Where did Maxim Gorky first encounter Russian revolutionary ideas?

Maxim Gorky first encountered Russian revolutionary ideas during his late adolescence and early manhood in Kazan, where he worked as a baker, docker, and night watchman. He was introduced to these concepts by representatives of the [Populist movement].1

Although he engaged with these early revolutionary circles, Gorky later rejected the Populist tendency to idealize the Russian peasant. His exposure to the harsh realities of the Russian working class throughout his youth—having been sent to work at age eight—deeply informed his later political development, eventually leading him to support the Social Democratic Party and align with the Bolshevik wing.12