2. From ‘My Memories of Ya.M. Sverdlov’ and Revolutionary Activity in the Urals during 1906–1907

This chapter talks about the memories of Preobrazhensky about Yakov Mikhailovich and the revolutionary activities in the Urals region during the early 1900s. Preobrazhensky briefly met Yakov Mikhailovich for the first time in Moscow in December 1905, when he was making his way to the Joint Party-Congress and was caught by a railway-strike in Moscow. Preobrazhensky's clearest memory is of a meeting of the Perm Party-Committee, which had to adopt a resolution on unifying their organisations in the Urals. An example in the chapter illustrates how unique the conditions always were for their work in the Urals, especially for propaganda-work. Yakov Mikhailovich was arrested in the summer of 1906. But even during this time, many Preobrazhensky's colleagues had no doubt concerning the victory of the revolution, and did not expect to be detained for long behind prison-walls. Keywords:Preobrazhensky; propaganda-work; revolutionary activities; Urals; Yakov Mikhailovich