Bedroom Talk

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.
The only Dutch participant to the conference was Henriette Roland Holst. 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. Holst reserved her romantic feelings for Trotsky for her memoirs: this brilliant man, a giant of nerve and brain, harmoniously intertwined, and also a man of amiable humaneness.”