The Railway (poem)
The Railway
The Railway is a poem by Nikolai Nekrasov, written in 1864 and published in 1865. It is one of the strongest anti-capitalist statements in 19th‑century Russian literature. The poem is based on the real building of Russia’s first long railway, the Saint Petersburg–Moscow line, between 1843 and 1851. American engineers Thomas and William Winans built it for the Tsar, but most workers were peasant serfs who were paid only about 3 rubles a month, cheated by supervisors, and punished harshly. Many died in the work, and Nekrasov mentions thousands as a rough figure. The project was led by Count Pyotr Kleinmichel, a strict and brutal administrator.
The poem faced censorship and was banned in 1864. It appeared in Sovremennik in 1865 but drew strong official condemnation. The magazine was shut down in 1866 because of such politically dangerous content.
What the poem is about: The narrator rides in a wagon on a moonlit autumn day. A boy in the same compartment asks who built the railway, and the father says it was built by Kleinmichel. The narrator then imagines telling the boy the truth about the real builders—the workers who were forgotten. Ghosts of exhausted, injured workers rise beside the rails, telling their stories and asking future people if they remember them. The boy shares this vision with his father. A proud General tries to argue that great works come from great people, not from ordinary workers.
The narrator imagines a bleak, tongue-in-cheek ending: the work is finished, the dead are buried, and the workers come to the accountant to be paid, but they learn they actually owe money for things like baths and hospital care. The contractor arrives and cancels the debts, raises a barrel of wine to celebrate, and the General’s reaction is left open.
Overall, The Railway powerfully questions how society treats the people who build its grand projects and reminds readers to remember their humanity.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 05:48 (CET).