What Shall We Do? is a non-fiction work by Leo Tolstoy in which he describes the social conditions of Russia in his day. Tolstoy completed the book in 1886. Poverty, exploitation and greed seem to be perennial aspects of the human condition and it is these issues that Tolstoy addresses in What Shall We Do? At the time of its publication, the book had a great impact on thinking people both in Russia and abroad, who acknowledged the power of his account of life in the Moscow slums. In examining the causes of poverty through the ages, Tolstoy develops a vision of a way of life that would deny the possibility of the exploitation of one person by another: a vision of self-discipline and responsibility, of joy, passion and compassion, in which work for its own sake plays an essential part as a means to a healthy and kindly life.
