A Word About Communism

In the book “Animal Farm”, George Orwell voices his strong opinion against the Communistic totalitarian government in his novel through the use of animal characters which represent key players and events that occurred in the Soviet Union during Stalin’s reign. Through the use of animals symbolizing Soviet players, Orwell puts forth a solid generalization about the severity of totalitarian government (Animalism) in “Animal Farm”. Orwell achieves this goal by mirroring Stalin's reign over the Soviet Union through the events and characters in "Animal Farm."
It may seem to some readers that it seems to be a stretch to relate the entire story of "Animal Farm" to the reign of Stalin. Some opinions may differ from mine in that " Animal Farm" has nothing to do with Stalin's reign at all, and would appear to be just a clever book. However, through the works of Orwell's writing, he consistently puts down the rule of totalitarian rulers and colonialism. In Orwell's "1984" he writes about how harmful it is to have a society that has too much government control. In Orwell's Shooting An Elephant, he shows how freedom is killed under a society in Burma because the town's occupants look up to a leader instead of themselves. Throughout Orwell's works he puts down societies that happen now like in Burma from Shooting An Elephant to societies in the past like the Soviet union in "Animal Farm". Through the clear symbolism in his novel, a reader can easily understand the parallels that Orwell makes.
Napoleon is the dominant tyrant pig of Animal Farm who represents the leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin. Napoleon becomes the leader of a created society called Animal Farm, an organization created by Napoleon himself to end the ruling of Jones the farmer, and keep his followers safe from Jones’s so called abusive and inhumane treatment. Napoleon does this through an animal rebellion that resulted in the exile and defeat of Jones’s rule. Napoleon is however, not truly a ruler who holds dearly the importance and well being of his animal followers in mind. Instead, Napoleon manipulates and brainwashes his followers for his own gluttonous gain through the use of secret police, mass executions of the innocent, and through propaganda and brainwashing of his followers just as Stalin performed in the Soviet Union.
As Napoleon becomes more of a tyrant, he realizes that the intellectual animals will realize his intent of becoming a dictator, and he feels threatened. He especially feels this way towards a pig called Snowball, an allusion to Leon Trotsky. Snowball is a pig who wins over many barnyard followers, and has ideas of creating an egalitarian society, where all animals would live in harmony together. However, since Napoleon is a selfish and piggish leader, he finds any possible way to blacken the name of innocent Snowball through the use of false propaganda and lies created by Napoleon’s charismatic speaker, Squealer. Napoleon performs such cruel actions to Snowball because he truly doesn’t want an egalitarian society, but a dictatorship where he manipulates the organization of Animal Farm. In order to protect his reign in power, he creates his own secret police, a barbaric pack of dogs that tackle down suspects of betrayal that Napoleon suspects. The dogs were raised and trained by Napoleon himself to attack any suspect that could represent a threat to his reign. Napoleon used these dogs to spy on the barn animals and turn them in to Napoleon for execution. Snowball was exiled out of Animal Farm by the use of the dogs. “They dashed straight for Snowball, one of them closed his jaws on Snowball’s tail…nobody knew where the creatures came from” (168). The dogs inflicted pain and torture upon the victims of Napoleon only to be put to death by execution. Through his use of the secret police, Orwell shows the lack of trust that totalitarian leaders have for their followers to the point where secret spies are sent out to get many people in trouble to get sentenced to death.
In the Soviet Union, Trotsky and Stalin’s relationship mirror the relationship of Snowball and Napoleon. Trotsky had opposed Stalin’s policy of totalitarian control by creating the Left Opposition against Stalin. Trotsky was expelled from the Communist party in the 1920’s and was deported from the Soviet Union. When Stalin felt threatened by opposing rivals, he used his own secret police called the KGB or Committee For State Secretary, a Russian intelligence center. They used harsh methods to investigate suspected threats to Stalin. The KGB is a secret police system that tortured people in prisons through mind control methods so they thought like sane people about the paragon of communism. Many people tortured by the KGB were reported as missing and never found. Stalin performed these actions to manipulate his followers in becoming secret police and executing those that he thought would collapse his reign over the Soviet Union. Tens of thousands of innocent people had their lives claimed by Stalin because of his selfish intentions. Stalin did not rule for the sake of his people but for his own personal gain, which is why he had the KGB. Before Stalin rose into power, the Soviet Union was in better shape than after Stalin’s rule. The reason why Stalin gained power was because he was a great speaker and knew his politics, which gained him support and power. However, showing the mass carnage and casualty that occurred in the aftermath, the Soviet Union was a better and safer place for the people than under Stalin’s control.
In “Animal Farm,” Napoleon, the totalitarian tyrant pig has no interest in the well being of his barnyard followers when he creates the mass execution of his followers. “ And so the tale of confessions and executions went on, until there was a pile of corpses lying before Napoleon’s feet and the air was heavy with the smell of blood” (93). As Napoleon gained more power, he became much more malicious towards the trust of his followers by thinking that they were all betraying him. Napoleon uses forms of vocal propaganda to manipulate his followers to think that all the animals executed deserved it because they were treacherous and harmful to the society. Through the use of false propaganda the farm animals would be convinced that the accused animal was deserving of penalty through the charismatic speaking of Squealer. “ Do you know the enemy who has overthrown our windmill? SNOWBALL! … Comrades, I hear by pronounce the death sentence upon Snowball!” (82). Snowball was an innocent pig, but through the authoritarian speaking skills of Squealer, Napoleon could get away with his selfish endeavors without suspicion because