INTRODUCTION

George Orwell, the pen name for Eric Blair, was born in Bengal, India in 1903. His work is greatly influenced by his political beliefs turned against the Communism, Fascism and Totalitarianism. Being a socialist himself, he despised Russian Communism and what it stood for. He could not accept the cruelty and hypocrisy of Joseph Stalins dictatorial reign so he became an advocate of freedom, that led him to write two of his most famous anti-communist works, Animal Farm (1945) and 1984 (1949).

RUSSIAN REVOLUTION To understand Animal Farm, we must look at the political situation in Russia starting from February 23, 1917, when women workers in Petrograd, started their protest on International Womens day. Around 90,000 women marched on the streets for the change of their miserable working conditions. The following day, more than 150,000 men and women joined the protest and by next day Petrograd was completely paralyzed. This wasnt enough for Czar Nicolas II to take the situation seriously but it was made official on March 2 when he was forced to abdicate. Left without a monarchy, Russia was in need for new leader. Two groups emerged from the chaos to claim leadership. The first was formed from former Duma members (elected legislative body) who were representatives of middle and upper class and the second was Petrograd Soviet which consisted mainly from workers and soldiers. In the end, former Duma members formed a Provisional Government which officially ran the country. Within the first two weeks, the new government abolished the death penalty, ended religious and ethnic discrimination, granted amnesty for all political prisoners and exiles, and granted civil liberties, while they were less interested in land reform and better quality of life for the Russian people. Giving the amnesty for all political exiles, they opened the door of Russia for Vladimir Ilych Lenin, leader of Bolsheviks. On April 3, 1817, he arrived in Petrograd, where tens of thousands of workers and soldiers had come to welcome him. Not being able to get through
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the crowd, Lenin jumped on top of the car and gave a speech, beginning by congratulating the Russian people on their successful revolution, but within the few hours, he shocked everyone by denouncing the Provisional Government and calling for a new revolution, saying that the new government had done nothing to get the country out of war and that the people are still hungry and with no land for cultivation. At first, Lenin didnt have much support, but he worked ceaselessly over the following few months until the people began to listen. Soon everybody wanted Peace, Land, Bread. Between October 28 and November 2, the workers insurrection was also victorious in Moscow, and a few weeks later it had spread to all of Russia. On that same morning of October 26, the Second Soviet Congress elected the revolutionary government, composed in its majority by Bolsheviks and Left SRs. Lenin was elected president of the Council of Peoples Commissars. Peace was immediately declared. Trotsky, as a new elected Commissar of Foreign Affairs, took the responsibility for peace negotiations with Germany. The truce was signed on December, followed by Brest-Litovsk Treaty, signed on March, 1918, which was a trigger for a bitter polemic between those who wanted peace at any price and those who advocated spreading the revolutionary war to Europe. This conflict threatened to split the Bolshevik Party. The rights of national minorities were recognized and a decree of land nationalization had begun. Never the less, the new government was still facing the radical opposition from the extreme Czarist right to the Mensheviks. The inevitable civil war began in May 1918, with the revolt of the Czechoslovakian Legion, composed of fifty thousand soldiers under French commanders. They soon reached the Volga, which encouraged the Allies to intervene, with a purpose of crushing the revolution and restoring the Czarist regime. In June, Anglo-French troops landed at Murmansk and Archangel. In August, the Allies landed one hundred thousand men in Vladivostok, with the mission to help the Czechoslovakian Legion. In the South, the Czarist general Denikin formed an army of volunteers with British supplies and material: this was the origin of the White Guard. In September, Trotsky, the creator of the Red Army, obtained the first Soviet success with the defeat of the Czechs and the recon quest of Kazan. In 1919 the French seized Odessa, the

