Born to a peasant family, Kravchenko was initially a Socialist Revolutionary.
Since 1907 he worked as an agronomist in the village of Shushenskoye, in the Minusinsk district in Siberia.
After the February Revolution in 1917, Kravchenko served as a member of the Achinsk Soviet.
In April 1919, following a peasant uprising in the Khemchik district, Kravchenko allied with Peter Efimovich Schetinkin's forces.
In 1920 Kravchenko joined the Russian Communist Party and after the civil war worked in Narkomzeme, and served as Governor of Pyatigorsk in 1922.