L. G. (Lev Grigor'evich) Deich

Born in 1855, Lev Grigor'evich Deich, also known as Leo Deutsch, became involved in the Russian revolutionary movement in the late 19th century. He was associated with the populist underground before joining the early Marxist current, and he is remembered as one of the figures connected with the Emancipation of Labor group, an important early Russian Marxist organization.

His political life was dramatic even by the standards of his era. He experienced arrest, imprisonment, and exile, and his years of activism placed him close to some of the best-known revolutionary circles of the Russian Empire. Those experiences later gave his memoirs and recollections special value, since they were written by someone who had seen the movement from the inside.

Deich lived until 1941, long enough to witness enormous changes in Russian history. Today he is often remembered less as a major theorist than as a participant and observer whose writings help illuminate the people, struggles, and ideals of the revolutionary generation before 1917.