The Coast of Utopia

‘Salvage’

Cast of Characters

Alexander Herzen, a radical writer… (age 40 in 1853)

Sasha Herzen, his son… (age 13 in 1853)

Tata Herzen… Herzen’s daughter (age 8 in 1853)

Olga Herzen… Herzen and Natalie’s daughter (age 2 in 1853)

Liza Herzen… Herzen and Natasha’s daughter

Maria Fromm… a German nanny

Malwida von Meysenbug… a German exile

Stanislaw Worcell… a Polish nationalist in exile

Michael Bakunin… a Russian anarchist

Nicholas Ogarev, a poet and co-editor of The Bell

Natasha Ogarev… his wife

Mrs. Blainey, the Herzen’s nanny

English Parlourmaid

Zenkowicz, a Polish émigré

Chernecki… a Polish printer

Tchorzewski… a Polish bookshop owner

Gottfried Kinkel… a German exile

Joanna Kinkel… his wife

Arnold Ruge… a German exile

Karl Marx

Ernest Jones, an English radical

Emily Jones, Jones’ wife

Alexander Ledru-Rollin, a French republican in exile

Louis Blanc, a French socialist in exile

Mazzini, an Italian nationalist

Lajos Kossuth, a Hungarian nationalist in exile

Aide to Kossuth

Aide to Ledru-Rollin

In Act II:

Ivan Turgenev, the Russian novelist

Mary Sutherland, Ogarev’s mistress

Henry Sutherland, Mary’s son

Nicholas Chernyshevsky, a Russian radical editor

Doctor, a Nihilist

Perotkin a visitor from Russia

Semlov, a visitor from Russia

Korf, a Russian officer

Pavel Vetoshnikov, a visitor from Russia

Selpstov, a Russian revolutionary

Liza, Herzen and Natasha’s daughter

Teresina, Saha Herzen’s wife

Scenes:

1. February 1853 (237-251) Hampstead, London: The Parliament Hill

· Herzen’s Dream

· Interviewing Malwida

· The Idea for The Polar Star!

2. February 1853 (251) The Schoolroom

· Olga hiding under the table.

3. May 1853 (251-53) Herzen’s study

· Herzen shows Sasha a copy of the first edition of The Polar Star.

4. September 1853 (251-53) The Schoolroom

· Olga slapped by Maria.

5. November 1853 (255-57) Herzen’s Study

· Malwida volunteers to be the children’s nanny.

6. January 1854 (257-62) The Dining Room

· Malwida has taken charge of the household.

· Herzen is financing the Polish and Russian underground.

7. December 31, 1854 (262-71) Herzen’s House in Richmond

· Herzen gives Sasha the 1^st copy of From the Other Shore to be published in Russian.

· a vision of Bakunin

· Herzen: Russia, because of its unique history, has never been through a bourgeois phase. So it may be in the position to pioneer a new socialist order. But will Russia ever awaken?

· Bakunin: Keep faith in the goodness of people. Change will come out of the blue, not according to any plan. And that new society will find its own form as the shadow of the inner nature of its people.

8. March 1855 (271-72) Herzen’s House

· Tsar Nicholas is dead!

9. April 1856 (273-84) Herzen’s study in his new home in Finchley

· Worcell is dying.

· Ogarev and Natasha arrive.

· Ogarev criticizes Herzen for what he has written about the revolutionary movement in Russia: “a night over a cheap bottle of wine”. He criticizes Herzen for preaching socialism in Russia. “It’s utopian.” (280)

· Herzen: “Russian socialism is not utopian.” Yes, they need education, but with the communes the framework is already in place.

· Ogarev: “They’re serfs!”

· Ogarev’s seizure; Olga’s nightmare.

10. June 1856 (284-85) Finchley

· Tata and Sasha and Olga are saying goodbye to Malwida.

11. June 1856 (285-88) Finchley

· Domestic contentment…. What Natalie prayed for….

· Herzen speaks of Natalie’s death…. and Ogarev of Maria’s.

· Herzen kisses Natasha chastely after she tells him that she and Ogarev cannot have children.

· Ogarev immediately understands all: “It’s just like my life… I wake up in my bed and don’t know how I got there.”

12. January 1857 Graveyard (288-91)

· Herzen and Blanc at Worcell’s funeral

· Herzen: Was his sacrifice worth it? Blanc: His duty.

· Herzen: Who has gained? Blanc: future generations

· Herzen: “Ah…”

· Natasha appears, and Herzen tells her of Kolya’s glove. They embrace and kiss.

Act 1 (237-291)

1. February 1853 (237-251) Hampstead, London: The Parliament Hill

· Herzen is dreaming. In his dream the wind is blowing, birds are singing, Saha is flying his kite and Maria pushes Olga in a perambulator. The kite’s line breaks and it flys off.

· Herzen: We are learning to speak ‘I say-ski’

· Political emigres of many nationalities wander in. The wife of the German Kinkel is asking him to show his long underwear to Malwida. The politicians are eyeing and ‘sizing’ each other up, ‘cutting’ as they close. The meeting of Kossuth and Mazinni for the first time has been arranged, neither having the manners to simply call on the other. Marx insults them all as pointless adventurers. The Germans insult each other. Marx demands Herzen be expelled from “The International Committee for Friendship and Cooperation Between Democrats in Exile”. Kinkel’s wife shoots him and…

· Herzen awakens: the scene is an open house at his residence in London. Herzen is interviewing Malwida for a position as a tutor for Tata. When Herzen joins the party, he finds the emigres debating who should have pride of place (ie who gets to leave first)

· Everyone criticizes the English (for their food in particular), but Herzen praises them for inventing ‘personal liberty’. (248) It took time.

