Haiyan is the last chapter of Gorky's short story The Melody of Spring, which was written in March 190 1 year. As the industrial crisis that broke out in Europe in the19th century quickly spread to Russia, during the crisis years from 1900 to 1903, more than 3,000 large and small enterprises in Russia closed down and more than 65,438+10,000 workers were dismissed. Coupled with the growing darkness of the czar's rule, the people can't stand it, the resistance is rising day by day, and the revolutionary struggle is booming. The Russian workers' movement began to turn from economic strike to political strike, to demonstration, to put forward political demands for democracy and freedom, and to put forward the political slogan of "overthrowing the czar's autocracy", which shook the czar's ruling foundation. [3]
At that time, the people's revolutionary movement was surging, and the reactionary czar government stepped up its suppression of the people. It was a time of fierce fighting between revolution and counter-revolution. Gorky arrived in Petersburg from Nizhny Novgorod (renamed Gorky City during the Soviet period and renamed it after the disintegration of the Soviet Union) on February/KOOC-0/90/KOOC-0/,attended a special meeting held by the Russian Writers Association to commemorate the 40th anniversary of serf liberation, and delivered a sharp speech attacking the czar government. On March 4th, he participated in a student demonstration near Kazan Cathedral in Petersburg and witnessed the bloody suppression of students by the Tsar's constitutional police. He also signed an open letter written by some writers and social activists to protest against the atrocities of the czar's government. Return to Nizhny Novgorod on March 12. Gorky, who was born at the bottom of society and knew the sufferings of the people at the bottom, personally felt the majestic momentum of the workers' movement and the students' movement, and witnessed the brutal crimes of the Tsar government in suppressing the students' movement. In order to enthusiastically praise the pioneers of proletarian revolution, expose the reactionary government of the Tsar, attack opportunists and expose the ugly faces of bourgeois liberals, Gorky wrote the symbolic short stories Fantasia and Melody of Spring. Finally, the famous prose poem Haiyan (it is estimated that the writing time of this work will not be earlier than March 14, nor later than March 24th).
Gorky personified birds in Melody of Spring, and added official titles and titles to some of them to satirize the representatives of various classes in Russian society and attack the rule of the czar, which could not be published at that time. Gorky wanted to publish it in Moscow's Courier, but it was rejected by the censor. Gorky immediately sent the novel to Life magazine in St. Petersburg, which was also rejected by the censor, but its ending "The Song of Haiyan" was published separately in Life magazine in April of that year. This is due to the "negligence" of the czar's censorship authorities. Posey, editor-in-chief of Life magazine, once recalled: "Haiyan was published after being examined in advance by the censor Ye Lageng, but he didn't see anything revolutionary about it." The censorship authorities soon discovered the serious mistakes caused by "negligence" and ordered the closure of Life magazine.