 He returned to Russia in 1903, and was a prominent party agitator in Yekaterinoslav, where he moved from factory to factory, finding work as a stoker.In 1905, he moved to Kharkiv, where he headed the Bolshevik organisation and in December, he led an armed rebellion by factory workers.This made him well known to the police, but he was able to evade arrest until later in 1906, when he was interned in Kharkov prison, but escaped.