Tom Stoppard Plays 3

by Tom Stoppard

  WITNESS: It’s a little late to be scrupulous about detail.

  NARRATOR: What’s the answer to Kuron?

  WITNESS: I know Kuron. In 1800 he was in nostalgic exile in Paris waiting for history to put the clock back. In 1900 he was a revolutionary Marxist in London waiting for the proletariat to put the clock forward. Now he’s in People’s Poland and it seems to be neither one thing nor the other, an independent slave-state ruled by worker-princes. No wonder he’s disappointed.

  NARRATOR: Well, then what …?

  WITNESS: He’s got it upside down, in my opinion. Theories don’t guarantee social justice, social justice tells you if a theory is any good. Right and wrong are not complicated – when a child cries, ‘That’s not fair!’ the child can be believed. Children are always right. But it was still a cheap trick.

  NARRATOR: I’ll take it back.

  102. INT. WALESA FLAT. EVENING

  As before. The scene has got to the point where KURON is at the door, about to leave.

  KURON: Next time, eh? (To WALESA) I think your plan is good. Get the best deal you can for the working man. You’re a union, after all.

  103. INT. STEELWORKS. DAY

  WALESA is in the foreground. Low camera angle. WORKERS are in the gantry above. The factory is loud and busy.

  WALESA looks at his watch. At that moment the sirens sound.

  104. INT. OPERATIONS ROOM. DAY

  There is a map table and maps and city plans on the walls. Half a dozen high-ranking MILITARY OFFICERS are crowded round the table.

  JARUZELSKI is among them, using a pointer to indicate different parts of the map. The siren sound overlaps with diminished volume, into this room. The ARMY OFFICERS all pause and look up, listening …

  105. INT. STEELWORKS. DAY

  WALESA is where he was. The siren is just finishing. The machinery is coming to a halt. So are the men who were working.

  WALESA: It’s music to them … music …

  106. INT. PARLIAMENT. DAY

  JARUZELSKI is at the microphone.

  JARUZELSKI: In the Central Committee, even in the Politburo, there are voices asking us to set our democratic system aside until peace is restored. What I will ask of this assembly is to prepare itself for a situation where I will have to come to you and ask for emergency laws. There are 12,000 on strike in the textile mills. If the independent union cannot control its anarchists, we will have to find some other way …

  107. INT. GOVERNMENT MEETING ROOM. DAY

  On one side of the large table is RAKOWSKI, flanked by two ADVISERS. He is faced by WALESA, similarly attended.

  WALESA: I was in the textile mills. I have met these anarchists … 12,000 women, young girls and grannies, working wives … Do you think they’re on strike because they want to overthrow the Party? No, they’re on strike because work brings no reward, and it doesn’t look as if the Government knows what to do about it. They get up in the dark to stand in line for hours to buy a pair of shoes the wrong size so that they may have something to barter for a piece of meat – which turns out to be rotten. They appeal to you, and you say – oh, we can’t help it, these anarchists are making life impossible. And then it turns out they’re the anarchists! Listen, they can’t break the circle, someone else has to. I don’t think you can do it on your own.

  RAKOWSKI: I agree. You know our proposal – an action front representing all the social forces – the Government, Solidarity, the Church, the peasants, the official unions, Catholic intellectuals, economists, scientists – a team of national unity –

  WALESA: You just want to water us down. But we’re 10 million and we won’t sit down as equal partners with the incompetents and hacks – the central planners, the time-servers, the seat warmers – all the ones who had the chance and lost it. You’ve failed, and the best answer now is an economic council, independent, with real power, made up of Solidarity and Government equally with equal voices.

  RAKOWSKI: (Angrily) What sort of government do you expect to hand over its authority to a committee?

  WALESA: Your sort. A government with no mandate at the end of its string.

  (RAKOWSKI, insulted, gets up from the table and walks away, perhaps towards a window. His ADVISERS look stonily across the table, WALESA and the SOLIDARITY MEN stand up and prepare to leave.)

  RAKOWSKI: Perhaps you’d like to tell that to the General?

  WALESA: (With conscious irony) Do you mean the Prime Minister?

  RAKOWSKI: Yes, the Prime Minister. The First Secretary. The General.

