Numerous writers, critics and political activists, Alexander Hertzen among them, noted the impact that his second novel "Anton Goremyka" have had upon the development of social consciousness in Russia. It greatly influenced the new, politically-minded generation of Russian intelligentsia of the mid-19th century and in many ways helped launch the early socialist movement in the country. Saltykov-Shchedrin called the first two books by Grigorovich "a springtime rain which invigorated Russian literary soil." Both made the Russian educated society aware for the first time of the plight of muzhik, as a human being, not an abstraction, according to the famous satirist. Leo Tolstoy praised Grigorovich for having portrayed Russian peasants "with love, respect and something close to trepidation," writing of enormous impact his "vast, epic tapestries like "Anton Goremyka" have made."