"Petrel" is the last chapter of a symbolic short story "The Melody of Spring" written by Gorky in March 1901. The industrial crisis that broke out in Europe in the 19th century quickly spread to Russia. During the crisis years from 1900 to 1903, more than 3,000 large and small enterprises closed down in Russia, and more than 100,000 workers were fired. Coupled with the tsarist rule, It is getting darker day by day, the people cannot bear it, their resistance is rising day by day, and the revolutionary struggle is booming. The Russian workers' movement began to shift from economic strikes to political strikes, to demonstrations, putting forward political demands for democracy and freedom, and putting forward the political slogan "Down with Tsarist Despotism", shaking the foundation of Tsarist rule.
At that time, the revolutionary movement of the people was surging, and the reactionary Tsarist government intensified its suppression of the people. It was a time when revolution and counter-revolution were fighting fiercely. On February 19, 1901, Gorky arrived in Petersburg from Nizhny Novgorod (the city was renamed Gorky during the Soviet period, and was renamed after the disintegration of the Soviet Union) to attend a special meeting held by the Russian Writers Association to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the liberation of the serfs. Published a sharp speech criticizing the Tsarist government. On March 4, he participated in a student demonstration near the Kazan Cathedral in Petersburg and personally witnessed the bloody suppression of students by the Tsarist gendarmerie. He also signed an open letter jointly written by some writers and social activists protesting the atrocities of the tsarist government. On March 12, he returned to Nizhny-Novgorod. After personally feeling the majestic momentum of the workers' movement and the student movement, and witnessing the brutal crimes of the tsarist government in suppressing the student movement, Gorky, who came from the bottom of society and was well aware of the sufferings of the people at the bottom, enthusiastically praised the proletarian revolutionary pioneers and exposed the reactionary tsarist government. , criticized the opportunists, exposed the ugly face of the bourgeois liberals, and wrote a symbolic short story "Fantasia" and "Melody of Spring" based on the struggle situation at that time and the feelings of participating in the demonstrations. Its ending is the famous prose poem "Haiyan" (it is estimated that this work was written no earlier than March 14 and later than March 24).
"Haiyan" uses symbolic techniques to call on the people to carry out revolutionary struggle and welcome the coming of the revolutionary storm. Once this work was published, it had a huge repercussions in Russia. It was widely disseminated by revolutionaries through offset printing and hand-copying, and for a time it became the most popular, propaganda-rich and appealing "leaflet". This poem had an impact on the development of the workers' revolutionary struggle and the peasant movement, and the students' anti-government movement became stronger. Lenin said this in his article "The Demonstration Begins" written in December 1901: "Now we have seen that the demonstration movement is rising again in Nizhny Novosti, in Moscow, and in Khakov for various reasons. Public anger is everywhere. It is increasingly necessary to grow and turn this resentment into a torrent to attack the authoritarian system that is rampant and raging everywhere... When people's resentment and open struggle begin to burst out everywhere, the first and main thing is supply. A large amount of fresh air enables these sparks to burn into a raging fire!" It was also highly praised by Lenin and Stalin and was known as the "revolutionary poetry of fighting." "Petrel" was a "clarion call to inspire the people's revolution" in Russia at that time.