After receiving his education, he worked as a rural teacher in the village of Novopavlivka [uk], where he became a member of the Party of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries.
In the autumn of 1918, he joined the Makhnovist movement and was elected as a delegate for Novopavlivka to the first, second and third Regional Congresses of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents.
[4] During his speech at an opening ceremony in Huliaipole, he described the goal of the free soviets to be the establishment of self-governance in Ukraine, outside of the control of any political party.
He also noted that Ukrainian peasants had instinctively self-organized many free soviets themselves, indicating widespread popular support for the project.
[5] He ended his speech by warning against rising authoritarianism, brought on by both the Bolsheviks and the White movement, calling instead for free soviets to become the nucleus for "real freedom, genuine equality and honest fraternity.