a pistol and shoots Lenin, regretting only that she failed in her attempt. The assassination coincides with the outbreak of full-scale Civil War and intervention of foreign powers, leading Dzerzhinsky to institute the Red Terror against all Russians suspected of being counter-revolutionary. At this time, Lunacharasky protests to Dzerzhinsky the extravagant production demands of the government – in turn, she is warned by him against protesting. Zhelnik and the other Kronstadt sailors organise a revolt against the Soviet government. Trotsky and Kollontai meet with the sailors and refuse to give in to their demands; Trotsky resorts to violent force to put down the rebellion. Shortly after, Trotsky comes into conflict with Lenin and Stalin for proposing a limited market economy – which Stalin twists into being counter-revolution. At this point, Stalin proposes that the Party must be expunged of its less loyal members, and advocates a purge – which is supported by Lenin. The accusations against Trotsky grow, until even Lenin is almost convinced of his possible treachery. Gorky confronts Lenin over his treatment of Trotsky. Gorky angrily protests the imprisonment of provably innocent individuals by the Cheka, and Lenin accuses him too of being a traitor. Lenin then has a stroke, leaving him incapacitated and Stalin and Trotsky to fill in the void. Stalin and Dzerzhinsky meet with Victor Mdvani, leader of the Georgian Communist Party, and interrogate him over disloyal statements made in a private letter and his alleged refusal to support Lenin's policies of collectivisation and unification in his republic. At the end of this meeting, a Cheka officer – Pratkov – is identified as Captain Draganov, a high-ranking member of the Czar's secret police, and Stalin orders him executed. A crippled but still strong-willed Lenin speaks with his wife, expressing his dislike and distrust of Stalin. He plans to have Trotsky give a speech denouncing Stalin, but Trotsky is ill and Stalin ends up giving the same speech about Trotsky. Lenin dies shortly thereafter. After Lenin's death, his colleagues organise a vote, hoping to have Trotsky appointed as Lenin's successor. Despite his distaste for Stalin, Trotsky refuses to brand him a counter-revolutionary, and Stalin wins the vote. The play ends with Lunacharsky's speech – discussing Trotsky's fall from grace and saying that the Revolution should not be remembered as a "pageant of Great Men", but rather as an inevitable event which was served by Lenin, Stalin,