Animal FarmHistorical Introduction

Mrs. Jacob

McGuffey High School

An Introduction

Written by George Orwell One of most famous satirical allegories of

Soviet totalitarianism Orwell based major events in the book on

novels from the Soviet Union during the Stalin era

An Introduction

Animal Farm was published in 1945- a crucial moment in European and world history

In some ways, Animal Farm stands at the very beginning of the Cold War

The novel also stands as a predictor of what would later come to pass for Russia

Karl Marx: The Father of Communism In 1848, German political philosopher Karl

Marx published a pamphlet called the Communist Manifesto.

Marx’s criticism focused on the dominant political and economic system of his time, known as “capitalism.”

Capitalism encourages competition between its citizens, and provides rewards in an unequal way.

Karl Marx: The Father of Communism Marx directed scathing attacks against this

philosophy. The capitalist nations, he argued, allowed the

wealthy few to amass huge fortunes, while the numerous poor toiled in unsafe factories for low wages, lived in wretched filth, and died before their time.

Karl Marx: The Father of Communism

Writing from Paris--where he lived in exile--Marx spoke of the dawning of a new social order based on the equal distribution of wealth and possessions among a nation's citizenry.

A Country in Turmoil: Russia 1900-1918 In 1883, Karl Marx died in London, England. At the

time of his passing, the full-scale revolutions he had predicted had not occurred, and no nations had declared themselves communist.

Throughout Europe, discontented workers met to plot the overthrow of political systems that were not communist in nature.

Among the leaders of these wide-spread movements were two Russians--Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky.

A Country in Turmoil: Russia 1900-1918 Within Russia itself, a

young man recently converted to the cause of democratic socialism hoped to unseat the leader. His given name was Joseph Dzhugashvili, but he adopted the surname Stalin, which translates as "man of steel."

A Country in Turmoil: Russia 1900-1918 Russia, however, little had changed in

centuries. The Czar still occupied the royal throne and dictated state policy without regard to the concerns of the people.

Russian citizens thus faced enormous hardships: grinding poverty, hunger, and joblessness were widespread.

In 1914, tensions between the expanding and increasingly wealthy nations of Europe exploded in World War I.

A Country in Turmoil: Russia 1900-1918 Between 1914 and 1917, the cities of Russia

witnessed many minor revolts among the citizenry.

Tens of thousands of hungry workers joined the communist "soviets"--the Russian word for "councils"--which organized massive protests and labor strikes to show their displeasure at food shortages and the endless prosecution of the war.

A Country in Turmoil: Russia 1900-1918 In a remarkable and

long-awaited moment, the Czar's soldiers stood aside and let the people take control of the streets. On February 28, 1917, Czar Nicholas II admitted defeat, and left the royal throne.

The Communist Takeover

Lenin was aided by two prominent communist allies: his old friend Leon Trotsky, and a new acquaintance, Joseph Stalin.

The three guided soviet policy, promising workers and soldiers food, abundant land, and an end to Russia’s involvement in the war.

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The Communist Takeover

In October of 1917, Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin decided to make their move.

Thousands of soviet workers and soldiers were armed and informed of a plan to seize the government.

On October 24, 1917, the assault on the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, where the Provisional government was headquartered, began.

By the following night, the Provisional Government had fallen, and Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin were poised on the verge of ushering in the first-ever Communist government.

Communism’s First Years: 1917-1922 The new soviet government quickly stripped all land

from owners, and forbade the holding of private property.

Fields were to be redistributed according to need. Hired labor was outlawed.

Banks and businesses would be "nationalized" gradually; that is, they would come under state control, so that owners could not divide profits unfairly.

The communist era had begun: Its goal was equality and peace for all, and forever.

Communism’s First Years: 1917-1922 Between 1918-1921, a civil war raged between the

communists and their enemies. Led by Leon Trotsky, the "Red Army" prevailed, and the communists maintained their hold on power.

Before Lenin could formulate an answer, and bring about the golden days of the new government, he suffered three paralyzing strokes. In 1922, the last episode took his life. A new leader must step forward, but both Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin coveted the seat of power.

Trotsky and Stalin: 1922-1940 The Stalin era lasted for 25 years. By the early 1940's, Russia had achieved an

industrial strength that was equal to the former world leaders in the capitalist countries.

Stalin maintained his grip on power through the use of political and social terror. He increased the size of Russia's internal police force (KGB) drastically, and he used them to spy on suspected enemies within the country.

Trotsky and Stalin: 1922-1940 In 1934, Stalin set a series of political

"purges" in motion. High-ranking officials in the Soviet government were systematically arrested, forced to admit to crimes they did not commit, and summarily executed.