Ukraine and Crimea; the English took over the oil wells of the Caucasus and the Don Basin. Russian soil was also occupied by American, Polish, German and Serbian troops. The situation was desperate. Clemenceaus plan to encircle the Bolsheviks was fulfilled. But dissensions among the Allies and the political incapacity of the generals of the White Guard, who were incapable of making any concessions of autonomy to the national minorities or of land to the peasants, in order to obtain their support, allowed the Red Army to resist for the thirty months the civil war lasted. Finally, the revolutionary wave that shook Europe and the military successes of the Reds led to the signing of another armistice. The civil war had left the country in ruins. The situation was getting worst by the hour. There was no government revenue, the uncontrolled printing of paper money caused inflation, famine and epidemic devastated the cities, the industrial workers were mobilized, the production of steel and iron was at its lowest. As a result of all disasters, a bureaucracy arose and in 1923, Stalin embodied this new bureaucracy of the Party-State that led a brutal political counterrevolution. Stalinism grotesquely deformed the concept of socialism, abolished the last trace of workers democracy, and imposed a dictatorship over the party, thus introducing a totalitarian regime. Hundreds of thousands of dissidents, regardless of their ideologies, were condemned to death or disgrace, along with the Bolsheviks leaders. Just before the invasion of Poland in 1939, the Hitler-Stalin Pact was signed. By the end of Second World War, the Red Army occupied half of Europe. These Stalinist regimes lasted until the fall of the Berlin wall that occurred in October 1989. A SATIRE OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION Animal Farm tells the history of Soviet Communism as a fable taking place on en English farm. Animal characters are based directly on Communist leaders in Russia. Mr. Jones symbolizes Czar Nicolas II, the leader before Stalin. He represents the old government, crushed by the working people which can be linked to Animal revolution which started when Old Major reveals his feelings about Jones when he says: Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he can not run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent
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them from starving and the rest he keeps for himself1. In general, this describes the ruling of Nicolas II and the state of the Russian nation. Old Major is an obvious metaphor for Karl Marx. Just like Karl Marx was the grandfather to communism, Old Major was first to invent animalism. At the very beginning of Animal Farm it was announced that Old Major had a strange dream on the previous night and wished to communicate it to the other animals2. His dream foresees their future in the farm once Man is thrown out. He says: Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished for ever 3. Marx predicted similar scene in his Manifesto of the Communist Party, that the ruling middle class will be overthrown by the working class4. Old Major inspires a rebellion with his great barn-yard speech but the rebellion doesnt happen until three days after his death. It seems like Napoleon and Squealer used Old Majors inspiration and good intentions for their own benefit. Stalin did the same by ignoring Marxs political and social theory. Napoleon, the pig, as a chief villain symbolizes Stalin. The two have so many similarities. They both become greedy and hungry for power even thou, at the beginning, they seemed like a good leaders. Their governance was brutal and vicious. While Napoleon used dogs to terrify other animals, Stalin uses KGB and police to do the same. Stalins ruling confirmed Orwells believes that although socialism is good as an ideal, it can never be successfully adopted due to the uncontrollable sins of human nature. Napoleon represents the human frailties of any revolution. During the reign of Joseph Stalin, Russian nation was getting poorer and poorer while their leader enjoyed luxury. Orwell explains this phenomenon in Animal Farm stating: Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richerexcept, of course for the pigs and the dogs.5 Killing political dissenters, and fearing for their own lives, is yet another thing they have in common since they both had food tasters.

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Orwell, G. (1946): Animal Farm, Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York p. 2 Orwell, G. (1946): Animal Farm, Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York p. 1 3 Orwell, G. (1946): Animal Farm, Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York p. 2 4 Marx, K. (2005) : Communist Manifesto, Digireads.com Publishing, Stilwell, p. 35 5 Orwell, G. (1946): Animal Farm, Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York p. 49

Squealer can be correlated to Pravda, the Russian newspaper or, to be more accurate, Stalins newspaper. Since there was no television or radio, the newspaper was a primary source of information. Propaganda is a big part of every dictatorship and Squealer was that voice for Napoleon, who could mask all the evil intentions and manipulate the animals to create minimum of resistance. Orwell narrates, He could turn black into white.6 Snowball represents Leon Trotsky. Trotsky was one of the original revolutionaries and a great threat to Stalins regime. Eventually Stalin exiled him from Russia, much like Snowball was expelled from the farm. Boxer and Clover are clear metaphor for working class. Boxer with his personal motto I will work harder7 pictures the lowest class and their lack of intelligence. They are easily persuaded into thinking that communism is a good idea, and that they could only benefit from it. Orwell supports this contention when he narrates, Their most faithful disciples were the two carthorses, Boxer and Clover. Those two had great difficulty in thinking anything out for themselves, but having once accepted the pigs as their teachers, they absorbed everything that they were told, and passed it on to the other animals by simple arguments.8 Pigs symbolize the communist party loyalists, as well as Russian parliament. The pigs, unlike the other animals, live in luxury and enjoy the benefits of the society they help to control. The inequality and true hypocrisy of communism is expressed here by Orwell, who never believed in Marxs socialist utopian society, and toward the end of the book he emphasizes, Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer except, of course, the pigs and the dogs.9 Dogs are used as a brutal force for intimidation of other animals. This is an obvious metaphor for the KGB. Terror is most powerful weapon of tyranny. Stalin used KGB to find and assassinate Leon Trotsky. Napoleon used the dogs to chase away his greatest opponent, Snowball. Orwell narrates, Silent and terrified, the animals crept back into the barn. In a moment the dogs came bounding back. At first no one had been able to imagine where these
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Orwell, G. (1946): Animal Farm, Harcourt, Brace and Company, Orwell, G. (1946): Animal Farm, Harcourt, Brace and Company, 8 Orwell, G. (1946): Animal Farm, Harcourt, Brace and Company, 9 Orwell, G. (1946): Animal Farm, Harcourt, Brace and Company,

