WOMAN DRESSED IN BLACK: What do we need?
PELAGEA VLASSOVA: Turkey. And the money we’ve had from France will need to be repaid. And in that way it’s a war of liberation.
WOMAN: Naturally. Of course it’s a war of liberation. But that doesn’t mean it has to go on for ever.
PELAGEA VLASSOVA: Another six months at least.
WOMAN DRESSED IN BLACK: And you think it will last that long once they’ve got the copper?
PELAGEA VLASSOVA: Of course. They get the soldiers for nothing. You’ve a son at the front, haven’t you? There you are, your son’s already at the front and now you’re handing over your copper. So it should be good for another six months.
WOMAN DRESSED IN BLACK: Now I’m really confused. At one moment the war’s supposed to be getting shorter, then it’s supposed to be getting longer. I don’t know what to believe. My husband has already fallen, and my son is outside Przemysl. I am going home.
She leaves. The bells start ringing.
WOMAN: Victory bells!
PELAGEA VLASSOVA: Yes, we’re winning! We give up our mugs, our cauldrons and our copper cans, but we’re winning. We’ve nothing left to eat, but we’re winning! You’re either for the Tsar and his victory, or you’re against him. We’re winning, but we’ve got to win! Otherwise there’ll be a revolution, that’s certain. And what will come of our beloved Tsar in that case? We have to stand by him in times like these. Look at the Germans! They’re already eating the leaves off the trees for their Kaiser!
WOMAN: What on earth are you talking about? A minute ago that woman took her cauldron away and left, all because of you.
A WORKING WOMAN: You didn’t have to tell her that, about your wanting the war to last longer. There’s nobody else wants that!
PELAGEA VLASSOVA: What? How about the Tsar? And the generals? Do you think they are scared of a war with Germany? It’s ‘Up and at ’em!’ ‘Win or die!’ That’s how it should be. Can’t you hear those bells? You only get those for winning or dying. Why are you against the war? Who are you, anyway? We’re all a better class of people here, if I’m not mistaken? But you are a worker. Are you a worker or aren’t you? Admit it! You’re just trying to thrust your way in here. Don’t forget that there’s still a certain distance between your sort and ours!
A MAIDSERVANT: You shouldn’t have said that to her. She too is giving up her things for the fatherland.
PELAGEA VLASSOVA to the Working Woman: You can’t possibly really want to stand here. What good is the war to you? It’s pure humbug your standing here. We can do all right without you and your sort. This is our war! Nobody is going to object if you workers want to join in, but that doesn’t give you a part in it, not by a long chalk. Go to your factory and see that they put up your wages, and don’t push yourself in here where you don’t belong. To the Maidservant: You can take her stuff for her if she really insists on handing it in.
The Working Woman hurries away.
THIRD WOMAN: Who on earth is this person doing all the talking?
FOURTH WOMAN: That’s half an hour I’ve been listening to her driving people away.
THIRD WOMAN: You know what she is? – A Bolshevik. And quite a tricky customer! – Just don’t argue with her, pay her no attention – Beware of Bolshevism, it takes thousands of different forms! – If a policeman appears they’ll just arrest her!
PELAGEA VLASSOVA: You’re right, I am a Bolshevik. But you are murderers, the way you queue up there. There’s not an animal would surrender its young as you do: without rhyme or reason and for a bad cause. Your womb should be torn out of you. It should shrivel up and you should be barren, you in your queue. No need for your sons to return. To such mothers? They’re shooting for a bad cause, so let them be shot for a bad cause. But you people are the murderers.
FIRST WOMAN turns round: I’ll show you what you deserve, you Bolshevik!
She goes up to the Mother with a can in her hand and strikes her in the face. Another of them also turns and spits in front of her. Then the counter opens and the three women pass inside.
THE MAIDSERVANT remains standing: Don’t bother with them. But tell me what I ought to do. I know you Bolsheviks are against the war, but I am in service and I can’t return to my masters with these copper cans. I don’t want to hand them in. But if I don’t hand them in, it won’t have helped anyone and I shall be dismissed. So what should I do?