Stalin's death in 1953 brought many of his excesses to an end, but the basic institutions and patterns of the life that he had created remained.

The Animals

The events and characters in Animal Farm are all carefully drawn to represent the history of the Soviet Union.

The other characters have their parallels in the real world, but care should be taken with these comparisons as they do not always match history exactly and often simply represent generalized concepts.

The Animals- Pigs

Napoleon: a Berkshire boar

Orwell modeled him after Joseph Stalin, while giving him the name of the French military leader Napoleon, both of whom set up dictatorship whose repression and despotism was similar or worse than the governments which they supplanted.

The Animals- Pigs

Snowball, a white boar, is a rival of Napoleon who contends for control of the farm after the rebellion.

Inspired by Leon Trotsky, Snowball is a passionate intellectual and is far more honest about his motives than Napoleon.

The Animals- Pigs

Squealer, a small fat porker, serves as Napoleon's public speaker. Inspired by Vyacheslav Molotov and the Russian paper Pravda.

He represents all the propaganda Stalin used to justify his actions.

The Animals- Pigs

Minimus is a poetical pig who writes the second and third national anthems of Animal Farm after the singing of "Beasts of England" is banned, representing admirers of Stalin both inside and outside the USSR such as Maxim Gorky.

The Animals- Pigs

Old Major is based upon both Lenin and Marx.

Old Major is the inspiration which fuels the rest of the book.

The Animals- Pigs

Pinkeye is a small piglet who tastes Napoleon's food for poisoning.

The Piglets are hinted to be the children of Napoleon (albeit not truly noted in the novel), and are the first generation of animals to actually be subjugated to his idea of animal inequality.

The Rebel Pigs are pigs who complain about Napoleon's takeover of the farm but are quickly silenced and later executed. This is based on the Great Purge during Stalin's regime.

Humans Mr. Jones is the owner of Manor Farm. He is based

on Czar Nicholas II. There are also several implications that he represents an incompetent and autocratic capitalist.

Mr. Frederick is the tough owner of Pinchfield, a well-kept neighboring farm. He represents Nazi Germany and Adolph Hitler.

Mr. Pilkington is the easy-going but crafty owner of Foxwood, a neighboring farm. He represents the western powers, such as Britain and the U.S.

Mr. Whymper is a man hired by Napoleon to represent Animal Farm in human society. He is loosely based on George Bernard Shaw who visited the U.S.S.R. in 1931 and praised what he found.

Other Animals

The three horses, Boxer, Clover and Mollie represent the three social classes. Boxer represents the lower class, Clover the middle and Mollie the upper. In the end, Boxer, or the lower class, is the one that gets the most exploited by the pigs.

Boxer is one of the most popular characters. He is a Shire horse. Boxer is the tragic avatar of the working class, or proletariat: loyal, kind, dedicated, and the most physically-strong animal on the farm, but naive and not clever, never progressing beyond the fourth letter of the alphabet. His ignorance and blind trust towards his leaders led to his death and their profit.

Other Animals

Clover is Boxer's mate and a fellow draft horse.

She represents the educated, but essentially naive lower middle class people who acquiesce to the subversion of principles by the powerful.

Other Animals

Mollie is a white mare who likes wearing ribbons and sugar cubes (which represent luxury) and being pampered by humans. She represents upper-class people, the Bourgeoisie who fled from the U.S.S.R. after the Russian Revolution.

Other Animals

Benjamin is a donkey who is cynical about the revolution.

He represents the Jewish population in Russia who were there before the Revolution and fully expected to be there after the Soviet Union fell (which they were).

Other Animals

Moses is a tame raven who spreads stories of Sugarcandy Mountain, the "animal heaven."

Moses represents religion (specifically the Russian Orthodox Church), which has always been in conflict with Communism.

Other Animals Muriel is a goat who reads the edited

commandments. She may represent intelligent labor.

The Hens represent the Kulaks, landed peasants persecuted by Stalin.

The Dogs are Napoleon's secret police and bodyguards.

The Cat shows the unethical, silent rejections of the new order — unwilling to work, yet encouraging others to do so, and acting bravely in the face of threats, but disappearing when there is actual danger.

George Orwell

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950),

better known by the pen name George Orwell, was a British author and journalist.

Noted as a novelist, as a critic and as a political and cultural commentator, Orwell is among the most widely admired English-language essayists of the 20th century.

He is best known for two novels critical of fascism, Stalinism and totalitarianism written and published towards the end of his life: Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.