Animalism Vs Marxism Essay, Research Paper

Characters, items, and events found in

George Orwells book, Animal Farm, can be compared to similar characters,

items, and events found in Marxism and the 1917 Russian Revolution. This

comparison will be shown by using the symbolism that is in the book with

similarities found in the Russian Revolution.

Old Major was a prized-boar that belonged

to Farmer Jones. The fact that Old Major is himself a boar was to signify

that radical change and revolution are, themselves, boring in the eyes

of the proletariat (represented by the other barnyard animals), who are

more prone to worrying about work and survival in their everyday life.

Old Major gave many speeches to the farm animals about hope and the future.

He is the main animal who got the rebellion started even though he died

before it actually began. Old Major’s role compares to Lenin and Marx whose

ideas were to lead to the communist revolution. Animal Farm is a criticism

of Karl Marx, as well as a novel perpetuating his convictions of democratic

Socialism. (Zwerdling, 20). Lenin became leader and teacher of the working

class in Russia, and their determination to struggle against capitalism.

Like Old Major, Lenin and Marx wrote essays and gave speeches to the working

class poor. The working class in Russia, as compared with the barnyard

animals in Animal Farm, were a laboring class of people that received low

wages for their work. Like the animals in the farm yard, the people is

Russia thought there would be no oppression in a new society because the

working class people (or animals) would own all the riches and hold all

the power. (Golubeva and Gellerstein 168).

Another character represented in the book

is Farmer Jones. He represents the symbol of the Czar Nicholas in Russia

who treated his people like Farmer Jones treated his animals. The animal

rebellion on the farm was started because Farmer Jones was a drunk who

never took care of the animals and who came home one night, left the gate

open and the animals rebelled. Czar Nicholas was a very weak man who treated

his people similar to how Farmer Jones treated his animals. The Czar made

his working class people very mad with the way he wielded his authority

and preached all the time, and the people suffered and finally demanded

reform by rebelling. The Czar said “The law will henceforward be respected

and obeyed not only by the nation but also the authority that rules it

- and that the law would stand above the changing views of the individual

instruments of the supreme power.” (Pares 420).

The animal Napoleon can be compared as

a character representing Stalin in Russia. Both were very mean looking,

didn’t talk very much but always got what they wanted through force. In

one part of the book Napoleon charged the dogs on Snowball, another animal.

Stalin became the Soviet Leader after the death of Lenin. He was underestimated

by his opponents who always became his victims, and he had one of the most

ruthless, regimes in history. In was not till very many years later that

the world found out about the many deaths that Stalin created in Russia

during the Revolution. For almost 50 years the world thought that the Nazis

had done the killing in Russia, when in fact it was Stalin. (Imse 2).

The last characters that are symbolic of

each other are the animal Snowball with the Russian leader Trotsky. Snowball

was very enthusiastic and was a leader who organized the defense of the

farm. He gave speeches and instructions but was not very beneficial. All

the other animals liked him, but he was outsmarted by Napoleon. Trotsky

and Stalin’s relationship was very much like Snowball’s and Napoleons.

Trotsky organized the Red Army and gave speeches and everyone in Russia

thought he would win power over Stalin. After Lenin’s death Trotsky lost

all his power to Stalin and was expelled from the communist party. He was

at one time considered the second most powerful man in Russia. (Trotsky”

Comptons 290).

Besides characters there are many items

that can be compared as symbols in the book and in Russia. The whip that

Napoleon used in the farmyard to wield power can be compared to the power

that Stalin used on the Russians. Napoleon carried a whip in his trotter.

Stalin used his power to starve the Russian people and to have Lenin arrested.

Stalin’s main goal was to maximize his personal power. (”Stalin,” Britannia

576). Stalin “whipped” his people into shape by collectivizing agriculture,

by police terror, and by destroying remnants of individual prosperity.

He also led the Soviet Union into the nuclear age (Clarkson 442).

