After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Muranov and other Bolshevik deputies followed the lead of the exiled Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, denouncing the war and calling on Russian soldiers to turn their weapons against their own government.
In the wake of World War I's commencement in August 1914, Muranov and fellow Bolsheviks aligned themselves with exiled leader Vladimir Lenin, who called for a rejection of the conflict and urged Russian troops to oppose their own government.