Creatures That Once Were Men

Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (Russian: Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешков, 28 March 1868 – 18 June 1936), also known as Maxim Gorky was a Russian author and founder of the Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist. Before and after his death, Gorky's life and outlook were reduced to an iconic image (echoed in heroic pictures and statues dotting the countryside): Gorky as a great Soviet writer who emerged from the common people, a loyal friend of the Bolsheviks, and the founder of Social Realism.