Strelkov graduated from the Morshansk Real School in 1898. He became involved in the Social Democratic movement around this time. He went on to study at the Nowa Aleksandria Institute of Agriculture and Forestry. He was expelled from the Institute in 1900 and 1901. When the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party split in 1903 he sided with the Menshevik faction. He represented Saratov at the 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party held in London in 1907. In 1913 he finally obtained his academic degree, graduating from the Department of History and Philosophy of Moscow University. He also studied in Berlin.