our eastern districts,where the developing of vegetable growing was of enormous importance...

Jennifer: I am learning so very hard here.

PEOPLE'S COMMISSARIAT OF JUSTICE OF THE U.S.S.R. REPORT OF COURT PROCEED-INGS IN THE CASE OF THE ANTI-SOVIET "BLOC OF RIGHTS AND TROTSKYITES"

Heard Before the MILITARY COLLEGIUM OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE U.S.S.R. Moscow, March 2-13, VERBATIM REPORT, Published by the PEOPLE'S COMMISSARIAT OFJUSTICE OF THE U.S.S.R. MOSCOW 1938.

Jennifer, Julu, and Nikuko applaud.
All three together: This is wonderful!

VYSHINSKY: How matters stood with butter, this is of interest to me atthis stage of the investigation. You have spoken of salt, of sugar, howyou held back these commodities from sale to the population by sabotage,etc. But how did matters stand with butter?

ZELENSKY: We don't sell butter in the rural districts.

VYSHINSKY: I am not asking you what you sell. You were above all sellingthe main thing - your country...

Alan: I see how this goes. This is amazing. They have been found out, andit is clear at the very end that the wreckers are executed. Nothing couldbe clearer. One must be at the service of one's country.

LEVIN: ...Gorky loved fire, flames, and we made use of this. A bonfirewould be lit up for him. Just when Gorky would feel the fatigue after hiswork, all the chopped branches were gathered together, and a flame kind-led. Gorky would stand near this bonfire, it was hot there, and all thishad a harmful effect on his health... ...And in fact, on the second orthird day after his arrival in this grippe-infected house, Gorky fell sickwith the grippe. This was soon complicated by croupous pneumonia and imme-diately took a serious turn. Nonetheless, Professor Pletnev and I consid-ered that the plan we had drawn up must be carried through, and that forthis purpose use must be made of medicines which would be harmful to him.

Julu: Oh oh, that is so awful! This is such an awful thing! I cannot be-lieve how awful this is!

THE PRESIDENT: As regards wrecking work, that it was necessary to bringabout a decrease in the number of livestock.

RYKOV: Even more than that. These instructions, as Goloded said, were dulyreceived from the poles...

Jennifer: Oh! Oh! Oh! Attacks from every side!
Nikuko: Oh! Woe! Attacks from within and without!

KRESTINSKY: ...Further Trotsky developed the idea of the necessity of ter-rorism, wrecking activities and diversions. In speaking of them, Trotskyconsidered diversionist acts and acts of terrorism from the point of viewboth of applying them in time of war for the purpose of disorganizing thedefensive capacity of the Red Army, for disorganizing the government bythe moment of the coup d'etat, and at the same time, these diversionistand terrorist acts would make his, Trotsky's, position stronger and wouldgive him more confidence in his negotiations with foreign governments, be-cause he would be able to refer to the fact that his followers in the Sov-iet Union were both sufficiently strong and sufficiently active...

Julu: Oh dearest us! How awful is Trotsky! Something must be done and now!There are foes on every side! There are foes inside and out!

KAKAZOV: ...Now when I stand before you, Citizens Judges, as the murdererof Menzhinsky, I cannot help shuddering and being overcome with horrorwhen I think of the despicable crime into which I was dragged. Not for aminute do I want to disclaim the blame for this crime. On the contrary Iwant to repent of this crime to the end and rid myself of this nightmare.

Alan: Oh curses on Kakazov for his perfidious crime! To death with perfid-ious Kakazov!

On the basis of the aforesaid, and guided by Articles 319 and 320 of theCode of Criminal Procedure of the R.S.F.S.R., The Military Collegium ofthe Supreme Court of the U.S.S.R. Sentences...[list of 18 men]...to thesupreme penalty - to be shot, with the confiscation of all their personalproperty.

All: Oh we are saved from the wrecking and saboteurs of our country! Deathto the traitors! Death to the BLOC OF RIGHTS AND TROTSKYITES! Death to theJews!

Nikuko: This is a wonderful play, Ladies and Gentlemen, and we hope youhave enjoyed it. We have given you much to think on, because the truth,which is always difficult, is the best play in the world! Please take careon your way out! Thank you!

