Yet another document demonstrating how little confidence can be placed
in a revolution of peasants. The crude, shrewd and ruthless pragmatism
of Stalin marks why he came out on top, just what you would expect in
the situation. Stalin is one tough piece of shit.
So far it's a compelling drama. The one thing I find jarring is the
series of captions between scene 21 and 22. Too much history compacted
into these captions.
What does it mean that Stalin is held hostage to the Politburo, as
Truman says?
And what's this:
"Eighth Extraordinary Congress of Soviets on December 5, 1936 approves
the new
Constitution. But Stalin's plans are thwarted by the NKVD."
It is not clear from the structure of the play what the engineering of
the Soviet Constitution, other than for propaganda purposes, was about.
Also, it would be useful to know why Stalin was so unprepared for the
German invasion.
Also, what is behind Malenkov's proposal in scene 42, other than
rhetoric, that is?
A curious statement by dying Stalin to the dead Kamenev near the end:
"I was trying to push through a new, more democratic constitution,
but the NKVD
claimed to have discovered new bogeymen under every bed. They
hi-jacked the
congress, when my report on the constitution was to have been the
main item on the
agenda.
"You were a hostage to fortune. You had to be sacrificed. The new
constitution was
more important than the fate of any of the so-called Old Bolsheviks,
you, or my
daughter's godfather, or even me. But I had to survive, or the
constitution would have
fallen. As it was, most of my democratic proposals were removed."
What is this all about?
Curious Stalin's attitude toward his fellow mass-murderers Yezhov and
Yagoda.
What's this about the USA having a hand in Trotsky's assassination?
Trotsky's big mistake was being the intellectual's intellectual, not to
mention a Jew, now recognizing how impossible it is to be such an
intellectual in a country full of violent, ignorant little shits.
Then, the Palestinians, the Greeks, the Jews come to accuse Stalin.
And finally Stalin pleads that he was at the mercy of the NKVD.
What a shame the play ends with Paul Robeson singing that dumbass Soviet
national anthem. Not one of his better moments.
Congrats on a compelling play. It filled me with even more disgust for
the USSR than I already had.
On 7/16/2010 3:35 AM, Karl Dallas wrote:
> I have just completed the first draft of a play about Stalin, the result of
> over 12 years of research. Though some scenes have been imagined, as far as
> possible I have gone to published sources for reports of what happened or
> what was said at the time.
> At present it is far too long for theatrical performance, but my purpose in
> mentioning it here is to encourage criticism, however hostile (since I
> imagine it will provoke hostility, since it does not portray its subject as
> the devil incarnate; nevertheless I have tried to paint him "warts and
> all").
> The script can be read at http://www.karldallas.com/stalinplay.pdf.
> -----------
> Go well.
> Karl Dallas
> Follow me on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/karldallas
> Want to help the people of Palestine? Then follow
> http://www.twitter.com/bradfordvp and http://www.twitter.com/dpalestine
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