This book is considered as one of the most brilliant novels so far written in world literature. It is a story about revolutionary factory workers who had been primarily politically ignorant but, later on, overcoming their ignorance, involved in the revolution. In his novel, Gorky portrays the life of a woman, Pelageya Nilovna Vlasova, who works in a Russian factory doing hard manual labour, and combating poverty and hunger among other hardships. She is the real protagonist; her husband, a heavy drunkard, physically assaults her and leaves all the responsibility for raising their son, Pavel Vlasov, upon her, and unexpectedly dies. Pavel noticeably begins to emulate his father in his drunkenness and stammer, but suddenly becomes involved in revolutionary activities. Abandoning drinking, Pavel starts to bring books to his home. Being illiterate and having no political interest, Nilovna is, at first, vigilant over Pavel’s new activities. Later on, she, though uneducated but moved by her motherly feelings, wants to help him, and, finally, overcoming her political ignorance becomes involved in revolution. Gorkey (pen-name of Alexei Maximovich Peshkov) wrote this novel on a trip to the United States in 1906. The political agenda behind the novel was clear. In 1905, after the defeat of Russia’s first revolution, Gorky tried to raise the spirit of the proletarian movement by conveying the political agenda among the readers through his work. He was trying to raise spirit among the revolutionaries to battle the defeatist mood.
