impoverished family's means, and Tomsky's classroom education terminated at that point.

Although technically illegal, Tomsky joined the ranks of Russian factory workers at the age of 12, working as an apprentice box maker for a daily wage of just 5 kopecks. He was fired by the box factory after injuring a finger in a shop accident and began several years of moving from job to job in St. Petersburg, finding employment in a tobacco factory, a metal shop, and an engineering factory.

In 1894, at the age of just 14, Tomsky participated

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