He was born Aaron Kesler Lazarevic[clarification needed] into a family of workers. He graduated from a city school and received a secondary education, and then worked as a laborer.[1] A member of the RSDLP(B) since 1902, he took part in the revolutionary movement, was arrested in 1902 and 1904, and went abroad in 1904. He then lived in the United States of America. He returned with his family to Russia in 1917 after the February Revolution, and began working as an organizer of the Red Guard within the Donbas area of Ukraine, later serving in the Red Army.[2]
Since 1921, he has been working in the party and economic spheres in the Chelyabinsk province and the Donetsk basin. In 1929–1930, he was the head of the Stalinist District Control Commission of the CP(B)U-RSU in Donbas. Until January 1934, he was the secretary of the Party Board of the Central Control Commission of the CP(B)U. From May 26, 1934, to January 1935, he was People's Commissar of Supply of the Ukrainian SSR.
He was then People's Commissar of Justice of the Ukrainian SSR (equivalent to Minister of Justice), Prosecutor General of the Ukrainian SSR, a member of the Secretariat of the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee (VUTsVK), and a member of the Council of the Central Exeecutive Committee of the USSR.[3] In September 1936, he was then elected Secretary of VUTsVK and a member of the presidium to VUTsVK.[3] In December 1936, he was appointed as a member of the editorial commission at the cogress responsible for finalizing the 1936 Constitution of the USSR.[3] He co-authored the 23 3June 1935 decree expanding the powers of the Supreme Court of the Ukrainian SSR, which in practice would later facilitate the judicial activity during the Great Purge.[1]
