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.
Bibliography
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.