1. Alexander Parvus read widely on his own, including material by the iconic Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, the journalist Nikolai Mikhailovsky, and the political satirist Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, which led the young Gelfand to begin to question the legitimacy of the Tsarist Empire.
Alexander Parvus returned to Russia briefly the following year but he became the subject of official scrutiny by the tsarist secret police and was forced to leave the country again for his safety.
Alexander Parvus would remain abroad for more than a decade.
Alexander Parvus enlisted the German revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg as a contributor.
From 28 January to 6 March 1898, Alexander Parvus used his newspaper to run a series of polemical articles attacking the German Marxist Eduard Bernstein, who had queried Marx's prediction that the collapse of capitalism was inevitable, and advocated a non-violent reforms as the route to socialism.
Alexander Parvus was in a minority within the SDP, most of whose leaders were shocked by his intemperate language, but he was backed by Rosa Luxemburg, and the leading Russian Marxist, Georgi Plekhanov.
In 1900, Alexander Parvus met Vladimir Lenin for the first time, in Munich, each admiring the other's theoretical works.
Alexander Parvus encouraged Lenin to begin publishing his revolutionary paper Iskra.
Alexander Parvus was unquestionably one of the most important of the Marxists at the turn of the century.
Alexander Parvus used the Marxian methods skilfully, was possessed of a wide vision, and kept a keen eye on everything of importance in world events.
In October 1905, Alexander Parvus returned to St Petersburg, where he helped Trotsky take control of the daily paper, Russkaya Gazeta, and cofounded with Trotsky and Julius Martov the daily Nachalo.
Alexander Parvus became the financial and political advisor of the Committee of Union and Progress.
Alexander Parvus's firm dealt with the deliveries of foodstuffs for the Ottoman army and he was a business partner of the Krupp concern, of Vickers Limited, and of the famous arms dealer Basil Zaharov.
Arms dealings with Vickers Limited at war time gave basis to the theory that Alexander Parvus was a British intelligence asset.
Consequently, Alexander Parvus offered his plan via Baron von Wangenheim to the German General Staff: the paralyzing of Russia via general strike, financed by the German government.
Some accuse Alexander Parvus of having funded Lenin while in Switzerland.
Austrian intelligence thought Alexander Parvus gave money to Russian emigres' newspapers in Paris.
Alexander Parvus placed his bets on Lenin, as the latter was not only a radical but willing to accept the sponsorship of the Tsar's wartime enemy, Germany.
Alexander Parvus's body was cremated and interred in a Berlin cemetery.
Alexander Parvus's name is often used in modern political debates in Russia.
Alexander Parvus left no documents after his death and all of his savings disappeared.
Alexander Parvus refused to confess, despite being tortured by the police chief, Lavrentiy Beria and his deputy, Bogdan Kobulov.
Alexander Parvus survived years in the Gulag, and wrote memoirs "Catastrophe and Rebirth" and in "Exit from the Labyrinth" describing his experience.
Alexander Parvus was portrayed by English actor Michael Gough in the 1974 BBC mini-series Fall of Eagles, covering the history of the pre-World War I period.
In 1988 Alexander Parvus was portrayed by English actor Timothy West in the film Lenin.