ABSTRACT
I’ve served my Motherland all my life. I fought in wars for it; I was
even imprisoned for it – and that same country never did me wrong. To
you, though, I’m just an old Commie or, as you put it, ‘‘pigheaded.’’
Yes I am – and I’m proud of it. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
under Stalin, I’d have . . . I’d have put you up against the wall. (A pensioner’s final tirade against the hostile takeover of an equally old
