The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-04-28

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(which reflects that particular epoch.
The future historian, upon examining
the present repertoire of the Russian
Theatre, will be able to gain an idea
of the complex period through which
we are passing.
The proletariat, in it's struggle for
constantly comes into con-
flict with the opposite class. We have
not yet produced rigidly proletarian
theatre rejecting the present stage of
transition from capitalism to social
ism and the pathos. OF the heroic
struggle and OF peaceful constructive
work Of socialism; but we have al
ready a rich repertoire rejecting the
Revolution. This repertoire is impreg-
mated with the ideas Of the ascending
class, OF the new people who are
bouyantly confident of victory.
In the mentality Of these new peo-
pie (people who are still of the tran
sition period) the culture OF tie past
is blended with that of the future.
these new people do not resemble
Lchekhov's heroes who are weighed
Gown by superstitious belief in fatal
isnl-the predominant heroes of the
pre-revolutionary theatre in Russia.
The October storm has aroused the
masses and shaken of the shackles
of the past; and above all, it has
emancipated the woman.
The women's movement is spread
ing in our country with unparalleled
force. In the remotest corners of the
country we find the women engaged in
public life, acting as worker-corres-
pond ents, neutrality-suspicious.,
chairmen of rural Soviets, and so on;
we see the women of Uzbekistan,
lurkmenistan and Georgia, making
steady progress on the road of eman-
cipation.
This new woman, who has already
established herself as a public worker,
is finding her reflections in our
modern novels and plays. Whilst the
bourgeois theatres knew only of the
woman as doll and pet, the new
class brought forward by October, the
proletariat, has given us the woman
comrade, and the woman-builder, en-
visaging the problem of marriage and
family life under an entirely new
angle.
The future historian will be able to
trace the gigantic progress made by
woman during the years of evolution.
This progress will be traced by such
plays as Trenev's "Lubov Yarovaya, !"
Gladkov's Cement" Romashev's
"The End of Krivorilsk" and Nizo-
voy's "On the Land"
"Lubov Yarovaya."
Trenev's play "Lubov Yarovaya'
portrays the scenes of the Civil War
in one of our southern towns which
constantly changed hands in the bat
ties between Reds and Whites. The
heroine of the play, lLubov Yarovaya,
who lost her husband in the imperial
list war, although belonging to NO
party, supports the Bosheviks and
hates the Whites. Among the Reds
there was disguised enemy of the
Soviets who, whilst acting as a Red
Commlssar, was secretly working for
the Whites. After the evacuation OF
the Reds, this man removed his mask
and Nine Yarovaya, to her great
horror, recognized her missing hus.
band in the person of the traitor.
This man, known as Red Commits
sar under the sobriquet of "Vikhr''
(whirlwind), was really acting as g
spy and provocator among the Reds
The town has been recaptured by
the Whites. Lubov Yaro7aya is now
confronted with the terrible dilemma
whether to follow her husband into
the camp of the Whites, or her owr
sympathies for the proletariat. She
finally makes up her mind. and hest.
tatlngly she joins the Reds, to whom
she surrenders her husband. knowing
that he will be shot by them. In tho
bitter conflict between the classes
Lubov Yarovaya makes her choice
and from an ordinary and common.
place school teacher she grows into
a heroine who sacrifices her owr
personal feelings for the great cause
of the toilers.
Cement" Deals with Reconstruction
Gladkov's Cement deals wifi
another phase of the Revolution. will
the period of reconstruction which
followed upon the termination of the
Civil War. >
Gleb Tehumalov, a denobilized Rec
Army soldier, returns to his native
place. For three years he had beer
away, fighting on the different front.
and row on approaching his nativ,
place, he sees the traces of destruc.
ton and devastation. He hurries or
to rejoin the wife and little daughte,
whom ne has left behind.
He finds his wife now as an active
public worker, and he feels sort OF
resentment. Whilst at the front he
was, to be sure, fighter and revo.
lutlonary; now, among the members
Of Isr L