Mikhail Yangel, a convinced anarchist and Russian national, was one of the earliest issei colonists of Mars.

Very early on, he became a Bogdanovist and during the 2061 revolution he joined the rebellion. He was one of Arkady Bogdanov's closest associates. He had proposed the idea of changing the orbit of the asteroid Nemesis and sending it towards the Earth in order to disperse Earth's resources and insure the success of the rebellion; the majority voted for the idea and an off-Mars group based on the asteroids carried it out. Nemesis was destroyed by missiles launched from a lunar base, resulting in the loss of many lives and a change of tactics by the Bogdanovists towards a more defensive stance.

After 2061 he joined the Martian underground and lived in Bogdanov Vishniac. Despite his trademark radical anarchist positions, he took part and contributed greatly in both the Dorsa Brevia Conference and the Pavonis Mons Congress. He participated in the revolution of 2127 and following Martian independence he became a member of the executive council of the first Martian government under his friend Nadia Cherneshevsky.