Propaganda is another item that was used

in the Russian revolution. It can be compared to Squealer in Animal Farm.

Squealer brainwashed (a form of propaganda) the barnyard animals into believing

that they did not like apples and milk, while he and Napoleon were stealing

the food for themselves. In Russia, the Bolsheviks carried out propaganda

on the people by passing out leaflets and putting stories in the newspapers

that were not true. They told workers, soldiers, and peasants to not trust

their own hands and to take away land from the landowners. (Golubeva and

Gellerstein 80).

Another item that is similar in both Animal

Farm and Russia are the dogs and the secret police. Napoleon trained his

dogs when they were puppies to guard him and to obey his every command.

They chased Snowball away. Stalin trained his secret police to do his bidding

whenever he issued an order. Stalin had his secret police kill between

60,000 to 70,000 people. These police were called the Checka and the graves

filled with bodies stacked upon each other with bullets in each skull were

found many years later. (Imse, C2).

Another symbolism that exists in the book

and in Russia is a similarity to events that took place. The windmill that

is present in Animal Farm can be compared with the growth of industry in

Russia or the Industrial Revolution. Snowball first introduced the windmill

concept to the farm but Napoleon disagreed with him and had the dogs chase

him away. Napoleon then presented the windmill as a good idea and the animals

were presented with hope that things would get better on the farm. When

it blew down, Napoleon blamed it on Snowball. Napoleon thought that if

he could keep the barnyard animals busy all the time replacing the windmill

that they would not realize how bad their living conditions were, and he

could blame the destruction all the time on Snowball. The windmill is the

only thing that was holding the animals together as a unit. In Russia the

growth of factory and industry was very depressing but depended on the

obligatory labor of serfs. Russia hoped that by keeping the serfs working

all the time and promising them a better world that they would not realize

how bad their living conditions were. The Industrialists were pressing

their own constitutional demands. (Clarkson 352). None of the social classes

were fighting each other because there were no classes left. What Russia

got working was to make the people think that the prospect of loss of potential

improvements in conditions of life of the here and now, could only be attained

by stimulating labor to unprecedented efforts.

The last event that was similar in the

book and in Russia was the animal rebellion on the farm and the Russian

Revolution of 1917. Farmer Jones was drunk a lot and would forget to feed

the animals on the farm. The withholding of this food is what finally forced

the animals on the farm to rebel against Farmer Jones. In Russia, there

were many food shortages which caused the people to demonstrate and then

the Russian soldiers refused to suppress them and the leaders demanded

that Nicholas transfer his power to parliamentary government because everything

was getting out of control. Soviet workers and soldiers formed a special

committee and established a government. The same day the emperor abdicated.

(”Russian Revolution,” Grolier npa). This actually backfired in Russia

and the war continued and the people still starved.

Many lessons can be learned by reading

Animal Farm that can help countries and governments around the world from

making mistakes in wielding their power against their people. If a population

is suppressed and not allowed to accumulate things for themselves then

an overthrow of the government that is suppressing them will be the result.

WORKS CITED

Clarkson, Jesse. A History of Russia. New

York: Random House, 1969.

Golubeva, T. and L. Gellerstein. Early

Russia – The Russie. Moscos, Press Agency Publishing House, 1976.

Imse, Ann. Mass Grave Seen as Evidence

of Massecure by Stalins Police. “Hunstsville Times, 13, August. 1990.

Orwell, George. Animal Farm. Signet 50th

Anniversary Edition, Harcourt Brace & Company, 1996.

Pares, Sir Bernard. The Fall of the Russian

Monarchy. New York: A division of Random House, 1939.

“Russian Revolution of 1917.” Grolier Electronic

Publishing, Inc. 1992 ed.

“Stalin, Joseph.” Encyclopedia Britannica.

1917 ed.

Zwerdling, Alex. Orwell and The Left. New

Haven: Yale University Press. 1974.