When the First World War swept through the region, Wolf and Abba traveled along the Dnieper River through Ukraine, making a living by giving private lessons. The outbreak of the October Revolution of 1917 found Abba in Moscow and Wolf in Petrograd. There, in April 1917, Wolf founded an organization, the Union of the Five Oppressed—a title expressing the combination of struggles against capitalism, conformism, patriarchy, colonialism, and ageism—and became chief editor of the anarchist newspaper "Burevestnik" ("The Petrel") in November, following a split in the editorial collective. Subsequently, Wolf joined his brother in Moscow.