Michael S. Farbman

Michael S. Farbman was a Russian journalist, writer and publisher of books. He was London correspondent for the Russian Bourse Gazette in the early part of the First World War and returned to Russia in April 1917 to cover the aftermath of the February Revolution for the Manchester Guardian, becoming the first correspondent with connections to the British Press to cover it from Russia. Farbman was in New York in 1918 as correspondent for Maxim Gorky's Novaya Zhizn pro-Menshevik newspaper, and wrote to oppose the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. Returning to Russia he was one of the first correspondents with connections to the British Press to cover the early stages of the Russian Civil War. He published a number of books on post-revolution Russia and his study on the first five-year plan was particularly popular in the United States. Farbman was manager of the Europa book publishing firm and established the Europa Annual, intended to bring coverage of political and economic matters to the masses.