Maxim Gorky's first plays in the assessment of Bulgarian critics

With the plays "Guilds" and "At the Bottom" a new stage in the work of Maxim Gorky begins, connected with the growing revolutionary upsurge in Russia with the first rumblings and the approach of the 1905 revolution. During this period, the author of the romantic hymns about the madness of the heroes" and about the flaming heart of Danko, the realist writer, revealed the tragic fate and spontaneous protest of the barefoot people against the corrupting influence of the guild, proprietary morality - he becomes more and more closely associated with the revolutionary movement, intervenes in political struggles against the Russian autocracy and gradually connects with the Leninist wing of Russian Social Democracy. He becomes a stormtrooper, the herald of the revolution, the first proletarian writer of world significance in whose work the principles of socialist realism are formed. It was at this time that he fully realized his long-standing dream - to create art that arouses heroic emotions, reaching the widest circles, calls for the reorganization of the social order. In the play "Guilds" Gorky for the first time in world literature created the image of a proletarian fighter - the train driver Nile with his optimistic life-affirming philosophy, which acts like thunder over the troubled guild swamp. In Nile's words "The owner is the one who works", "Rights are not given - rights are won", "There is no such train schedule that cannot be changed" speaks of a new proletarian class, which has gathered strength for decisive political battles. Gorky takes stock of his early work and in the play "The Bottom". He frees himself from any romanticization of the free and protesting barefoot people; now they are already unfortunate victims, having lost everything that can be lost, but remaining sensitive to the call for human dignity, for the greatness of man. The famous words "Man - this is magnificent! Man - this sounds proud!" spread with incredible speed all over the world and shake the packed theaters in European capitals. They are spoken by some pitiful fragments of the human race, sunk in rags, from the darkness of their pit - this temporarily emphasizes the active humanism of the play even more strongly. At the same time, as an outlet, Gorky rejects passive compassion, the comforting lie of heavy suffering, exposes the philosophy of powerlessness, which seeks reconciliation with reality as a means that helps the masters of power to plunder their victims even more cruelly.