of Squealer’s talented and persuasive speeches. Napoleon performed mass executions to preserve his own regime and eliminate political dissent for his own being. Napoleon is a murderer to his followers and creates a holocaust to his own animal followers. Napoleon does not care about anybody but himself in Animal Farm. Through the carnage and mass suffrage placed on the animals like the daunting task of slaving over the windmill Napoleon forces them to build, it was said things were far better when Jones had ruled. “ … It seemed to them it was far worse now than it was happening among themselves than with Jones “(93). Before Napoleon took reign over Animal Farm, it was once a better place with Jones. Jones fed them food and he allowed them to live the leisurely life of an animal where Napoleon cuts their life short and works them as mere slaves. Orwell communicates to his audience that followers of a totalitarian government are put at high risk of death and abuse. Through the use of executions and fake propaganda he shows how even the innocent will be found guilty and put to death.
In the Soviet Union, there were also mass executions performed by Stalin known as the Great “Yezhovschina” or the Great Purge. Stalin created this mass holocaust because he feared attacks of sabotage and espionage. Stalin believed that he needed to enthrall terror over his people to ensure absolute power, and by killing mass amounts of people, he induced fear over his people efficiently. “The estimated amount of lives taken by the Great purge is at most two million, but up to seven million were innocent and put into jail” (Knight, Encarta Encyclopedia). “The majority of the republican committees were killed at an astounding 90%, and many surviving victims were sent to Soviet Union Labor camps where they died soon after” (Vogel, Andy History Teacher). Stalin did not mind killing mammoth amounts of people because it ensured him a safe throne without any inhibition or competition. Stalin was a power hungry and selfish man who put himself way before his people. If Stalin had not been put into reign, two million people may have had their lives back. The Soviet Union before Stalin had so much potential and was far less harsh before the reign of Stalin.
The battles fought in “Animal Farm” also mirror the battles that took place in the Soviet Union like the Battle of The Windmill representing the Battle of Moscow. In “Animal Farm,” the animals under Napoleon created strict labor to build a windmill. Napoleon makes a deal with a farmer Mr. Frederick (Hitler) to receive five pounds for some wood. The money Napoleon receives is fake currency, and starts a war with Mr. Frederick. There is a larger army of men with six guns that charge into Animal Farm and use dynamite to destroy the fruits of their labor: the windmill. Napoleon tells his animals to charge and attack the men, and it becomes a bloody massacre. Both sides received injury and casualty. Napoleon is being selfish to his followers forcing them to face an army of men loaded with guns. Napoleon just wanted to make sure his rule was protected and that he would remain in power not matter what the cost it was to his animal soldiers. Before Napoleon took reign and Jones was the ruler, no animals had to face war and attack. The lives of animals were to eat, sleep, reproduce, and live in leisure. The life of an animal under Jones’s rule was a wonderful life, now they face a life that is full of bloodshed, betrayal, and suffrage by forced labor.
This battle parallels to the Battle of Moscow in the early 1940’s against the USSR and Germany forces. Germany attacked the Soviet Union by an air attack which weakened them early on. This battle cascaded into the Battle of Vyazma Blyansk. However, the icy cold weather and harsh terrain impeded the German forces weakening them significantly. The Germans lost about 500,000 men and the Soviet Union took a large hit as well. The Battle of Moscow dealt with two power forces Germany and the Soviet Union who were competing with one another because of their high power and authority. Orwell shows the great amounts of carnage that is displayed in a totalitarian society, and the risk that the leaders put their followers into. The leaders are all into the battles for their own advancements, not the outcomes of their people. Orwell really tries to show the severity and the moral wrongness of a totalitarian government.
Even some of the smaller characters in the novel have significant representation in Orwell's novel. The donkey Benjamen is a wise creature who knows even from the very beginning of the book that Napoleon was an up and rising tyrant. In philosophy we call these people the cynics. A cynic in philosophy means that a person always looks at anything with a poor opinion. Benjamen represented the many people under Stalin's power who were doubting his many ideas and motives. Unfortunately, in Stalin's control, he ends up killing all the people who do not support him unconditionally. The chickens in "Animal Farm" represented the rebels who did not support Napoleon's wants. Napoleon forced the chickens to lay eggs so that he could have them for himself and use them to help fulfill a treaty that required hundreds of chicken eggs. The hens were exhausted and could not keep up with Napoleon's demands so they rebelled by destroying their eggs. This is a parallel in the Soviet Union because the many workers who had to perform exhausting labor tasks rebelled by destroying the machinery so they didn't have to follow the strenuous orders from Stalin. However, just as Napoleon executed the hens for their lack of faith, Stalin also killed those he did not find as worthy slaves.

Orwell clearly communicates that events like this don’t just happen in books, but can happen in real life. Through the use of Napoleon’s dogs mirroring the KGB, Napoleon’s mass executions paralleling the Great Purge, and the Battle of The Windmill representing the Battle of Moscow,and smaller characters acting as society, Orwell shows in his book through symbolism that the characters and events in his novel are identical to the events and players in the Soviet Union under Stalin's reign.Orwell shows the brutal selfishness of the leaders, and their anesthetized feelings of innocent execution, and leader’s willingness to risk the lives of their people. Through the mirroring events and people in his life, Orwell creates a parable to his readers warning them about the evils of totalitarian control. Through the use of animals symbolizing Soviet Union leaders and events, Orwell effectively portrays his hostile feelings towards communism.


(Andy Vogel is a History teacher at Byram Township School District)