The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

Well-written, clever, but I am surprised this book banned and Bulgakov was never published in  Russia during communist times.  I really don't see any back story or hints of criticism of the regime.  About the only thing you could say is that is in not really a glorification of the working class and the (imaginary) worker society of communist Russia.  Bulgakov seems more in the tradition of Russian short story writers like Gogol.