Revolution Baby Read Free Page B

prison might do in a beautiful park on a gray day in spring . . . Since they were my future parents, I’d rather not venture an opinion on the subject.
    From that moment on, Comrades Helena Rappoport and Emil Demke were comrades-in-arms. They were recognized for their commitment and their unshakeable faith in the communist model. To study the important role they would no doubt have to play in a post-revolutionary Poland, they were invited to spend a few months in Moscow, at a school run by the Comintern, to “perfect their communism.” Emil Demke, as a militant communist, was once again being sought by the police, so the first thing he had to do was change his name. In the train that took him to Moscow he locked himself in the toilet holding a passport that had been duly filled out and bore all the necessary stamps and signatures, with a blank line for the first and last name. After careful reflection, he chose a name that corresponded to his peasant origins: Michał Gruda (in Polish
gruda
means “a hard, frozen clump of earth”).
    In Moscow, in the month of March, 1929, Helena Rappoport discovered that she was pregnant. Before even telling Emil—whom she would never be able to call Michał—she informed Comrade Goldman, the secretary of her Party cell. Not batting an eyelash, Comrade Goldman gave her the name and address of a doctor who would be able to provide an easy solution to the problem. Lena went home, relieved. That evening, Emil came to fetch her, and they went out for a stroll through the Moscow streets, now covered in a thick blanket of snow.
    â€œI have to discuss something with you. In fact, everything’s been arranged, so you’re not to worry, but I wanted you to know . . . I’m pregnant.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œIt’s all right. I’ve already got an appointment with a doctor who practices abortions, there’s nothing to worry about, everything will go fine.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about? Why do you want to have an abortion?”
    â€œWhat do you mean, why? We can’t possibly keep the child!”
    â€œWe could at least talk about it, don’t you think? It’s not a decision to be taken lightly.”
    â€œLook, Emil. When we go back to Poland, we’ll have to go underground again. Can you picture us with a baby?”
    â€œI understand, but I’d just like to have some time to think about it. It might be worthwhile to see if there isn’t another solution, no? Besides, abortions are dangerous, I don’t like the idea one bit.”
    â€œAnd anyway, from what I gathered from Comrade Goldman, the Party will never agree to let me keep the baby.”
    â€œI need to think about all this. When is your appointment?”
    â€œIn two weeks.”
    â€œGive me a day or two. Please, you think about it too, and we’ll talk about it again, all right?”
    â€œIf you want.”
    That was my first victory.
    The next day, Emil convinced Lena to raise the issue again with Comrade Goldman. Emil was present at the meeting, and refuted every one of the young woman’s arguments. Which led, eventually, to the meeting on the 17th of March . . . But I already told you all about that.

CHAPTER 2
At Home with the Kryda Family
    We were in Moscow. I had just been born and registered at the public records office by a certain Michał Gruda, who was in a particularly joyful mood at the time.
    The Party granted my parents permission to look after me until the end of their stay in the USSR. In the spring of 1930, the Comintern—the Communist International, the organization responsible for exporting Soviet communism to other countries—decreed that Comrade Helena Rappoport and Comrade Michał Gruda had completed their training, and they were sent back to Poland so that they could resume the bitter struggle on the path to revolution. The moment they arrived in Warsaw, they were reminded of