Hurling threatening gestures in the direction of the German guests, the Left Socialist Revolutionaries broke into an anti-Leninist chorus of ‘Down with Brest! Down with Mirbach! Down with the lackeys of Germany!’26 Trotsky from the chair did his best to calm the embarrassing scene. But, in the end, he was forced to resort to naked threats. Delegates who engaged in acts of provocation, he warned, would be subject to immediate arrest.
