George Orwell & The
Russian Revolution
George Orwell
 Born Eric Arthur Blair on
June 25, 1903
 Born in India (English)
 Second of three children
 Father was absent most
of his childhood
 Went to school at age five
and two years later was
recommended for one of
the most successful
preparatory schools in
England at the time: St
Cyprian's School
George Orwell
 Was awarded a
scholarship to attend this
prestigious school and
later earned scholarships
to two different
universities (Wellington
and Eton)
 Joined the Indian Imperial
Police in Burma but
resigned in 1928 because
he hated imperialism
George Orwell
Adopted his pen name in 1933, while
writing for the New Adelphi
Lived for several years in poverty,
sometimes homeless, until he found a job
as a teacher
Poor health forced him to give this up to
work part-time as an assistant in a
secondhand bookshop
George Orwell
 After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War,
Orwell volunteered to fight for the Republicans
against Franco's Nationalist uprising.
 Admired the apparent absence of a class
structure in the revolutionary areas of Spain he
visited
 Orwell was shot in the neck on May 20, 1937
 Orwell and wife Eileen left Spain after narrowly
missing being arrested when the communists
moved in
George Orwell
 Orwell began supporting himself by writing book
reviews for the New English Weekly until 1940
 World War II he was a member of the Home
Guard and in 1941 began work for the BBC
Eastern Service, mostly working on programs to
gain Indian and East Asian support for Britain's
war efforts
 Resigned in 1943 to become literary editor of
Tribune, the left-wing weekly (favored political
reform)
George Orwell
 In 1944 Orwell finished
his anti-Stalinist allegory
Animal Farm, which was
published the following
year with great critical
and popular success.
 Royalties from Animal
Farm provided Orwell
with a comfortable
income for the first time in
his adult life.
George Orwell
1936 -1945 was married to Eileen
O'Shaughnessy,
Adopted a son, Richard Horatio Blair
Eileen died in 1945 during an operation
1949-shortly before his death, Orwell
married Sonia Brownell
1950 - Died from tuberculosis
George Orwell
 1949-Orwell was approached by a friend, who
had just started working for a Foreign Office unit,
which had been set up by the Labour
government to publish pro-democratic and anticommunist propaganda
 Orwell gave her a list of 37 writers and artists he
considered to be unsuitable authors because of
their pro-communist beliefs
George Orwell’s Pen Name
Chose a pen name that stressed his deep,
lifelong affection for the English tradition
and countryside:
George is the patron saint of England (and
George V was monarch at the time)
 The River Orwell in Suffolk was one of his
most beloved English sites.
The Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution
 1880’s - Russian is ruled by a Czar
 The country has begun the process of
industrialization
 A great deal of money was being brought into
Russia – the lower, working class people (80%
of the population) saw very little
 Not only were the most of the people still
peasants but the wealthy were quickly taking
away the precious land that they had
The Russian Revolution
Many people had come to work in the
cities hoping to cash in on the recent good
fortune or Russia
They worked long, hard hours for little pay
and most did not have enough food to eat
The living conditions for the poor in the
cities were deplorable while the czar lived
in luxury
The Russian Revolution
 Czar Nicholas II
would do nothing to
help his people
 March 8, 1917 – riots
broke out in
Petrograd, Russia
 The losing army sided
with the rebels
 Czar was overthrown
The Russian Revolution
 Czar Nicholas II, his
family and a few staff
members were held
captive for some time
(they were kept in a
nice home)
 There were
supporters that were
going to try to save
the royal family, so
they were executed
The Marxist Party
 Karl Marx (1818-1883)
 Father of Communism –
believed that we must
destroy capitalism for the
greater good
 Wrote Communist
Manifesto –no private
land ownership
 a system in which goods
are owned in common
and are available to all as
needed
 Old Major in Animal Farm
Karl Marx
“Worker’s of the World Unite”, take over
government
Died before the Russian Revolution
In communism, all people are equal and
they all share everything equally
Vladimir Lenin
 Adopted Marx’s ideas
 Believed that
bourgeoisie (middle
class) exploited the
workers and must be
overthrown
 Understood the power
of slogans (“Workers
of the world unite”)
Vladimir Lenin
When Lenin dies, there was a power
struggle between Trotsky and Stalin
It is believed that Lenin ordered Nicholas II
murdered
Changed Russia’s name to USSR (Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics)
The Marxist Party
 Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)
 Was a key figure in the
Bolshevik seizure of
power in Russia, second
only to Lenin in the early
stage of Soviet
communist rule
 He lost out to Stalin in the
power struggle that
followed Lenin's death,
and was assassinated
while in exile.
 Snowball
Leon Trotsky
Believed in “pure” communism (like Marx)
and wanted to improve life for all in Russia
Lead revolution with Stalin and Lenin
Was a brilliant speaker
Favored world revolution
Chased away by Lenin’s KBG (secret
police)
The Marxist Party
 Joseph Stalin (18791953)
 Continuously
opposed Trotsky
 Average speaker, not
well educated
 Didn’t exactly follow
Marx’s ideals
 Craved power and
was willing to kill for it
Joseph Stalin
Used KBG
Lots of propaganda (created a department
of propaganda)
Lied to convince people to follow him
Benefited from the fact that education was
controlled
Stalin Takes Control
In his sinister way, Stalin secured his
power base and engineered the
permanent exile of Trotsky in 1929
The exile of Trotsky was useful because
he now had someone to blame for all of
the problems and difficulties Russia
suffered
Became a merciless dictator
KGB
Secret police that were totally loyal to
Stalin
Used force and often killed entire families
for disobedience
Religion
Marx said that religion was the “opiate of
the people” and a lie
Religion was tolerated b/c it would make
people not complain and would prevent
violent revolution
Tricked Communist Supporters
People trusted Stalin because he was a
“Communist”
Many stayed loyal after it was clear that he
was a tyrant because they were afraid to
oppose him
Russian Revolution Summed Up
Communism was supposed to fix the
problem of the Czar
Life was even worse long after the
revolution
Stalin made the Czar look like a nice guy
Kulaks
These were the land owning peasants who
did not want their farms to be collectivized
after the revolution.
On 1929 Stalin began exterminating them
5 Year Plans
1927-1932, new economic plans (called 5
year plans) were introduced
Their purpose was to improve industry
Language
Communism
Community
Commune
Communion
Communicate
Communal