Lenin in Bern

On a crisp autumn day in 1915, 38 ornithologists gathered in the tiny Swiss village of Zimmerwald. Two of the most famous participants were Russian: Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, or Lenin, and Leon Trotsky. Their peace campaign made secrecy necessary: opposing the war was viewed as treason in many countries. Lenin and Trotsky were already political refugees. They were both living in neutral Switzerland - Trotsky in Geneva and Lenin in Berne, quietly planning the overthrow of Tsarist Russia.