Born Yeshua Zalman Sverdlov (Russified name: Zinovy Mikhailovich Sverdlov, Зиновий Михайлович Свердлов) to a Jewish engraver in Nizhny Novgorod, he was an older brother of Yakov Sverdlov (subsequently a Bolshevik party leader and a high Soviet official). In 1896, Maxim Gorky met the Sverdlov family at an exhibition and soon became a close friend. During Gorky's exile to Arzamas in 1902, Zinovy worked as his secretary. To evade Tsarist Russian restrictions for Jews to live in big cities, Zinovy Sverdlov was baptized Eastern Orthodox and officially changed his name. Gorky (real name Alexey Peshkov) became his godfather.