KIM IL SUNG: Hello, I am a member of the audience and I am very happy tosee this play. If more countries, even though small, pool their strengthand fight resolutely against imperialism, the peoples can knock down U.S.imperialism with decisively overwhelming power on each and every front.The people of every country making revolution should tear limbs off theU.S. beast all over the world and behead it. The U.S. imperialists appearto be strong, but when the peoples of many countries attack them from allsides and join in mutilating them in that way, they will become impotentand bite the dust in the end.

Jennifer: But oh Great Leader, what is to be done?

KIM IL SUNG: Hello, Our Party will fight against Right and 'Left' oppor-tunism, while upholding the banner of unity.

Julu: Oh that is so good, we will drag down the renegades of the revolu-tion!

PRESIDENT AND KIM IL SUNG: Yes, ABSOLUTELY!

All Laugh!

Exeunt Omnes

Scene 2

The Curtain Rises

JENNIFER: I beg pardon for the horrible crimes I have committed against mybeloved Julu, having carefully prepared for her death, wrecking her diet,sabotaging her asthmatic medications. I cannot sleep at night, recognizingthe misery I have caused the State; I can only hope that my punishment ofdeath will deter future generations from murder and mayhem.

JULU: I am of course alive, Jennifer, what ever are you talking about?

JENNIFER: Julu's corpse is here before us: Poor, poor Julu! My miseryknows no bounds; for the next several months, I will live grieving for mybeloved Julu, realizing I can never atone for my hideous crimes againsther, and through her, against the very State, my beloved Country, itself.

JULU: Jennifer, will you stop that? This is silly and besides, you're be-ginning to scare me!

JENNIFER: My guilt is aggravated by the fact that I for a long time de-ceived my Country, betrayed the confidence placed in me; I wormed my wayinto Julu's dearest graces. I need hardly mention that I repent, that myrepentance does no good at all. The proof of my repentance is my exposurehere in the broadest light of day, for the benefit of my Country, whichhas been deprived of my dearest Julu.

JULU: Please, Jennifer, come with me! This is getting ridiculous - youhave done nothing, I'm quite well, thank you, and right in front of you.Are you crazy?

JENNIFER: Disgraced, thrown in the dust, leaving life, I want to recountmy sad, tragic career, which should serve as a lesson for those who mur-der and commit mayhem, as I have done against my beautiful Julu. But whatis there to recount? Only our friendship together and our service to ourState and Country and my disgraceful behavior towards her. I have no de-fense whatsoever, and for just a millionth part of my crimes, for eventhinking through "the criminal imagination," I should be sentenced todeath. I have committed heinous crimes and realize this and it is hard tolive after such crimes. I do not want to sit in prison for tens of years!

JULU: You have gone mad! You have been reading too many novels! You havebeen believing too many lies! Look at me! I am alive before you! Jennifer,it's me, Julu! Jennifer! Jennifer!

JENNIFER: Years weigh heavily on me with the nightmare of the crimes whichI have committed, and by this sincere repentance, I admit everything, wantto rid myself of my nightmare. I never thought I would become a criminal.It is hard for me to talk of my crime, because as a friend, my calling hasbeen to help Julu, not to harm her. I blackened the calling of a friend,and trampled on the most valuable thing, the bond between us. I became amurderer because I hastened dearest Julu's death, when she was in theprime of life, her only problem that of asthmatic medications. I now begyou to sentence me to the death I so richly deserve.

THE COURT: Jennifer, in the name of the commission duly entrusted to us --

JULU: JENNIFER!! JENNIFER!!

The Curtain Falls

Read ACT II Next Month in *spark-online 4.0

Copyright © 1999 Alan Sondheim All Rights Reserved

Alan Sondheim is virtual writer-in-residence at http://trace.ntu.ac.uk (trAce online writing community) until 3/2000; his trAce projects are at http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/writers/sondheim/index.htm and his texts and art- work are at http://www.anu.edu.au/english/internet.txt In 1996 he edited Being on Line, Net Subjectivity, for Lusitania Press. Sondheim lives in New York City with his partner and cat.