David Petrovsky

David Petrovsky (Lipetz)
Petrovsky in 1917 as part of the Jewish Socialist Federation, seated second from left
Born	David Lipetz (1886-09-24)September 24, 1886 Berdychiv, Russian Empire
Died	September 10, 1937(1937-09-10) (aged 50) Moscow, USSR
Cause of death	Execution
Citizenship	Russian; American
Education	Doctor of Economics
Alma mater	Free University of Brussels
Spouse(s)	Rose Cohen
Children	Alexey

David Petrovsky (Lipetz) (also Max Goldfarb, Bennett, Humboldt, Brown, born September 24, 1886, in Berdychiv, Russian Empire — September 10, 1937, Moscow, USSR) — a member of the Central Committee of the Jewish Socialist Federation of America, a member of the Socialist Party of America, the editor of the Jewish Daily Forward newspaper, journalist, political and economic scientist, a member of the Central Committee of the General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia (Bund) until 1919, the statesman of the Soviet Union.

Throughout his life Petrovsky (Lipetz) was wearing the following names: Goldfarb, Bennett, Humboldt, Brown. Each of these corresponds to a specific period of the life and work of this man.

David Lipetz was born in 1886 in Berdychiv in a cloth shop owner's family, a merchant 2nd guild, Efraim Lipetz. He studied at a Jewish school, and at home with the teachers passed the gymnasium course, was the chairman of the literary and theatrical society of Berdychiv. He soon became interested in revolutionary activities and in 1902 he joined the General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia (Bund). Since the autumn of 1903 he began to study in Paris in the Russian Higher School of Social Sciences, where he became acquainted with many of the revolutionaries.

Since the beginning of the 1905 Russian revolution he returned to Russia. He worked among workers of Dvinsk, Bialystok, Gomel, was one of the leaders of the strike at Libava-Romny railroad. At the 7-th Congress of the Bund, where he first came under the pseudonym Max Goldfarb, he was elected as a candidate for the Central Committee. At the end of 1906 he was arrested by police and spent three months in prison. This was followed by the departure from Russia - first at the London Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), and then to Brussels, where in 1910 he graduated from the Faculty of Economics of the Free University of Brussels with the degree of Doctor of Economic Sciences (supervisor Emile Vandervelde - the future statesman of Belgium).