Background
Piatnitskii, Iosif was born on January 29, 1882 in Vilkomir (now Ukmerge) in Lithuania.
Piatnitskii, Iosif was born on January 29, 1882 in Vilkomir (now Ukmerge) in Lithuania.
Worked as a tailor in Kaunas and Vilnius. Joined the Social Democratic Party. Arrested, 1902. Escaped from prison in Kiev, and went to Germany.
During and after the 1905 Revolution, in charge of a revolutionary underground press. In 1912, appointed head of the transport department of the Central Committee of the Bolsheviks (smuggling revolutionary literature from abroad into Russia). Banished to Siberia, 1914.
Returned to Moscow, 1917. During the Bolshevik take-over 1917, one of the party leaders in Moscow. Head of the Railway Trade Union, 1919-1920.
From 1921, held high posts in the Comintern. Shortly before his death, member of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party.