Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (Russian: Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в or Пе́шков; 28 March 1868 – 18 June 1936), primarily known as Maxim (Maksim) Gorky (/ˈɡɔrki/; Russian: Макси́м Го́рькій or Го́рький), was a Russian and Soviet writer, a founder of the socialist realism literary method and a political activist. Around fifteen years before success as a writer, he frequently changed jobs and roamed across the Russian Empire; these experiences would later influence his writing.