  WALESA: How many votes does he get?

  108. INT. POLITBURO VESTIBULE. DAY

  The SOLIDARITY TEAM is leaving. RAKOWSKI appears.

  RAKOWSKI: Comrade Walesa –

  (WALESA drops back. RAKOWSKI takes him aside. He speaks quietly.)

  General Jaruzelski is interested in a new initiative. With Archbishop Glemp. Will you meet them?

  WALESA: Just the three of us?

  RAKOWSKI: Just the three of you.

  109. INT. SOLIDARITY MEETING ROOM (GDANSK) DAY

  There are four men in the room … WALESA, GWIAZDA, RULEWSKI and JURCZYK. Because of the size of the room, some of the conversation may be shouted across the yards of space.

  RULEWSKI: What do they want? Your autograph?

  GWIAZDA: You had no authority to accept.

  WALESA: Should we announce that we aren’t even willing to talk to the Prime Minister and the Primate of Poland?

  GWIAZDA: Not we, you. Why you?

  WALESA: I was asked.

  GWIAZDA: You were asked because you’re Jaruzelski’s meat. You’re a babe in arms.

  RULEWSKI: So is Glemp. The General wants the moral authority of the Church and the social seal of approval of Solidarity.

  GWIAZDA: They’ll muzzle you.

  WALESA: I’m going.

  GWIAZDA: Lech, you’re a vain fool! Your moustache is famous but there is nothing above it.

  WALESA: (Over the top) You can throw me out any time you like. I’ll go and I’ll take the union with me. I’ll dissolve it inside two weeks!

  (The others look at each other in astonishment.)

  RULEWSKI: Where will you take it? To New York? In two weeks you will be the guest of the American unions. Maybe you should have taken the union with you when you went to Geneva – to Japan – to Paris – to the Vatican.

  JURCZYK: We don’t have to destroy ourselves, there’s others willing to do it –

  WALESA: Yes, that’s right, Marian – and one way to destroy us is to go round making speeches calling the Government traitors, Moscow’s servants, Jews – what did you mean by it?

  JURCZYK: I meant they’re traitors, Moscow’s servants and in some cases Jews.

  WALESA: As a Catholic I reject you, as a union we dissociate ourselves from such talk.

  JURCZYK: Wait till you get to America. The Americans won’t hear a word you say about your ideals for socialism – they’ll make an anti-Russian carnival out of you.

  (WALESA’s manner changes instantly as he takes this in.)

  WALESA: That’s true. You’re right. I won’t go. The American trip is off. As of now.

  (The other three are astonished by him again.)

  (Smiles.) That’s right. When somebody’s right they don’t. have to argue with me. The right move and the wrong move – I don’t need arguments. I can feel it – right and wrong. The meeting feels right, and I’m going to it.

  110. INT. GOVERNMENT GUEST HOUSE. EVENING

  There is a green-baize card table and three chairs. The NARRATOR is standing by, shuffling a pack of cards.

  NARRATOR: (To camera) Cardinal Wyszynski had died in May. The new Primate of Poland was Archbishop Joseph Glemp. The meeting which took place between the Primate, the General and the union leader on November 4th 1981 was without precedent, not just in the Polish crisis but in the Communist world. It lasted 2 hours and 20 minutes.

  (The NARRATOR starts to deal the cards three ways.)

  That much is k
nown. But as to who said what to whom …

  (The WITNESS appears with a carafe and three glasses. He puts them on the table.)

  WITNESS: Don’t tell me, let me guess. Cards on the table.

  NARRATOR: Playing one’s hand.

  WITNESS: Writers.

  111. INT. THE SAME. EVENING

  There is the card table and the three chairs, with a hand of cards waiting at each place. JARUZELSKI, GLEMP and WALESA approach the table and sit down. Each looks at his own cards. The three men play cards as they speak. They pick up and put down cards as it becomes their turn to speak. The cards are seen to be not conventional. Their designs, in red and white, show, variously, the Polish Eagle, a Church symbol, the Solidarity symbol, the hammer and sickle … but there is no attempt to make the rules of the game precisely intelligible to the audience. The impression is that the game is a form of whist.