PELAGEA VLASSOVA: You can’t do anything by yourself. Hand the copper cans in in your employers’ name. In their name people like yourself will make ammunition out of them. And people like yourself will use them to shoot with. But it will be people like yourself who will decide whom to shoot at. Come along this evening to – She whispers an address in her ear. There’ll be a worker from the Putilov factory speaking, and we’ll be able to explain to you what we want our attitude to be. But don’t tell that address to anyone who shouldn’t know it.
14
A street.
Pelagea Vlassova heads a demonstration and carries the red flag. The Maidservant is marching alongside her.
A WORKER: As we came along the Lybin-Prospekt there were already several thousand of us. More than fifty firms were on strike, and the strikers joined us to demonstrate against the war and against Tsarist domination.
SECOND WORKER: In winter 1916/17 there were already 250,000 on strike in the factories. The inadequate wages at a time of rising prices, the shortage of foodstuffs, the despair as to the war, the despatch to the battlefields of famished workers and peasants: all this had driven them towards our Bolshevik ranks.
THIRD WORKER: We carried banners inscribed ‘Down with the war! Long live the Revolution’ and red flags.
PELAGEA VLASSOVA: For what a lot I, Pelagea Vlassova, a worker’s widow and a worker’s mother, still have to do! Many years ago, when first I felt worried to see my son no longer getting enough to eat, I just groaned. That changed nothing. Then I helped him in his fight for the extra kopeck. In those days we conducted small strikes for better wages. Now we are part of an enormous strike in the munition factories and a struggle for power in the state.
THE MAIDSERVANT: Many people say that what we want cannot ever succeed. We should be content with what we have got. The power of the rulers is impregnable. We would always be defeated. Even many workers say it will never work!
PELAGEA VLASSOVA recites:
Those still alive can’t say ‘never’.
No certainty can be certain
If it cannot stay as it is.
When the rulers have already spoken
That is when the ruled start speaking.
Who dares to talk of ‘never’?
Whose fault is it if oppression still remains? It’s ours.
Whose job will it be to get rid of it? Just ours.
Whoever’s been beaten must get to his feet.
He who is lost must give battle.
He who is aware where he stands – how can anyone stop him moving on?
Those who were losers today will be triumphant tomorrow
And from never will come today.
THE MAIDSERVANT: Our flag was borne by a woman in her sixties. We said: ‘Isn’t that flag much too heavy for you? Give us the flag!’ But she said:
PELAGEA VLASSOVA: No, when I feel tired I’ll give it to you, dear, and then you can carry it.
FIRST WORKER: So that is how she marched with us, tirelessly, from morning till past midday.
The Exception and the Rule
Lehrstück
Collaborators: EMIL HESSE BURRI, ELISABETH HAUPTMANN
Translator: TOM OSBORN
Characters:
THE MERCHANT
THE GUIDE
THE COOLIE
TWO POLICEMEN
THE LANDLORD
THE COOLIE’S WIFE
THE LEADER OF THE SECOND EXPEDITION
THE JUDGE
TWO ASSESSORS
Translator’s note on the words of the songs: These are songs, not poems. The mus
ic by Paul Dessau is now the only setting authorised by the Brecht Estate. I have therefore taken great care to attempt both an elegant representation of the sense of the original and a text that can be matched to Dessau’s music. For the purposes of production, musical directors will be able to refine this matching, with the assistance of the score.
THE ACTORS:
We are here to report
The story of a journey. It was undertaken
By one who exploits and two of the exploited.
Closely observe the behaviour of these people:
Find it strange, even when ordinary
Inexplicable, even when familiar
Incomprehensible, even when it is the rule.
Even the slightest detail, however simple
You should look at with suspicion. Ask if it is needed
Especially when it is quite normal.
Please, we say to you now, do not accept
Events that happen every day as natural!
For in these times of bloody confusion
Ordered disorder, deliberate violence
Inhuman humanity –
Nothing must be called natural, so that nothing
May be thought unchangeable.
