From the first steps of socialist literature in our country

In the 1890s, at the dawn of the workers' struggles in our country, two of the first socialist magazines appeared: "Den" (1891-1896, editor Ya. Sakazov) and "Delo" (1894-1896, editor V. Blagoeva). Serving the main task of the movement at that time - the dissemination of socialist ideas among the people, the magazines published translated and our materials on economic, socio-political and cultural issues, while conducting a polemic with bourgeois ideology and populism. "Den" and "Delo" also devoted a significant amount of space to literature. Particularly valuable are the articles and notes by D. Blagoev in the columns "Social Chronicle" and "Literary Notes". The literary works are mostly translated. With few exceptions, they are subordinated to the political and literary line of the magazines. In addition to excerpts from the Greek classics, the reader was able to get acquainted with Byron's poem "Manfred", with the play "An Enemy of the People" by Ibsen, with individual works by Lermontov, Schiller, Maupassant, etc. In the spirit of a sharp critical attitude towards bourgeois society, the translated stories by N. Shchedrin, V. G. Korolenko, Paul Ezi, G. Machete, Otto Jeanne Sigo, Eliza Ozheshko, V. Garshin, etc. are very widely represented.