The Just Assassins, Albert Camus

The Just Assassins
Characters in the Play
Act I
Act II
Act III
Act IV
Act V

THE JUST ASSASSINS

A PLAY IN FIVE ACTS

O love! O life! not life, but love in death!
ROMEO AND JULIET ACT IV, SCENE 5

CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY
DORA DULEBOV
THE GRAND DUCHESS
IVAN KALIAYEV
STEPAN FEDOROV
BORIS (BORIA) ANNENKOV
ALEXIS VOINOV
SKURATOV
FOKA
THE GUARD

LES JUSTES (THE JUST ASSASSINS) was presented for the first time at the THÉÂTRE-HÉBERTOT, Paris, on December 15, 1949.

ACT I

The terrorists’ headquarters: a sparsely furnished apartment of an ordinary type. The morning sun is shining through a window overlooking a main street in Moscow. When the curtain rises DORA DULEBOV and BORIS ANNENKOV are standing in the middle of the room. For some moments there is complete silence; then the front doorbell rings once. DORA seems about to say something, but ANNENKOV signals to her to keep quiet. Two more rings in quick succession.

ANNENKOV: It’s he. [He goes out. DORA waits, still motionless; she has not moved at all since the curtain rose. ANNENKOV returns with STEPAN, whom he is grasping affectionately by the shoulders.] Here he is! Stepan’s back again!
DORA [going toward STEPAN and clasping his hand]: Welcome back, Stepan.
STEPAN: Good morning, Dora.

DORA [gazing at him]: Three years—just think!
STEPAN: Yes, three long, empty years. That day when they arrested me I was on my way to join you.
DORA: We were expecting you every moment. I’ll never forget how my heart sank, deeper and deeper, as the minutes ticked away. We didn’t dare to look each other in the face.
ANNENKOV: And of course we had to move at once to a new apartment.
STEPAN: I know.

DORA: And over there, Stepan, how was it?
STEPAN: Over there?
DORA: In the prison, I mean.
STEPAN: One escapes … with luck.
ANNENKOV: Yes. When we heard that you’d got through to Switzerland, well, you know how we felt.
STEPAN: Switzerland, too, is a prison.
ANNENKOV: Oh, come now! They’re free there, anyhow.
STEPAN: Freedom can be a prison, so long as a single man on earth is kept in bondage. I myself was free, of course, but all the time I was thinking of Russia and her slaves.
[A short silence.]

ANNENKOV: I’m glad, Stepan, that the party sent you here.
STEPAN: They had to. That atmosphere of smug inertia was stifling me. Ah, to act, to act at last …! [Looks at ANNENKOV.] We shall kill him, you’re sure of that?
ANNENKOV: Quite sure.
STEPAN: We shall kill that bloodthirsty tyrant! Ah! You’re the leader, Boria, and I shall obey you, never fear.
ANNENKOV: I don’t need your promise, Stepan. We all are brothers.
STEPAN: But discipline’s essential. That’s something I learned in the convict prison. The Revolutionary Socialist Party cannot do without it. We must be disciplined if we’re to kill the Grand Duke and put an end to tyranny.

DORA [going up to him]: Sit down, Stepan. You must be tired after that long journey.
STEPAN: I’m never tired. [A short silence. DORA sits down.] Is everything ready, Boria?
ANNENKOV [in a different, brisker manner]: For a month now, two of our group have been watching the Grand Duke’s movements hour by hour. Dora has compiled all the facts we need to know.
STEPAN: Has the proclamation been drawn up?

ANNENKOV: Yes. All Russia will know that the Revolutionary Socialist Party has executed the Grand Duke Serge so as to bring nearer the day when the Russian people are set free. And the Imperial Court will learn that we are resolved to carry on the reign of terror, of which this bomb is the beginning, until the land is given back to its rightful owners, to the people. Yes, Stepan, everything’s set, and we won’t have long to wait.
STEPAN: Where exactly do I come in on this?
ANNENKOV: To begin with, you will help Dora. You’ll replace Schweitzer, who used to work with her.
STEPAN: Has he been killed?
ANNENKOV: Yes.

STEPAN: How?
ANNENKOV: In an accident.
[STEPAN looks at DORA. She lowers her eyes.]
STEPAN: And then?
ANNENKOV: Then … we’ll see. You must be on hand to replace me if the need arises, and to ensure our liaison with the Central Committee.
STEPAN: And our comrades here—who are they?

ANNENKOV: You met Voinov in Switzerland. He’s only a youngster, but thoroughly dependable. Then there’s Yanek; you don’t know him, do you?
STEPAN: Yanek?
ANNENKOV: His real name is Ivan Kaliayev. “The Poet” is another name we have for him.
STEPAN: That’s no name for a terrorist.

ANNENKOV [laughing]: Yanek wouldn’t agree with you. He says all poetry is revolutionary.
STEPAN: There’s only one thing that is revolutionary: the bomb. [A short silence.] Do you think, Dora, that I can be of help to you?
DORA: I’m sure you can. The great thing to be careful about is not to break the tube.
STEPAN: And if it breaks?

