born Nov. 23, 1875, Poltava, Ukraine, Russian Empire
died Dec. 26, 1933, Menton, France
Russian politician and writer.
Deported in 1898 for his revolutionary activities, he joined the Bolshevik s in 1904 and disseminated propaganda to Russian students and political refugees in foreign countries. He joined Vladimir Ilich Lenin in Russia in 1917 and was appointed commissar for education, a role in which he did much to ensure the preservation of works of art during the Russian Civil War . He encouraged innovation in the theatre and in education, and he published plays of his own.