Barbarians (Russian: Варвары, romanized: Varvary) is a 1906 play by Maxim Gorky.
[1] The quiet life in Verkhpolye, a small provincial town, is disturbed by the arrival of the team of railroad constructors, among them engineers Cherkun and Tsyganov.
As a result, Nadezhda Monakhova, seduced and deceived by Cherkun, commits suicide, the local government official Drobyazgin, involved in embezzlement, has to leave the place, Redozubov's son Grisha falls victim to alcohol addiction.
Lukin, a student, remains untouched by both kinds of barbarism, for he seems to know ways of resisting and fighting them.
In a 1907 letter[3] to Nikolai Krasov, the director of the Petersburgski Theatre (where the play premiered on 4 February, 1908) Gorky recommended Enemies for production, but added, that should Barbarians be chosen, "...The Monakhova character demands special attention.