DORA: That’s how Schweitzer died. [Again, a short silence.] Why are you smiling, Stepan?
STEPAN: Am I smiling?
DORA: Yes.
STEPAN: I sometimes do—not very often, though. [Pauses. He seems to be reflecting.] Tell me, Dora, would one bomb be enough to blow up this house?
DORA: To blow it up? Hardly that. But it would do quite a lot of damage.
STEPAN: How many bombs would be needed to blow up Moscow?

ANNENKOV: Have you gone crazy?… Or what do you mean?
STEPAN: Oh, nothing.
[A ring at the front doorbell. They wait, listening. Two more rings. ANNENKOV goes out into the hall and comes back with VOINOV.]
VOINOV: Stepan!
STEPAN: Good morning, Voinov.
[They shake hands. VOINOV goes up to DORA and kisses her.]
ANNENKOV: Everything go off all right, Alexis?
VOINOV: Yes.

ANNENKOV: Have you studied the route from the palace to the theater?
VOINOV: I can make a sketch of it right away. Look! [He draws a plan.] Turnings, narrow streets, crossings.… The carriage will go by under our windows.
ANNENKOV: What do those two crosses mean?
VOINOV: One’s a little square where the horses will have to slow down; the other’s the theater where they will stop. Those are the best places in my opinion.
ANNENKOV: Right. Give it to me.
STEPAN: Many police spies around?
VOINOV [uneasily]: I’m afraid so.
STEPAN: Ah! Do they rattle you?
VOINOV: Well, I can’t say I feel at ease when they’re around.
ANNENKOV: Nobody does. You needn’t worry over that.
VOINOV: It’s not that I’m afraid; only somehow I can’t get used to lying.
STEPAN: Everybody lies. What’s important is to lie well.
VOINOV: That’s what I find so hard. When I was at the university the other students were always teasing me because I never could hide my feelings. I always blurted everything out. Finally, I was expelled.

STEPAN: Why?
VOINOV: In the history course my tutor asked me how Peter the Great founded Saint Petersburg.
STEPAN: That’s a good question.
VOINOV: I answered: “With blood and the knout.” I was promptly expelled.
STEPAN: Yes? And then?
VOINOV: Then I realized that just to denounce injustice wasn’t enough. One must give one’s life to fighting it. And now I’m happy.
STEPAN: And yet—you have to lie?
VOINOV: For the present, yes. But I’ll be done with lying on the day I throw the bomb.
[The bell purrs: two rings in quick succession, then a single ring. DORA runs out.]

ANNENKOV: That’s Yanek.
STEPAN: It wasn’t the same signal.
ANNENKOV: Oh, that’s one of Yanek’s little jokes. He has his private signal.
[STEPAN shrugs his shoulders. DORA is heard speaking in the hall. DORA and IVAN KALIAYEV enter arm in arm. KALIAYEV is laughing.]
DORA: Yanek, this is Stepan, who’s replacing Schweitzer.
KALIAYEV: Welcome, brother.
STEPAN: Thanks.
[DORA and KALIAYEV sit down, facing the others.]
ANNENKOV: Yanek, are you sure you’ll recognize the carriage?
KALIAYEV: Yes, I’ve had two good long looks at it. I’d recognize it among a thousand, a hundred yards away. I have noted every detail—for instance, that one of the panes of the left-hand lamp is chipped.
VOINOV: And the police spies?
KALIAYEV: A host of them. But we’re old friends; they buy cigarettes from me. [Laughs.]

ANNENKOV: Has Pavel confirmed our information?
KALIAYEV: The Grand Duke is due to go to the theater this week. In a few minutes Pavel will know the exact day and leave a message with the door porter. [He turns to DORA with a laugh.] We’re in luck, Dora!

DORA [Staring at him]: I see you’ve discarded your peddler’s outfit. You’re quite the grand gentleman today, and I must say it suits you. But don’t you miss your smock?
KALIAYEV [laughing]: I certainly do. You can’t think how proud of it I was. [To STEPAN and ANNENKOV.] I began by spending two months watching peddlers on their job; then another month or so practicing in my little bedroom. My colleagues never suspected a thing. I heard one of them saying: “He’s a wonder! Why, he’d sell the Czar’s horses and get away with it!” In fact they tried to learn my tricks.

DORA: And of course you laughed.
KALIAYEV: You know quite well I can’t help laughing. Anyhow, it was all so entertaining—the plunge into a brand-new life, wearing that fancy dress.…
DORA: I can’t bear fancy dress. Look at what I’m wearing now. Some actress’s castoff frock. Really, Boria might have chosen something else. There’s nothing of the actress about me. I’ve an incorrigibly simple heart.

KALIAYEV [laughing]: But you look so pretty in it.
DORA: Pretty! I’d like to be pretty … but that’s one of the things I mustn’t think about.
KALIAYEV: Why not? Dora, there’s always such a sad look in your eyes. But you should be gay, you should be proud. There’s so much beauty in the world, so much joy. “In those quiet places where my heart once spoke to yours …”
DORA [smiling]: “… I breathed eternal summer.”
KALIAYEV: Oh, Dora, you remember those lines! And you’re smiling! How glad I am!

STEPAN [brusquely]: We’re wasting our time. Boria, hadn’t we better go down and see the porter?
[KALIAYEV stares at him, puzzled.]
ANNENKOV: Yes. Would you go down, Dora? Don’t forget the tip. Then Voinov