In Kazan, Lalayants got acquainted with the circle of the prominent Russian Marxist Nikolai Fedoseev, who made a very strong impression on him. Lalayants subsequently writes that Fedoseev possessed a strong and deep mind, that he was "a man with brilliant talents both in the field of theory and practice". In the years 1888–1889, Lalayants joins the Marxist circle of Fedoseev, under whose leadership he began to study Marxist literature.
