The Parallels Between Animal Farm and the Russian

RevolutionBy: Celyra Workman

The Parallels Between Animal Farm and the Russian

RevolutionBy: Celyra Workman

What Was the Russian Revolution?

The Russian Revolution began with the overthrow of Tszar Nicholas II on February 8, 1917. The citizens of Russia were very unhappy with the way the Romanov dynasty was ruling Russia. They were in economic turmoil due to World War I, and it led to strikes and uprisings from the citizens. The Tszar abdicated his rule in Russia.  The October Revolution, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, took place on November 7, 1917. This revolution was started by a small extremist group called the Bolsheviks, who wanted to create a democaratic, communist state. They gained the support of the Russian people quickly, and were accepted as the leaders. They abandoned the democratic process in January 1918 and declared themselves a dictatorship of the proletariat.

The Effects

This overthrow of the Russian Empire led to the Russian Civil war. It was an attempt by the previous rule to take back the Russian Government from the Bolshevik Soviets. The Reds, which were the Bolsheviks, won the war in 1920 and the Soviets remained in power.  From these Soviets rose many communist leaders. Among them were Leon Trotsky, Vladmir Lenin and Joseph Stalin.

Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky ruled the Soviet Union from March 13, 1918 to January 15, 1925. He was a proponent of Marxism and wanted to create a Marxist state. He created many groups such as the FI International Committee, International Workers' League and the Committee for a Workers' International. These groups were designed to benefit the state as a whole, which Leon Trotsky was very in support of. He was forced out of the Communist party by Stalin and the KGB, which were the secret police, and was assaniated.

Vladmir Lenin

Vladmir Lenin became the leader of the Bolshevik party and the Soviet Union from December 30, 1922  to January 1924. He was a harsh ruler and was a corrupt leader. He claimed to want a communist government, but passed laws to benefit the Bolshevik party rulers. He used propoganda and lies to control the Russian people.

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin came to power on April 3, 1922 and ruled until March 5, 1953. He was a very brutal ruler, and exiled or killed all who opposed him. He created the KGB secret police to control the people around him and the Russian citizens. He used the Russian Church to control the citizens and prevent them from uprising. He was a puported supporter of Communism, but changed the principals to benefit himself and the Bolsheviks.

What Does This Have To Do With Animal Farm?George Orwell wrote Animal Farm as a political satire and commentary on the Russian revolution. The characters, events and themes in Animal Farm DIRECTLY correlate with the events and people of the Russian Revolution.

Snowball

The three leaders above relate to the two leaders in the novel, Snowball and Napoleon.

Snowball relates to Leon Trotsky. Like Trotsky, Snowball was a great speaker and very intellegent. Snowball really wanted to follow the doctrine of Animalism, as did Trotsky with Communism. Snowball created the Animal Comittees, much like Trotsky created the International Comittees. Snowball was chased out of Animal Farm by Napoleon's dogs like Trotsky was chased out of the Bolshevik Party by Stalin's KGB.

Napoleon

Napoleon is representative of both Stalin and Lenin. Just like Lenin, Napoleon was quiet and was not as smart as Snowball/ Trotsky. He assumed total control of Animal Farm and did not follow Old Majors principles, like both Stalin and Lenin. Stalin exiled and killed his opponents, just like Napoleon drove Snowball out of Animal Farm. Napoleon used Moses, the Dogs and Squealer to control and manipulate the animals, like Stalin did with the Russian Church, The KGB and propoganda.

Old Major and Animalism

Old Major represents Karl Marx, who is pictured above. Animalism is a representation of Marxism/Communism. Communism is the economic policy in which all property is controlled by the government, and the government is controlled by the people. In this government there is supposed to be equality between the people. Animalism focuses on the equality between the animals. The farm became the property of the animals. Note that Russia changed names into the Soviet Union after the implimentation of Communism much like Manor Farm became Animal Farm after the rebellion.

