[1] He was a Menshevik activist and participated as one of the Russian Machists in Studies in the Philosophy of Marxism in 1908.
By the 1920s Yushkevich abandoned political activities and worked at the Marx-Engels Institute in Moscow from 1922.
He attended Odessa High School, where he became active in a Marxist study circle.
[1] He was arrested and jailed, however, before being sent to exile in Kishinev, where he showed particular interest in mathematics.
Here he had to attend lectures to gain a qualification recognised in Russia.