  JARUZELSKI: We are Poles. There is much we can agree on.

  GLEMP: Certainly we want to settle our own problems.

  WALESA: All right.

  JARUZELSKI: Thank you.

  (JARUZELSKI picks up the three cards as a ‘trick’. He puts down a card.)

  The Russians are reluctant to intervene but at a certain point they would have to overcome their reluctance. That point will be reached when socialism breaks down in this country.

  GLEMP: I agree.

  WALESA: We can’t even agree on language. What is this socialism you’re talking about? Solidarity is socialism.

  JARUZELSKI: It is not Lenin’s socialism.

  GLEMP: Let us say that Solidarity is socialism. But is it not breaking down? Socialism is order. (To WALESA) Your extremists create disorder.

  WALESA: (Upset) Father, the Government is trying to make accomplices of us by holding these Russians over our heads – ‘Behave yourselves for Poland’s sake!’ Why should we believe it? I don’t think the Russians can afford to intervene.

  JARUZELSKI: They can never afford to until they can’t afford not to.

  (He picks up the second ‘trick’.)

  The Polish Church is unique, a stronghold of Christianity in the Communist world. Soviet intervention would change many things.

  GLEMP: Not just for the Church. It would certainly be the end of the free trade unions.

  WALESA: The Russian scare shouldn’t change what we think or do. That’s blackmail and it’s not moral to give in to it. We can afford to be wrong but the Church has got to be right.

  (WALESA stands up abruptly, throwing down his cards. The picture freezes.)

  NARRATOR: (Voice over) But there was no fly on the wall. No one knows how little help Walesa got from Archbishop Glemp. Or how much.

  (The scene cuts back to the beginning, the game beginning again.)

  JARUZELSKI: We are Poles. There is much we can agree on.

  GLEMP: Certainly we want to settle our own problems.

  WALESA: All right.

  JARUZELSKI: Thank you.

  (JARUZELSKI picks up the ‘trick’.)

  The Russians are reluctant to intervene but they would have to overcome their reluctance if socialism breaks down in this country.

  GLEMP: (Turning on JARUZELSKI) We can’t even agree on language. What is this intervention? It is invasion and occupation to rescue a discredited dictatorship!

  WALESA: (Cautiously) But invasion would change many things, not just for the union. The Polish Church has a unique position and it has been won at great sacrifice.

  JARUZELSKI: The dictatorship of the proletariat as expressed through the Party is the only government we’ve got and Solidarity is not letting it govern.

  GLEMP: (Again attacking JARUZELSKI) The Government has reneged on most of the provisions of the Gdansk Agreement. The conflict is of your creation because you deny the rights of the citizen!

  (The picture freezes again.)

  NARRATOR: (Voice over) Everything is true except the words and the pictures. It wasn’t a card game.

  (The scene cuts back to the beginning but now it is not a card game. The table is polished wood.)

  But time was running out. There were to be elections in February and the one problem a Communist government cannot afford is to get re-elected.

  JARUZELSKI: We have elections in February. (To WALESA) You proclaimed a trade union with no interest in politics. In the last few months, thirty-five anti-socialist groups posing as political parties have been formed. We all have reason to fear the consequences. The Russians are reluctant to intervene but at a certain point they will have to overcome their reluctance.

  GLEMP: Poland’s socialist dictatorship is the most democratic government we’ve got, and the most Polish. We are here to decide how we can best help it clothe and feed the population. Am I wrong? Without the economic problem there would be no political problem. Without the political problem there would be no Russian problem.

  WALESA: No, you’re not wrong.

  JARUZELSKI: We have coal reserves for two more weeks. How do I get the country running again? (To WALESA) I’ve asked you to ban wildcat strikes. I’ve offered to sit down with you in a council for national renewal.

  WALESA: With us and enough others to give you a tame majority.

  GLEMP: What if Solidarity had a veto?

  JARUZELSKI: No. But perhaps if every member had the right of veto …

  WALESA: No.

  JARUZELSKI: Then just Solidarity and the Government.

  GLEMP: And the Church.

  JARUZELSKI: That’s possible. (To WALESA) What do you say?

  (Pause.)

