Animal Farm Essay, Research Paper

Animalism Vs. Marxism 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.

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.

ANIMALISM VS. MARXISM OUTLINE Thesis:

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. I. Leader Comparisons A. Old Major

compared with Lenin and Marx B. Farmer Jones compared

with Czar Nicholas II C. Napoleon compared with Stalin D.

Snowball compared with Trotsky II. Item Comparisons B.

Whip compared with power C. Squealer compared with

propaganda D. Dogs compared with the secret police I.

Event Comparisons C. Windmill compared with industry

growth D. Rebellion compared with revolution 8 1