The Death Of Trotsky

"The Death of Trotsky" is the name of a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series WBAI and NPR Playhouse.

Synopsis

Fictionalized, third-person account of Trotsky's assassin, cut with assorted other events. Joe reads a poem. First person scenes from a hospital, a cemetery. Stalin is Trotsky in disguise. Prayers full of Nada. Being afraid of nothing. The problems of analysts. Toes engaged in a discussion of socialism, a woman lays an egg, a bird becomes a war plane. Kierkegaard regrets the decision not to marry, is taunted by children shouting "Either, Or," make a leap of faith before an audience. Trotsky is serenaded by a terrible orchestra. A holy man is buried for forty days. Falling asleep while killing Trotsky. A pregnant old man in a golf course. The power of confession. Nihilism; Nietzsche is accused of killing god; Freud treats a kleptomaniac; the future determines the past. Trotsky's killer leads a revolutionary cadre into the woods, becomes lost, discovers that their side has already won and become corrupt, and captures dissidents.

Music

• "Solea" - Miles Davis (from Sketches of Spain, 1960) | YouTube

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