· Herzen talks of Ruge’s underground newspaper which he had read as a youth in Russia and thought, “Yes, this is the language of free men.” Now he looks at Ruge and the others as refuges who cannot recognize their past mistakes, why they wound up in exile.

· Herzen remembers the first time that he had awakened in London, He did nothing but sit motionless the whole morning, paralyzed by the thought that his effective life was finished.

· Count Worcell asks him for financial help starting a Polish press in London, and Herzen realizes immediately how successful a free Russian press would be, not only in London. (249-50)

2. February 1853 (251) The Schoolroom

· Olga is hiding from Malwida beneath the table, squealing with delight.

3. May 1853 (251-53) Herzen’s study

· A party is going on.

· Herzen shows Sasha a copy of the first edition of The Polar Star. He quotes Pugachev on the crows… He tells Sasha that people had been afraid to whisper these words in Russia and now they had been published in print in Russian.

4. September 1853 (251-53) The Schoolroom

· Malwida is teaching Tata English. Maria is searching for Olga (who is probably in the kitchen cadging licorice.) When Maria finds her, we hear a slap and Olga’s wail.

5. November 1853 (255-57) Herzen’s Study

· Herzen with the first earnings from The Polar Star.

· Malwida volunteers to be the children’s nanny and Herzen accepts.

6. January 1854 (257-62) The Dining Room

· Malwida has taken charge of the household. The children wear proper clothes, observe proper manners, speak properly and do their lessons every day.

· Herzen proudly proclaims that his publication is being read in the Winter Palace!

· Malwida demands that Herzen limit open house to two evenings a week. She must be allowed to create the proper atmosphere in which the children should be raised. She recommends that they move to quieter Richmond. Herzen accedes to the request.

· Count Worcell and Zenkowicz ask for more money to transport the paper through their underground contacts. Herzen complains but agrees.

7. December 31, 1854 (262-71) Herzen’s House in Richmond

· A huge party includes the full émigré community… all are abuzz about the news of the Crimean War: Herzen is astonished that the English tolerate calls for the King to be deposed. Herzen is feuding again with Marx.

· At midnight, Herzen gives Sasha the 1^st copy of From the Other Shore to be published in Russian. His political creed: he has protested old and fraudulent ideas… he offers no solutions…. Only a new religion without paradise on the other shore. (265)

· The party moves outside to look at the frosty stars and his embrace of his children breaks up at the thought of dead Natalie and Kolya. Herzen grieves…

· And a vision of his old friend Bakunin appears. (He is in prison in Russia.) and instantly they argue, Bakunin in Rousseau mode claiming that simply overthrowing the state will lead to the re-emergence of man in his happy natural state. Herzen lambasts him for his naivete: freedom without order is chaos. Russia, though, because of its unique history, has never been through a bourgeois phase. So it may be in the position to pioneer a new socialist order. Even so, he doubts that Russia will ever awaken despite The Polar Star’s best efforts. (269)

· Bakunin’s rebuke: You puzzle over society and revolution as if they can be diagrammed. Change will come out of the blue, not according to any plan. And that new society will find its own form as the shadow of the inner nature of its people. Keep faith in the goodness of people. (270-71)

8. March 1855 (271-72) Herzen’s House

· Tsar Nicholas is dead! Huge party with every émigré in London.

· Tata and Olga stand on the table and sing their song.

[Interscene: Count Worcell asleep in his chair.]

9. April 1856 (273-84) Herzen’s study in his new home in Finchley

· Worcell wakes up and tells about the time he walked into his next door neighbor’s house, thinking it was his own home, and then did it again a few days later.

· Herzen volunteers to pay for hospital care.

· Worcell is insulted, gets up to leave and realizes he has lost his glove.

· Ogarev’s arrival! (with Natasha) A scrum of Russian affection surrounding Tata and Saha bursts into the room. Malwida stands as a servant.

· The children open presents. Natasha speaks of her promise to dying Natalie to take her children.

· Ogarev begins drinking heavily. He is very ill. He criticizes Herzen for what he has written about the revolutionary movement in Russia: “a night over a cheap bottle of wine”. He criticizes Herzen for preaching socialism in Russia. “It’s utopian.” (280)

· Herzen: “Russian socialism is not utopian.” Yes, they need education, but with the communes the framework is already in place.

· Ogarev: “They’re serfs!”

· Herzen: “I’ll toast the Tsar if he frees the serfs.”

· Ogarev: minor seizure.

· Olga awakens screaming. Russian hubbub as everyone rushes to comfort her.

10. June 1856 (284-85) Finchley

· Tata and Sasha and Olga are saying goodbye to Malwida. “It’s like the splinter, isn’t it?”

11. June 1856 (285-88) Finchley

· Herzen, Ogarev, and Natasha with Olga asleep on the couch.

· Domestic contentment…. What Natalie prayed for…. Herzen walks out.