Vladimir shows up and is received without any fanfare, as if he’s still a regular. He sits down to listen. They’re arguing about whether they should join tomorrow’s march with Father Gapon—some say no, others say yes, including a woman named Alexandra Kollontai. She talks in such a moving way that he wants to speak his own mind, but they won’t let him get a word in, he’s lost his place here, he has no right to speak or vote, and they won’t let Kollontai’s right-hand man speak either; Kollontai herself has now left to attend another meeting. Vladimir watches the voting; the ones who don’t want to seize heaven with their hands will march with the Gaponists tomorrow not to seize heaven Vladimir thinks, but to beg. He realizes his Clementine is speaking through his conscience.

After watching them vote and agree on a meeting point, he wanders through the streets awhile longer before going to the Karenin Palace, where we’ve just seen him arrive.

18. We’ll Give Our Lives!

18. We’ll Give Our Lives!

Father Gapon, surrounded by a halo of followers, gives his last speech for the day. In a hoarse voice, he repeats, “I’m a priest only inside the church. Here, I’m a man like any other.”

His entourage has heard him make his pitch a thousand times, but in his exaltation, he can’t stop, and his faithful followers don’t want him to.

Aleksandra is one step behind him. She’s fretting. She doesn’t know a thing about Vladimir; they tell her not to worry, but without any specifics. She regrets leaving the Karenin Palace without permission. What for? she asks herself. If I’m not even able to search for my brother…. She’s afraid of losing her job, but most of all, she wants to know what has happened to him.

“I must go find Vladimir,” she says insistently.

But they keep telling her the same thing: Vladimir is fine, she doesn’t need to worry.

“Will I see him where we’re going?”

“Probably not, but anything’s possible. Calm down, it’s all right.”

They come to a place where beggars have built run-down shacks and bonfires; most of them live outdoors. Aleksandra has been put at the front of the group, surrounded by the men who escort Gapon wherever he goes, his lieutenants. Father Gapon repeats the same speech he’s been making all day long, “We have come to see you, Father, seeking justice and protection.” The crowd repeats what he says: “We’ve fallen into poverty, we’re oppressed, we’re crushed by an unbearable burden of work, we’re insulted, we’re treated like slaves, it’s inhuman…. Isn’t it true, comrades?”

Father Gapon’s only friend, Rutenberg, steps up to the podium again, mentions weapons, and everyone suddenly becomes a pacifist. It’s identical to his previous speech.