Not far from Berne lies the idyllic village of ZImmerwald, where discontented socialists from various belligerent and neutral European nations gathered on September 5, 1915 to speak about a new socialist International and world peace. They were dissatisfied because their parliamentary socialist factions had voted in favor of the mobilization of their national armies. By doing so they had both facilitated the First World War and ushered in the fall of the Second International. Oddly, the discussants at Zimmerwald did not wonder about the how and why of this.
The only Dutch participant to the conference was Henriette Roland Holst. She had been delegated by herself on behalf of the Revolutionair Socialistisch Verbond (Revolutionary Socialist Union), in her own words a “midget association” of left-wing social democrats, anarchists, and communists that had come into being just a few months before.
Her expectations ran high, and before long they were surpassed. The very first night she was “in Trotsky’s small hotel room. He sat on his bed, I sat on the only chair present…” They discussed a draft resolution, nothing more and nothing less. In her memoirs, Holst reserved the most romantic terms for this “brilliant man, a giant of nerve and brain, harmoniously intertwined, and also a man of amiable humaneness.” Lenin, on the other hand, gave the impression of “a stubborn extremist, a mocking bird that ridiculed everyone he met.”
During the debates at Zimmerwald, Roland Holst tried to mediate among various factions. The left wing led by Lenin wanted the war to result in a revolution. The majority opposed this idea, Trotsky and Roland Holst took up a middle position.
The definitive manifesto was a compromise. It summoned the proletarians to close ranks and rise up against the war, but it was unclear about the desired follow-up to such actions. The text of the manifesto was passed with the singing of the International and emotions “immensely real and deep.” But Lenin judged it as too weak, launched the “Zimmerwalder Linke”group as soon as the official conference was finished, and presented a draft manifesto of the Zimmerwalder Left that called for the overthrow of national governments.
After the conference, Trotsky and Roland Holst walked to Berne together. He pointed to the lavishly ripe pears in the orchards. His last words were: “See you on the day after the revolution in the free city of Petrograd!”