How We by E. I. Zamjatin influenced G. Orwell's 1984 (Part 1)

In a letter to Gleb Struve, the Russian poet and literary historian, George Orwell wrote that he was really inspired by a book, and that he was interested in starting a work similar to that. That book was We by Evgenij Zamjatin, a Russian writer who was persecuted in Stalin's USSR. Now, we'll compare those two novels in order to discover where, and to what degree, Zamjatin's work may have influenced Orwell's.

Set in the 26^th Century A. D., the novel, We, is Zamjatin's view of the future, one where the whole world is under the domain of a Single State which is ruled over by The Benefactor. On the other hand, Orwell's future is dominated by three superstates: Eurasia, Eastasia and Oceania, the last being where the events of his story are set. Oceania (Orwell’s version of the Single State) is ruled over by Big Brother, who keeps the entire population under his strict control and surveillance at all times. The slogan, “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” is posted everywhere, and television, or more correctly, telescreen, whether in a home, office, or public places, is used by Big Brother to constantly monitor and watch people. To make this control more omnipresent and effective, a helicopter continually hovers over the city and the houses. In the Single State described by Zamjatin, people, who have completely lost their individuality and who are only known by numbers, live in transparent houses made of glass (Zamjatin died before the invention of television) to enable police officers, who are called The Guardians, to monitor them more easily. Conversely, Oceania's inhabitants still maintain their human name, but they have to wear a uniform and they call one another “brothers and sisters” rather than by their personal names. A distinct similarity in both in We and in 1984 is that the messages of the Benefactor or the Party's slogans are always broadcast through loudspeakers.