1
THE RACE IN THE DESERT
Two small parties are hurrying across the desert some way apart.
THE MERCHANT to his two men, the Guide and a coolie carrying the load: You’ve got to move faster. We must reach the outpost at Han in two days. We must be a full day ahead of the others by the time we get there. To the audience: I am Karl Langmann, merchant. I am travelling to Urga to sign up an oil concession. I’m not the only one with that idea. The first man there gets the deal. Because I am clever and can organise and am ruthless with my men, I have cut the time for this journey by nearly half so far. Unfortunately one of my rivals is moving as fast as I am. He looks through his binoculars. There. I can still see them. To the Guide: Why don’t you make him move? I’m paying you to drive him, not to admire the view. Do you realise how much this is costing? All right, it’s not your money. But if you sabotage me I’ll report you to the employing agent in Urga.
GUIDE to the Coolie: Try to go faster.
MERCHANT: There’s no guts in your voice. You’ll never make a guide that way. I should have paid more for a better one. It’s always worth it in the end. Why don’t you beat him? I’m not for beating, but now it’s needed. If I don’t get there first, I’m finished. You hired your brother, admit it. A relative, that’s why you won’t beat him. I know you people. You’re tough all right when you want to be. Beat him, or you’re fired. And you can try suing me for your money. My God, they’re gaining on us.
COOLIE to the Guide: Beat me, but not yet your hardest. It’s too soon to make me work my hardest.
The Guide beats the Coolie.
SHOUTS FROM BEHIND: Hallo ... Is this the road to Urga? Wait for us. We are friends.
MERCHANT does not answer and does not look back: To hell with them. March on. I’ve got to keep these men moving another three days. I’ll drive them hard for two days and bribe them on the third. In Urga we’ll see. I haven’t left my rivals behind yet, but on the second night I won’t rest, and by morning they’ll be out of sight and I’ll be at the outpost at Han a day ahead. He sings:
I marched all night, and that has put me ahead.
I was ruthless, so I maintained my speed.
The weak man falls behind, and the strong man pushes through.
2
THE END OF A BUSY ROAD
MERCHANT at the entrance to Han: This is the outpost of Han. I have arrived a full day ahead of the others. I’ve exhausted my men, and they don’t like me for it. They have no spirit for breaking records. They’re not fighters. They spend their lives crawling in the mud. They don’t complain, because we still have the police, thank God, to maintain law and order.
TWO POLICEMEN approaching: Everything all right, sir? Any trouble on the road? Any trouble with your men?
MERCHANT: Yes, everything’s all right. I’ve made it in three days instead of four. The road’s shocking, but that won’t stop me finishing the job. What are the roads like beyond Han?
TWO POLICEMEN: After this, sir, comes the uninhabited Yahi Desert.
MERCHANT: Can I get a police escort?
TWO POLICEMEN as they walk off: No, sir. Our patrol ends here. And you won’t see another one, sir.
3
THE DISMISSAL OF THE GUIDE AT THE OUTPOST OF HAN
GUIDE: Since we spoke to the policemen on the road by the outpost, our merchant has changed. The manner he uses with us is quite different: you could almost call him friendly. It can’t be that he’s relaxing from the journey, because he hasn’t ordered a day’s rest, not even here, the last outpost before the Yahi Desert. I don’t know how I can get this porter to Urga, he’s exhausted already. Altogether the merchant’s friendliness makes me worried. I am afraid of his scheming. He goes about deep in thought. New thoughts mean new treacheries. He plans, but it’s the porter and I who have to suffer. Otherwise we lose our wages, or he leaves us stranded in the middle of the desert.
MERCHANT approaching: Take some tobacco. And cigarette paper. A good draw on that stuff’ll make you people go through Hell, won’t it? You’re capable of anything for the sake of some smoke down your lungs. Well, we’re lucky. Our tobacco would last us three times the distance to Urga.
GUIDE taking it, sotto voce: Our tobacco!
