Hoffman published under the pseudonyms Zivion (, a near-anagram of ), Tz. (), Ish Tikva (, 'Man of Hope'), Afna, and Rozman. His first articles appeared in Hebrew in "Ha-Melitz" in 1895; he would go on to contribute to "", "Forverts", "Di tsukunft", "Der yidisher arbeyter", "Folkstsaytung", and "Fraynd", among other periodicals. The following year, he co-founded a socialist Zionist circle in Riga and joined the Bundist movement. He attended the Fifth Zionist Congress in 1901 as a correspondent for "Forverts", and later took part in the 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party.