In recent years, almost all publications dedicated to Maxim Gorky concern the political aspects of his biography. Some of the decisions the writer made in the last years of his life—supporting Stalin's cultural policies or justifying the camps, which he considered a place of correction for criminals—radically influenced the assessment of his work. In order to understand the reasons for the controversial decisions made by the writer at the end of his life, it is necessary to once again consider his political biography - from the first revolutionary circles and participation in the revolution of 1905 to the creation of the Capri School. Today the time has come to re-examine the polemics among Russian social democrats of the early 20th century, to give a voice to the heroes of these events - not only the Bolshevik figures whose history was erased or distorted, as happened with A. Bogdanov and M. Gorky, but also to such intellectuals like N. Berdyaev and S. Bulgakov, who entered into this discussion, having discerned the religious nature of Bolshevism and the danger of a totalitarian degeneration of its ideas. The book is intended for specialist historians, as well as for a wide range of readers interested in history and literature. 2nd edition, revised.