On the Polanski Witchhunt

Correcting a Quote

Last year, Workers Vanguard replied to a letter from an ex-member who claimed that the 1977 sexual encounter between filmmaker Roman Polanski and teenager Samantha Geimer was not consensual (see “Sex, Lies and Witchhunts,” WV No. 1135, 1 June 2018). In our reply defending Polanski, we quoted Geimer as saying to an interviewer from Quillette: “I never told Polanski to ‘keep away’” (31 January 2018). However, we cut out her next three words, “during the rape.” By excising the Quillette quote the way we did, we distorted what Geimer said and made it look as if we had something to hide when, in fact, we didn’t.

Geimer’s version of events is inconsistent. During her grand jury testimony, she claimed to have told Polanski to “keep away,” while adding: “I can barely remember anything that happened.” If anything, the fuller quote reinforces our point that her story keeps changing. She has at times referred to the sexual encounter as “rape,” but not at others, describing it to Larry King in 2010 as “just sex.”

Feminist creed, now magnified by #MeToo, demands that only the woman is to be believed in judging potential sex offenses. But Polanski also deserves to be heard. He has always maintained that the liaison was consensual, and the available evidence clearly backs up Polanski’s account.

Soon after WV No. 1135 went to print, we received another letter from the same ex-member, prompting ICL members in London and Toronto to object to how WV cut the quote. However, comrades in editorial informally decided that no public correction was needed. In the course of discussion, it was decided that it was necessary to issue a correction. Printing this correction is an elementary act of upholding the communist integrity of Workers Vanguard.