MERCHANT: Come and sit down, friend. No? A journey like this brings people together. Well, you needn’t sit down if you prefer to stand. I respect your customs. Normally I wouldn’t sit down with you, just as you wouldn’t sit down with the porter. That’s what makes the world go round. But we can have a smoke together. Can’t we? He laughs. That’s what I like about you. It’s your own kind of dignity. All right, get us ready now. And check the water. I’m told there are not many waterholes in the desert. One more thing. I want to warn you about the porter. Did you see the look in his eye when you beat him? There’s no good in that look. You’ll have to manage him better in the next few days. We’ve got to go even faster. And he’s a lazy brute. We’ll be going through uninhabited territory, and he may show his true colours. To him, you’re privileged. You earn more and you don’t have to carry. That’s reason enough for him to hate you. You’d be well advised to keep your distance. The Guide goes through to the courtyard The Merchant sits alone. A queer lot.
The Merchant sits silent. The Guide supervises the packing. Then he sits and smokes. When the Coolie is finished he sits down and the Guide gives him tobacco and cigarette paper. The Coolie starts a conversation with the Guide.
COOLIE: The merchant speaks of a service to Mankind. He wants to raise oil from the ground and build a railway. He says he will spread prosperity. But if they build a railway here, how shall I earn my living?
GUIDE: You don’t need to worry. The railway won’t be here so soon. What I’ve heard is that when they find oil, they hide it. If they dig a hole and oil comes out they get paid money to stop it up again. That’s what the merchant is hurrying to find. Not the oil, but the money for keeping quiet.
COOLIE: I don’t understand.
GUIDE: Nobody understands.
COOLIE: In the desert it will be much worse. I hope my feet will last.
GUIDE: They will.
COOLIE: Are there thieves?
GUIDE: Only a few scavengers near the outpost.
COOLIE: And later?
GUIDE: When we’ve crossed the river Myr we follow the water-holes.
COOLIE: You know the way?
GUIDE: Yes.
The Merchant has heard voices. He approaches unseen and listens.
COOLIE: Is it difficult to cross the river?
GUIDE: Not usually at this time of year – unless it floods. And then one can drown in the current.
MERCHANT: He’s actually talking to the porter. He’s sitting with him. And smoking with him.
COOLIE:
What happens then?
GUIDE: One may have to wait a week for the water to go down.
MERCHANT: So that’s it. Advising him to delay and to value his own skin more than the expedition. This man is dangerous. He’d be on his side. He’s not competent to push this thing through. Which is putting it at its most favourable. Certainly from now on it would be two against one. He’s obviously afraid to handle his subordinate firmly, now that it’s uninhabited territory we are coming to. I must get rid of him. He goes to them. I gave you the order to supervise the packing. Now we’ll see how well you carry out orders. He pulls at a strap hard, till it breaks. Do you call that packing? To break a strap means a day’s delay. Which would just suit you, delay.
GUIDE: I don’t want delay. And the strap won’t break, if it isn’t pulled at.
MERCHANT: Are you contradicting me? Is this strap broken or not? You look me in the face and tell me this strap won’t break. You’re completely untrustworthy. I made a mistake in treating you people decently, it was bound to cause trouble. I can’t use a guide who doesn’t maintain his position. You ought to be a porter. You’re not fit to be a guide. And I’ve good reason to believe you’re actually stirring up trouble with those supposed to be under your command.
GUIDE: What reason?
MERCHANT: You’d like to know that, wouldn’t you? Well, you’re dismissed.
GUIDE: But you can’t dismiss me in the middle of a journey.
MERCHANT: You should be thankful if I don’t report you to the agent in Urga. Here are your wages up to this point. Landlord! Landlord comes. You are my witness that I have paid him. To Guide: I can tell you now, you’d better not show your face in Urga in future. Looks him up and down. You’ll never be anything. Goes with Landlord to the other room. I’m starting off right away. If anything goes wrong, you are my witness that today I set out alone – indicating the Coolie – with this man.
Landlord gestures that he understands nothing.
MERCHANT disconcerted: He doesn’t understand. This means there’ll be no one to say where I’ve gone. And the trouble is, they know there’s no one.