I dined with the Rosens, and McEvoy was there, also Mr. Louis Wiley,
Manager of the New York TIMES. I left hurriedly so as to be at
the Aeolian Hall in plenty of time. The lecture was at 8:30. I found
Mr. Heywood Broun there. He had consented to introduce me and did so
by a most charming and flattering speech which, as I am a stranger,
I appreciated very much. An American audience is very quick and full
of humor. They are on the idea before one has had time to get to it
oneself.
I began by pointing out the difficulties of the situation. First of
all, I said, my severest critic is in the house, he has heard me speak
before, and he has insisted on being present tonight,--his years are
five, and if he goes to sleep, I shall know my lecture has been dull!
(Everyone looked towards Dick!)
When I told of my arrival in Moscow and that Mrs. Kameneff met us and
upbraided him--they never gave me a chance to finish my sentence. The
whole house laughed, and went on laughing, and they laughed all the
more at my discomfiture! When the laughter subsided I then finished, I
said that she upbraided him for having brought an artist half across
Europe, to do portraits at such a critical period, and Kameneff replied
that he simply did not agree with her.
Of course there was a large Radical element, and so I got a good
reception; they were sympathetic. I didn’t realize they were radicals
and interpreted it as sympathy from the good New Yorkers. Whatever
element it was they were tolerant and encouraging. When I began about
Trotzky I forgot my audience, and got carried away, I seemed to have
touched the magnetic cord to Moscow, straight to Trotzky! I described
this man of wit, fire and genius--I talked of him as a Napoleon of
peace! And then, suddenly remembering, I pulled myself together,
hesitated and said I wouldn’t say any more about Trotzky! There were
shouts of “go on!” This _must_ have come from the radical element--but
I was too wrought up and fevered to think politically.
When it was over, Dick joined me on the stage amid applause--people
came to the footlights, and I went down on my knees to talk to my
friends who came to the edge. Afterwards, on the way out, scores
of people of all kinds surrounded me. One, a woman with a tragic
and strong face, said, “Let me thank you for being so fair and
unprejudiced. I am a Communist, I have not yet served my sentence ...”
Her face was convulsed with emotion and traces of suffering ... there
are martyr fanatics.
The more I look back on what I’ve done, the more it frightens me. I
wonder how I ever skated on thin ice as I did.