Animal Farm and Stalinist Russia

Animal Farm and Stalinist Russia

In his book "Animal Farm" George Orwell gives a very vivid and

accurate account of what happened in Russia after Czar Nicholas II was

forced to abdicate. Being an allegory, most of the characters and

events have a parallel in Stalinist Russia. Minor characters in the

story also symbolize things that are very relevant to the history of

Russia.

Mr. Jones is the embodiment of the old government, of the monarchy

where the autocrat takes all without giving anything; he is the last

of the Czars. Czar Nicholas II lost control because the publishing of

Karl Marx's book "Communist Manifesto" led to the successful February

Revolution, had ignited the spark of reformation.) Farmer Jones lost

control of the animals after they got the spirit of revolution from

Old Major's speech and revolted. The outcome was a successful

Rebellion. Since Old Major was dead and Jones was gone, the Animals,

ironically, needed a leader to be in charge of the new Animal Farm,

where they were all free and equal.

Pigs were considered the most intelligent, and out of them Snowball

and Napoleon were the most prominent. Trotsky and Stalin fought for

power, but Stalin eventually eliminated Trotsky, having him expelled

from Russia. In the same manner, Snowball and Napoleon constantly

disputed; Napoleon was already hungry for power and soon after the

Rebellion, had plans of getting rid of his opponent. In the midst of

an eloquent speech about the plans for making a windmill by Snowball,

Napoleon directed the dogs he had raised to attack Snowball. Thus, he

had eliminated his only rival and was free to control the farm.

Upon...

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...ing and thinking animals.

I mean that it is never going to possible where everyone will want to

be equal because people end up wanting more power and control. George

Orwell's book told me that there couldn't be a perfect world because

there are people who want to and have to be better than others. It can

make you angry the way the animals were treated, the fact that they

were not smart enough to defend themselves. Other than that the book

was pretty good and it makes you think hard about communism,

propaganda and so on

Before I read Animal Farm, I had heard A great deal about it. And was

pleased that we would be doing it in English. It gave a fairly clear

definition of socialism, communism, and the like…

I feel I can now speak with some sort of literacy on the subject with

out fear of feeling like an idiot.