The Storm Petrel: Maxim Gorky
If Anton Chekhov is the melancholic sunset of Imperial Russia, Maxim Gorky is the heavy iron hurled through the manor window by a defiant housemaid. While Western audiences often group them together as “the Russian stage,” their approaches could not be more different. Chekhov’s characters sit in country estates, drinking tea and philosophizing about their wasted potential. Gorky’s characters don’t drink tea, they drink vodka; and they don’t philosophize, they fight for daily survival.
Born Alexei Peshkov, he chose the pseudonym Gorky, meaning “The Bitter One.” He came from the bottom of the social hierarchy, spending his youth tramping across the Russian Empire as a day laborer.
Gorky is the bridge between the psychological realism of the 19th century and the revolutionary fervor of the Soviet era. This deeply flawed and conflicted writer, who wanted to create a revolution but also desperately wanted to please the old guard like Tolstoy, is the perfect mascot for the tragedy of the revolution itself.
Key Themes
Gorky’s dramatic legacy rests heavily on The Lower Depths (1902). It was a sensation that shocked Moscow society. Set entirely within a grim flophouse, it features a cast of thieves, prostitutes, and “former people” who have fallen out of society. It contains no traditional plot, only a collision of desperate philosophies. It remains one of the most performed Russian plays globally, rivaling Chekhov’s major works in importance.
Later works like Vassa Zheleznova, which he wrote in 1910 and significantly rewrote in 1935, showcase his ability to write powerful, dominating matriarchs. The play depicts a business empire rotting from within due to greed and moral decay, famously illustrated in the 1935 version where Vassa, realizing she cannot bribe her way out of the scandal, forces her husband to take poison to cover up his corruption of a minor.
Vassa stands as a unique figure in the pantheon of Russian dramatic heroines. Unlike the self-sacrificing mothers of Dostoevsky or the romantic victims of Ostrovsky (who often drown themselves to escape patriarchy), Vassa effectively becomes the patriarchy. She is a wealthy shipowner and the absolute ruler of her household, a “man of business” in a dress.
Financing the Revolution
Beyond his literary role, Gorky was the primary financial engine for Lenin’s Bolsheviks during the lean years before 1917. As an international celebrity commanding massive fees, Gorky funneled a significant percentage of his income directly to the party. More importantly, he used his fame to cultivate “fellow travelers,” wealthy merchants who felt alienated by the Tsar and were willing to donate to the radical left.
His most successful target was Savva Morozov, a textile tycoon and one of the richest men in Russia. Through Gorky’s influence, Morozov provided approximately 2,000 rubles a month to the Bolsheviks, funds that kept the illegal newspaper Iskra in print. When Morozov committed suicide in 1905, Gorky’s common-law wife, Maria Andreeva, managed the complex legal process to ensure Morozov’s insurance payout went to the Bolsheviks rather than his family.
The Golden Cage
After living abroad in the 1920s, critical of the Soviet state’s brutality, he was lured back to Moscow in 1932. Stalin needed a cultural saint; Gorky needed a home.
He received the Ryabushinsky Mansion and a staff of NKVD agents who monitored his calls and filtered his mail. The firebrand who once shouted at Tsars was reduced to a terrified mascot. He spent his final years delivering bloated, vacuous speeches at writers’ congresses. He spoke endlessly about “energy” and “folklore” to fill the airtime, ensuring he said absolutely nothing of substance that might trigger a purge. He died in 1936 under “medical treatment” that many historians classify as state-sponsored murder.
Conclusion: The Song of the Stormy Petrel
Gorky’s enduring nickname, “The Storm Petrel” (Burevestnik), is derived from his 1901 prose poem The Song of the Stormy Petrel. In the poem, Gorky depicts a seabird flying boldly into a gathering storm, shrieking with joy while other birds hide in fear. The symbolism was unmistakable to contemporary Russian readers; the storm represented the coming revolution, and the bird was the revolutionary spirit welcoming it.
His plays have been staged globally, proving their universal resonance. Notably, Akira Kurosawa adapted The Lower Depths into the 1957 film Donzoko, transplanting the setting to Edo-period Japan, while French director Jean Renoir created his own acclaimed version in 1936, underscoring that Gorky’s exploration of human indignity in poverty knows no boundaries.
Ultimately, the socialism he championed multiplied the poverty, corruption, and state oppression he despised, cementing his legacy as perhaps the most tragic and misguided figure in Russian literary history.