The Return of Lanny Budd I by Sinclair Upton

Author:Sinclair, Upton [Sinclair, Upton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781931313117
Amazon: 1931313113
Goodreads: 812778
Publisher: Simon Publications
Published: 2001-01-20T08:00:00+00:00

IV

Now and then when Lanny was in New York he would pick up a copy of the Daily Worker on a news stand, because he wanted to know what the Communists were doing and saying. He read that Hansi Robin was giving a concert in one of the large halls on the East side, and when he told Laurel about it she said, ‘Let’s go and hear him’. She was free now, for the baby was weaned and had a dependable nurse.

They said nothing to anyone about this project, for they were supposed to be cool toward the Hansibesses. They didn’t have any Communists on their Peace staff, and Laurel wanted to make it plain that they had no tolerance for them. But when they were alone they talked a great deal about Hansi and wondered how he was getting along. He must be a lonely man indeed, but Lanny hesitated to try to see him again.

They motored into the city, had dinner at one of the hotels, and then drove to the neighbourhood of the hall. Their car was not conspicuous, for a number of people came from uptown to hear this violin virtuoso. Lanny bought seats in the balcony, where they would be less apt to be seen by anyone who knew them. About them was a crowd, mostly young people, and nearly all foreigners or of foreign descent. They were, as they proclaimed themselves, ‘the wretched of the earth’. That was nothing to their discredit in the eyes of two ardent friends of social justice. They become objects of distaste only when they espoused a programme of hatred and cruelty.

Many, of course, were there for music and that alone, music having no class divisions and knowing no class enemies. When the tall, blackclad figure of Hansi Robin appeared upon the stage they greeted him with vigorous applause and kept it up; there was no way to tell how many were applauding a musical magician who would lead them into a land of dreams, and how many were hailing the new, the real, the very imminent social revolution.

Hansi had got himself a young man as accompanist. He had done this at the party’s orders, so he had told Lanny. Hansi was a ‘name character’, as the jargon had it; he was to be exploited for his fame and his earning capacity.

Bess, on the other hand, had become a secret worker. She had given up her party card and was no longer listed as a member. Such persons never appear in public and are never mentioned in the party press. The party didn’t go so far as to order her to divorce her husband, but they were not permitted to appear in public together. She would never again enter any party headquarters or be seen with a known party official. For her to enter the Russian Consulate or the Amtorg office would have been unthinkable.

Hansi Robin never spoke from the platform; he let the music speak, and if there was any ‘class angling’ it was supplied by the imagination of the audience.

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