While in Astrakhan, Rakovsky was employed by the Regional Planning Committee ("Gubplan"). He was also active as a writer, starting work on a volume detailing the sources of Utopian socialism and the thought of Saint-Simon. Rakovsky remained involved in Trotskyist politics, was contacted by Panait Istrati and the Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis, and corresponded with Trotsky (who had himself been exiled to Almaty). Most of his writings were confiscated by the State Political Directorate, but the letter on Soviet "bureaucratism" he addressed to Nikolai Valentinov survived, and became notorious as a critique of Stalinism (under the title ""Professional Dangers" of Power"). Mistrusting Stalin's new leftist policies, he foresaw the renewed moves against the Left Opposition (inaugurated by Trotsky's 1929 expulsion).