The Parallels Between Animal
Farm and the Russian
Revolution
By: Celyra Workman
The Parallels Between Animal
Farm and the Russian
Revolution
By: 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 FiveYear 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 =)