He was arrested in January 1888 for writing and publicly performing an antimonarchist poem, and in 1892 for his involvement in a group of young followers of Narodnaya Volya.

He continued to publish his works in the provincial papers until 1894, when one of his stories was accepted by Nikolay Mikhaylovsky for publication in the Saint Petersburg magazine Russkoye Bogatstvo.

Its journalistic sharpness, clear demarcation of social characters, and progressive ideological outlook demonstrated an affinity with the dramatic works of Gorky.

The play was banned from production on the Russian stage, but was widely performed abroad (Germany, Austria, France and other countries).

[1] The significant ideological and creative growth that Chirikov experienced in the period of the Revolution of 1905 testified to his powerful concern for the social and political problems of the time.

Chirikov's departure from the realist tradition started with the publication of his plays Red Lights and Legend of the old castle (both 1907), written under the strong influence of Leonid Andreyev.

His novel The Beast from the Abyss, written after he left Russia, was critical of the roles of both the Bolsheviks and the White Guards in the Russian Revolution of 1917.