"[2] He entered St. Petersburg Polytechnic University but in the Autumn of 1875, he was expelled due to involvement in the revolutionary student movement and was sent back to Putivl.

In December 1875, he moved to Kyiv, but was frustrated by the lack of unity or disciple among young radicals, who were divided between followers of Pyotr Lavrov and the anarchist, Mikhail Bakunin.

In August 1876 he returned to St. Petersburg and entered the Mining Institute and became one of the active organizers of the Zemlya i volya ("Land and Liberty") society.

In 1879, after the Lipetsk and Voronezh congresses, when the "Land and Liberty" split took place, he became a member of the Executive Committee of the People's Will (Narodnaya Volya).

He told this story to comrades, who pleaded with him not to risk his life, but went back to the shop the next day and was arrested, after the owner had called the police.