Animal Farm Vs. Marxism

Animal Farm vs. Marxism

Characters, items, and events found in George

Orwells book, Animal Farm, can be compared to similar

characters, items, and events found in Marxism and the 1917

Russian Revolution. This comparison will be shown by using

the symbolism that is in the book with similarities found in

the Russian Revolution.

Old Major was a prized-boar that belonged to Farmer

Jones. The fact that Old Major is himself a boar was to

signify that radical change and revolution are, themselves,

boring in the eyes of the proletariat (represented by the

other barnyard animals), who are more prone to worrying

about work and survival in their everyday life. Old Major

gave many speeches to the farm animals about hope and the

future. He is the main animal who got the rebellion started

even though he died before it actually began. Old Major's

role compares to Lenin and Marx whose ideas were to lead to

the communist revolution. Animal Farm is a criticism of Karl

Marx, as well as a novel perpetuating his convictions of

democratic Socialism. (Zwerdling, 20). Lenin became leader

and teacher of the working class in Russia, and their

determination to struggle against capitalism. Like Old

Major, Lenin and Marx wrote essays and gave speeches to the

working class poor. The working class in Russia, as

compared with the barnyard animals in Animal Farm, were a

laboring class of people that received low wages for their

work. Like the animals in the farm yard, the people is

Russia thought there would be no oppression in a new society

because the working class people (or animals) would own all

the riches and hold all the power. (Golubeva and Gellerstein

168).

Another character represented in the book is Farmer

Jones. He represents the symbol of the Czar Nicholas in

Russia who treated his people like Farmer Jones treated his

animals. The animal rebellion on the farm was started

because Farmer Jones was a drunk who never took care

of the animals and who came home one night, left the gate

open and the animals rebelled. Czar Nicholas was a very

weak man who treated his people similar to how Farmer Jones

treated his animals. The Czar made his working class people

very mad with the way he wielded his authority and preached

all the time, and the people suffered and finally demanded

reform by rebelling. The Czar said "The law will

henceforward be respected and obeyed not only by the nation

but also the authority that rules it - and that the law

would stand above the changing views of the individual

instruments of the supreme power." (Pares 420).

The animal Napoleon can be compared as a character

representing Stalin in Russia. Both were very mean looking,

didn't talk very much but always got what they wanted

through force. In one part of the book Napoleon charged the

dogs on Snowball, another animal. Stalin became the Soviet

Leader after the death of Lenin. He was underestimated by

his opponents who always became his victims, and he had one

of the most ruthless, regimes in history. In was not till

very many years later that the world found out about the

many deaths that Stalin created in Russia during the

Revolution. For almost 50 years the world thought that the

Nazis had done the killing in Russia, when in fact it was

Stalin. (Imse 2).

The last characters that are symbolic of each other

are the animal Snowball with the Russian leader Trotsky.

Snowball was very enthusiastic and was a leader who

organized the defense of the farm. He gave speeches and

instructions but was not very beneficial. All the other

animals liked him, but he was outsmarted by Napoleon.

Trotsky and Stalin's relationship was very much like

Snowball's and Napoleons. Trotsky organized the Red Army

and gave speeches and everyone in Russia thought he would

win power over Stalin. After Lenin's death Trotsky lost

all his power to Stalin and was expelled from the communist

party. He was at one time considered the second most

powerful man in Russia. (Trotsky" Comptons 290).

Besides characters there are many items that can be

compared