and spoke.rnComrades, this is the greatest dayrnin the history of our nation. It isrnthe day when the working peoplernof this country have finally beenrnable to throw off the chains of oppressionrnforged by the capitalistrnclass. I am proud to tell you that asrnof today, instead of the UnitedrnStates of America, we have a countryrnthat we can proudly call thernPeople’s Republic of America. Wernare going to be ruthless towardrnthose who have oppressed us for sornlong. The former President is nowrnjoining members of his Cabinetrnalong with the military and businessrnleaders of yesterday in a detentionrncamp where their crimes willrnbe investigated by the people’srnauthority. Public trials will be heldrnto expose their crimes to thernnation. This is the beginning of arnnew era.rnThen the screen went blank. The TVrnstations started playing classical musicrnthe rest of the night. In Lawrence, thernmayor’s wife turned to her husband.rn”Wliat do you think happened?” “I don’trnknow,” he said. “We wanted peace. Wernwanted to save the world from a nuclearrnholocaust. Our President promised nuclearrndisarmament, and we elected himrnand his Congress. We got what we wantedrn. . . but I guess we may have beenrnwrong. Now there is nothing to do butrnwait and hope for the best. There isrnnothing else we can do.”rnThe phone rang. When the mayorrnanswered, the caller said: “Mayor, Irnrepresent the Central Committeernof the Communist Party. Tomorrow atrn9 A.M. wc expect you to have cver)-one inrnthe city assembled in the football stadiumrnon the campus.” The mayor beganrnto protest that he couldn’t possibly haverneveryone there on such short notice, butrnthe caller stopped him. “That is yourrnproblem. Make sure everyone is there.”rnAnd he hung up.rnThe mayor and his staff began phoningrnpeople, who in turn phoned others.rnSpeaker trucks were sent through the cityrnall night to announce the meeting nextrnmorning. The word got around and byrnnine the population had assembled inrnthe stadium.rnAt 9:15, a car occupied by a driver andrnthree other men entered the stadium,rnfollowed bv two trucks of Russianrnsoldiers. The three men were Sam Cunningham,rna member of the U.S. CommunistrnParty, Vasja Stronovich, representingrnthe Ministry of Information, andrnan officer of the KCB. The KCB officerrnhad used many names.rnStronovich spoke into a hastily assembledrnmicrophone, telling the peoplernthat their exploiters were finished. Herncalled for the mayor, who joined themrnand was immediately shot by a soldier.rnStronovich then spoke to the people ofrnLawrence: “We are going to punish allrncapitalists and avenge you for all thosernyears of exploitation at their hands. Irnwant all people who own property to gornto the parking lot. There will be no exceptions.rnAll others, the working people,rnstay here.”rnAfter an hour of confusion, two groupsrnof about equal size had formed, one outsidernthe stadium and one inside. SamrnCunningham then spoke to the peoplernin the stadium:rnWe are going to have a paraderntonight. Every man, woman andrnchild will march. We will demonstraternhow happy we are to see thisrnchange in government. We willrnshow the world that this changernhas been requested —no, demandedrn—by the people, to free themrnfrom the capitalist yoke. This parade,rnand the others that will go onrnthroughout the country, will showrnthat we are merely carrying out thernpeople’s will.rnMeanwhile, the KGB officer spoke tornthe people in the parking lot. “You willrnbe questioned and investigated by mernand members of my staff. A temporaryrnoffice has been set up in the studentrnunion next door. You line up and wait.”rnThe capitalists lined up and waited. Therninvestigation lasted all day. As each personrnor family came to a desk, an officerrnasked the same question: “Wliat kind ofrnpropcrt)’ do you own?”rnWhen an older couple was questionedrnthe man answered, “I am a retired teacher.rnWe saved some money while I wasrnworking and opened a small conveniencernstore.” When he was asked if hernever worked for profit, the man answered,rn”Well, if that’s what you want torncall what is left over after we paid all ofrnour expenses, yes.” “Then you have exploitedrnthe people. You are a member ofrnthe blood-sucking capitalist class. Thernpropert}’ you stole from the people is nowrnreturned to the people. You will be sentrnto a detention camp for re-education.”rnThe wife said, “We have done nothing.rnWhy can’t we just go home?” ‘Ton havernno home. Your house was built on thernprofits you stole from others. It now belongsrnto the people. You and all otherrncapitalists will do hard labor eight hoursrna day to pay back the country for all yournstole. You will have political educationrnfour hours a day, and the rest of the timernwill be your own.” The wife cried, “Butrnwhat about our grandchildren? They livernwith us.” She was told, “If they denouncernyou publicly the people’srngovernment will take care of them. If notrnthey go with you.” The couple was takenrnawav.rnIt was the same thing as person afterrnperson came to one of the desks in thernunion. One man asked if he could gornand get some personal property from thernsporting goods store he owned. When hernwas told that he had no right to the propertyrnbecause it was purchased from moneyrnextracted from the working people,rnthe man shouted, “This is nonsense. If Irncan’t get my personal property, I refuse tornleave.” The questioning KCB man noddedrnto a soldier; the former capitalist wasrnshot and dragged off. The KGB manrnshouted at the waiting people, “Stupidity!rnDoes any one else have any objections?”rnNo one answered. He went on:rnLook, it doesn’t matter whetherrnyou own a small business or a bigrnbusiness. It doesn’t matter whetherrnyou are a stockholder or work inrnyour own business. Even if yournhave a horse and rent it out to people,rnyou have been living off thernwork of others. You have beenrninfected by ownership, which isrndangerous.rnA voice came from the crowd, protestingrnthat more than half of Americans ownrnsomething —investments, real estate,rnstocks, a store, or something. The KGBrnman replied, “They did yesterday. Todayrnit belongs to the people.”rnBy the end of the day, all the peoplernwho had assembled on the parking lotrnhad been taken to freight cars, whichrntransported them to detention camps.rnEew were ever seen again.rnDuring the afternoon, Vasja Stronovichrnfinished speaking to the people inrnthe stadium:rnJULY 1998/47rnrnrn