Vladimir Makhnovets

In 1890, Akimov participated in revolutionary groups: first with the Narodnik, then the League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class.

There he joined the Union of Russian Social Democrats Abroad and became one of the editors of its magazine Rabocheye Delo.

Akimov then formed a faction opposed to the group that would soon establish the Iskra newspaper, with Georgi Plekhanov and Vladimir Lenin.

He returned illegally to England in 1905 during the revolution and joined the Cordwainer trade union, which enabled him to participate in the Saint Petersburg Soviet.

At the fourth Congress of the party (1906), Akimov spoke against an armed uprising and, in general, opposed insurrection as a means of achieving socialism.