People in this new society called One State, have numbers rather than names, wear identical uniforms and live in buildings built of glass.

The first anti-utopian novel ever written, it is a satire on life in a collectivist state in the future. It was through his work with World Literature that Zamyatin discovered the science fiction of H. He also wrote a series of plays including the popular Attilla. Dominic, a book about the Spanish Inquisition, that parallels the activities of the Cheka, the Soviet secret police. In one of these articles he attacked the Soviet government and its Red Terror. He also wrote for Novaya Zhizn (New Life) a journal funded and edited by Maxim Gorky. Zamyatin switched his support to the Left Socialist Revolutionaries and published a series of political fables in Delo Naroda (The People's Concern), a newspaper run by Victor Chernov. Although initially a supporter of the Bolsheviks he began to question the new government's attempt to control the arts. He returned to Russia after the October Revolution. However, the book was banned and all copies were destroyed.ĭuring the First World War Zamyatin was sent to England to supervise the building of Russian icebreakers. This upset the censors and Zamyatin was brought to trial but was acquitted. This was followed by At The World's End (1914), a satire on military life. He also wrote fiction and in 1913 published the novel A Provincial Tale. He wrote several articles on ship construction for journals such as The Ship and Russian Navigation. Zamyatin was arrested, badly beaten and sent to Spalernaja Prison where he had to endure several months of solitary confinement.Īfter graduating Zamyatin became a lecturer at the Department of Naval Architecture.

He returned during the 1905 Revolution and joined the student demonstrations against Nicholas II. Zamyatin's support of the Bolsheviks resulted in him being arrested and sent into exile. He later wrote: 'To be a Bolshevik in those years meant following the path of greatest resistance, so I was a Bolshevik then.' While a student joined the Bolshevik faction of the Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP). The son of a teacher, Zamyatin trained as a naval engineer at St Petersburg. Yevgeni Zamyatin was born in Lebedyan, Russia, on 20th January, 1884.

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