New York p. 6 New York p. 12 New York p. 7 New York p. 49

creatures came from, but the problem was soon solved: they were the puppies whom Napoleon had taken away from their mothers and reared privately. Though not yet full-grown, they were huge dogs, and as fierce-looking as wolves. They kept close to Napoleon. It was noticed that they wagged their tails to him in the same way as the other dogs had been used to do to Mr Jones.10 Mollie characterizes the typical middle-class worker who suffers from this new communism concept. She doesnt care much about politics. She just wants to tie her hair with ribbons and eat sugar, but she is unable to, because her status is changed from the middle to a lower class. She has been considered a traitor when she is seen being petted by human from a neighboring farm. She is soon forced to leave the farm and she does it quietly. Moses is one of the most intriguing characters in Animal Farm. This raven is the only animal who doesnt work, and who doesnt listen to Old Majors speech of rebellion. Orwell narrates, The pigs had an even harder struggle to counteract the lies put about by Moses, the tame raven. Moses, who was Mr Joness especial pet, was a spy and a tale-bearer, but he was also a clever talker. He claimed to know of the existence of a mysterious country called Sugarcandy Mountain, to which all animals went when they died. It was situated somewhere up in the sky, a little distance beyond the clouds, Moses said. In Sugarcandy Mountain it was Sunday seven days a week, clover was in season all the year round, and lump sugar and linseed cake grew on the hedges. The animals hated Moses because he told tales and did no work but some of them believed in Sugarcandy Mountain, and the pigs had to argue very hard to persuade them that there was no such place.11 Moses represents Orwells very cynical and harsh view of the Church. Muriel is a knowledgeable goat who reads the commandments for Clover. She represents the minority of educated working class people who are smart enough to decide things for themselves and find critical and hypocritical deficiencies of their leaders but are not charismatic or inspired enough to take action and oppose tyranny.

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Orwell, G. (1946): Animal Farm, Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York p. 21 Orwell, G. (1946): Animal Farm, Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York p. 7

Old Benjamin, an elderly donkey, is described as rather unchanged since the rebellion, never too excited or too disappointed about anything that has passed. Although there is no clear metaphoric relationship between Benjamin and Orwells critique of communism, it makes sense that there are always those who never totally embrace the revolution. In a way, Benjamin symbolizes the older generation, the critics of any new rebellion. It seems, as though, he couldnt care less about Napoleon and the Animal Farm, almost as if he could see into the future and knows that revolt is only temporary change that wont do any good to anyone except the pigs. The only time he gets involved is when Boxer is carried off in the glue truck. He tries to warm others of Boxers faith but the rescue came too late. At the end he is the only one who confronts Napoleon and his evil intentions, which is interesting because he had been completely independent the whole time. While other animals have forgotten Jones and their past lives, Benjamin remembers everything. Orwell states, Only old Benjamin professed to remember every detail of his long life and to know that things never had been, nor even could be much better or much worse; hunger, hardship, and disappointment being, so he said, the unalterable law of life.12 Pigeons symbolize Soviet propaganda to other countries, like Germany, England, France, and even the United States. Communism reached many countries. Governments were scared of its influence on people. Orwell mentions the fact that the other farmers became suspicious and worried when their animals began to sing Beasts of England. CONCLUSION Animal Farm is an animal satire through which Orwell indirectly attacks on the Russian Communism. Orwell directs his satiric attack on the events of the Russian Revolution and on the totalitarian regime through a humorous and affective animal allegory. He thinks that this ideal that begins as utopia is doomed to failure since human nature is corrupt. The reality is the terror and poverty of dictatorship in which some individuals are more equal13 than the others.

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Orwell, G. (1946): Animal Farm, Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York p. 50 Orwell, G. (1946): Animal Farm, Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York p. 52

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Crick, B. (1980): George Orwell The First Complete Biography, Little, Brown and Company, Boston Hollis, C. (1962): Modern Satire, University Press, New York Lewis, C.S. (1979): Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, Gale Research Company, Detroit ONeill, T. (1998): Readings on Animal Farm, Greenhaven Press, San Diego Orwell, G. (1946): Animal Farm, Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York
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