  WALESA: There’s a meeting tonight of the Solidarity National Commission, I have to go back to Gdansk.

  112. INT. SOLIDARITY NATIONAL COMMISSION. NIGHT

  The meeting is noisy. The familiar faces are there. GWIAZDA is in the chair. WALESA (dressed as for the Glemp/Jaruzelski meeting) appears.

  GWIAZDA sees him.

  GWIAZDA: Lech!

  (The meeting goes quiet.)

  We didn’t wait. We’ve made some progress.

  WALESA: I’ve got something to put to the vote.

  GWIAZDA: We already voted. A national strike in three months if the Government doesn’t satisfy conditions.

  WALESA: And a ban on unofficial strikes?

  GWIAZDA: We voted on that too. No ban.

  WALESA: Is that your idea of progress?

  GWIAZDA: Yes. It is.

  (WALESA approaches him.)

  WALESA: You’re sitting in my chair.

  (GWIAZDA vacates the chair, WALESA takes it. He picks up the microphone in front of him.)

  If it’s confrontation you want, that’s fine because that’s what you’re voting for. You might as well leave now and start prising up the cobbles off the streets.

  (The meeting goes quiet for him.)

  I’m here with a new formula for talking with the Government – a national committee of –

  (The meeting starts murmuring against him.)

  Yes, I know. They lie. They cheat. They kick and bite and scratch before they give an inch – but that’s how we got this union, inch by inch across the negotiating table!

  (The meeting starts to applaud, a slow build interrupted by GWIAZDA.)

  GWIAZDA: (Shouting) We got it by going on strike and staying on strike.

  WALESA: You’re wrong. We got it because we could deliver a return to work. We’ve got nothing else to negotiate with, and if we can’t deliver, what have they got to lose?

  (The applause grows.)

  GWIAZDA: They’ve conned you, Lech! The talks are a sham. Across the table is where they want us – all the time we’re talking they’re getting ready to hit us. You keep the chair I’m not going to be needing it.

  GWIAZDA leaves and from different places about a dozen men. ones who were not clapping, leave with him.)

  113. INT. PLAYGROUND (GDANSK). DAY

  WALESA and his WIFE and CHILDREN are in the playground. The CHILDREN are running around at some distance and playing.

  (DANUTA i
s pregnant.)

  WALESA: Andrzej’s resigned. Him and others. They say my line is too soft. Maybe it is. I read in the papers that Walesa is a moderate and Gwiazda is a radical and I feel a sort of shame. How brave it sounds, to be a radical.

  DANUTA: You’re radical enough. Solidarity is losing its halo, Lech. The TV makes you look like saboteurs. You’re getting blamed for the shortages, for the farmers’ strikes, the student strikes, the taxi drivers’ strike … for everything. People are saying the government can’t solve it, Solidarity can’t solve it, there’s only the army left, and better ours than theirs.

  WALESA: What people?

  DANUTA: Ordinary people. You know. Not the Praesidium. Not the Government. People.

  WALESA: I wish I could talk to Jacek.

  DANUTA: Why can’t you?

  114. INT. POLICE CELL. DAY

  The WITNESS, the worse for wear, is flung into the cell. KURON is lying on a bunk in the cell.

  WITNESS: Where did they get you?

  KURON: At home.

  WITNESS: What for?

  KURON: Attempting to overthrow the state. I think. What’s happening outside?

  WITNESS: The fire brigade cadets have taken over the college.

  KURON: Strikers in uniform? Well, we’re getting there.

  115. INT. OPERATIONS ROOM. DAY

  JARUZELSKI has a visitor – MARSHAL KULIKOV.

  JARUZELSKI: We’re getting there. The Western bankers have given us an ultimatum, the zloty is being devalued, and parliament won’t pass a strike law. I would say … about a week. Tomorrow we move in against the fire brigade cadets.

  KULIKOV: Troops?

  JARUZELSKI: (Shaking his head) Not yet. Riot police. We’ll use helicopters to secure the roof and go in through the main gate.

  116. EXT. STREET

  There is a lot of noise. There is a helicopter noise overhead. WALESA is there looking up. He is joined by a furious and triumphant GWIAZDA.