In 1898, he started participating in the Group of Workers Revolutionaries.
He was imprisoned for inciting the Izhorskiye workers to strike.
In 1907, he returned to Russia, was arrested, again brought to trial but acquitted (1908).
After the October Revolution he became a Bolshevik and was appointed finance minister where he advocated for a plan similar to the New Economic Policy, then plenipotentiary representative of Russia in Estonia.
He was accused of bribery and corruption during his position as Finance Commissar but died of pneumonia in Estonia before his trial could take place.