Orwell borrowed most of the themes in 1984 from a russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin whose novel is entitled " WE". This book was so controversial that it was banned and took more than a decade to be publicized in France. Orwell admitted that it had inspired 1984. We establishes the baseline story and environment for 1984. 1984 translated and embellished the ideas for an American audience. Both are awesome.