Mr. Jones

Mr. Jones represents Tszar Nicholas II. The Tszar was a negligent ruler who did not care for the Russian people. He was sometimes very cruel to his subjects, but other times he was a kind ruler who supported the Russian students. Mr. Jones was a irresponsible man who starved the animals. He was cruel because he overworked the animals and did not take care of them. He was kind sometimes as he gave the birds milk in their food.

The Dogs

Stalin created a secret police group called the KGB. They killed and brutalized the opponents of Stalin and all who opposed his rule and spoke out against the government. Napoleon took the dogs and trained them to be vicious. Their allegiance belonged to Napoleon, and they did his bidding and were used to control the Animals. They attacked Smowball, much like the KGB attacked Trotsky.

Moses

Moses represents the russian Church and religion as a whole. In Marxism, religion is not allowed. It was viewed as a poison to the state economy because it distracted people from working. Snowball was against Moses because he spread the rumors about the SugarCandy Mountain, which symbolizes "heaven". Napoleon liked Moses because he got the animals to work by telling them that if they work they would get to sugar candy mountain. The Russian church did the same by telling the people that if they objected to Stalin, they would go to "hell"

Squealer

Squealer represents the propoganda used by both the Stalin and Lenin administrations. Propoganda posters like the ones above convinced the Russian people that what the Soviet dictators were doing was for their benefit. Squealer repeatedly lied to the animals on the pigs behalf in order to gain their support for their questionable actions. This propoganda was used to manipulate and control the animals, playing on their stupidity. This is just like the propoganda used in Russia, which played on the fact that the regulated education limited the intellegence if the people.

Boxer

Boxer represents the Russian Labour Force. When communism was implimented in Russia, the industrial work force was greatly affected. They began to work twice as hard to catch up with the rest of the world and were big supporters of the supposed change that communism would bring. Boxer is very enthusiastic about animalism and the work that he has to do for the good of Animal Farm and does not recognize that he is being tyrannized by the pigs.

Mollie

The extremely vapid character of Mollie represents the equally vapid Russian Aristocracy. The Russian Aristocracy was against the communist revolution because it called for the elimination of socio-economic classes, which eliminated their superiority and forced them to join the work force. They were not happy about this and fled to neighboring Slavic countries. Mollie is the same because she did not want to give up her lavish lifestyle and did not want to work. As a result she fled to a neighboring farm in order to keep her lifestyle.

The Windmill

The windmill represents Stalin's Five- Year Plans. Origionally, it was an idea of Trotsky's International Groups to industrialize Russia and increase the amount of product while decreasing the amount of work needed. Origionally Stalin was against them, but when he assumed power he established the Five- Year Plans. This is similar to the windmill because it was origionally an idea of Snowball and was discredited by Napoleon, that is until he assumed total control of the farm.

The Rebellion

The rebellion that took place on Animal Farm is similar to the February Revolution in Russia. This revolution started as a series of protests against the Romanov Dynasty's rule in Russia. It eventually led to the abdication of Tszar Nicholas II. This is similar to the Animals Rebellion because it too was caused by the dislike of Mr. Jones' way of running the farm and it eventually led to the overthrow of Jones and his men.

The Battle of the Cowshed

The battle of the Cowshed symbolizes the Russian Civil War. The Russian Civil war was fought between the past ruler along supporters from neighboring countries who were against the spread of communism, or the Whites and the Communist Russian Army, also called the Reds. This is similar to the Battle of the Cowshed because Jones and the other farmers, who represent the white army, went to Animal Farm in order to recapture it. They were combated, however, by the animals, who represent the Reds. In both instances the war was won by the Reds and allowed for the spread of communism.

The Pigs

The Pigs of Animal Farm represent the Soviets/Bolshevik party in the Russian Government. The Bolsheviks were intellectually superior to the Russian people, which allowed them to control the government. They controlled all that went on in Russian law and government, even though the goverment was supposed to belong to the Russian people. Ths relates to Animal Farm because the pigs were also intellecually superior, which allowed them to procure superior postions than that of the other animals. The pigs were the only animals on the farm that were a part of Napoleon's decision making, while the other animals were left in the dark. 

The End

For Now, At Least =)