Tobolsk Governorate
Born in 1893 in Kursk, in to a Jewish family. Farbman was a member of RSDLP since 1910 at the age of 17. He conducted revolutionary activities in Kiev. In 1914 he was arrested and exiled to Tobolsk Governorate. After the February Revolution Farbman joined the Kiev committee of RSDLP becoming a chairman of Kiev Trade Unions and eventually a member of central committee of the Communist Party (bolsheviks) of Ukraine and the Central Executive Committee of Ukraine.