Creatures That Once Were Men

First published in 1918, "Creatures That Once Were Men" is a collection of short stories by the popular and influential Russian author Maxim Gorky, a founder of the socialist realism literary method and arguably the greatest Russian literary figure of the 20th century. 
Gorky wrote stories, plays, memoirs and novels which touched the imagination of the Russian people, and was the first Russian author to write sympathetically of such characters as tramps and thieves, emphasising their daily struggles against overwhelming odds.

The collection has a precious introduction by G.K. Chesterton.