Animal Farm and Historical Parallels to Revolution and Power

Introduction: Revolution and Inequality

In 1917, workers, soldiers, and sailors from Petrograd rebelled against the Czarist government. The Red Guards occupied key buildings, seized main government institutions, and surrounded the Winter Palace — the headquarters of the provisional government. Thus, the Great Socialist Revolution began.

In 1945, George Orwell wrote a satirical allegory of the Russian Revolution, directed particularly at Stalin's regime. Many events and persons — especially from Russia, but not exclusively — have a correspondent in the book. The novel is also a political analysis of regimes instituted through revolutions and maintained through fear.

Throughout history, some group has always seemed to be "more equal than the others," as Orwell states in his book. Examples from history are numerous.

The French Revolution, based on the ideals of Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité and on improving the condition of the masses oppressed by the nobility, ultimately failed to achieve its goals because of the greed of its leaders — leading to dictatorship and the Napoleonic Wars.

A classic example of animals "more equal than others" is the Nazi theory of the superior race (the Aryan, or master race) as opposed to the so-called inferior races — the Untermenschen — such as Jews, Roma, and Slavs.

Yet another example is the treatment of Native Americans by European colonists. Although claiming to come to the New World to escape tyranny and oppression — whether religious or political — the colonists ultimately came to regard themselves as superior to the indigenous peoples and proceeded to oppress them.

Revolutionary Allies Turned Rivals

In Orwell's novel, Napoleon and Snowball are the allegorical counterparts of Stalin and Trotsky. They fight together at first for the success of the revolution, but differences of opinion and the corruption that absolute power brings ultimately make them enemies.

A comparable historical example is that of Hitler and his early revolutionary associate Ernst Röhm. Much like Snowball, Röhm played an important role in Hitler's rise to power by organizing the SA (Sturmabteilung), a paramilitary organization that at its height numbered some three million members. As Hitler's ascension continued, Röhm became a liability, harboring ambitions that conflicted with Hitler's own plans. On the night of June 30, 1934 — known as the Night of the Long Knives — the SA was decapitated: Röhm and the main body of SA officers were killed. The instrument Hitler used to eliminate this embarrassing ally and potential rival was the newly formed SS.

Another parallel is that of Hitler and Stalin themselves. Allies when their interests coincided — despite their opposing doctrines — they ultimately became bitter enemies, a relationship that mirrored the final rupture between Napoleon and Snowball in the novel.

Characters in Animal Farm and Their Historical Counterparts

Most of the animals in Orwell's book have a real-life counterpart connected to the Russian Revolution. Mr. Jones, the owner of Manor Farm, represents the last Czar of Russia, Nicholas II. Like Mr. Jones, Czar Nicholas was a weak leader — especially when compared with his Western counterparts — a fact demonstrated most clearly during the First World War. And like Jones, the Czar lost his country through the October Revolution. As with his fictional counterpart, the Czar never regained power and died at the hands of the communists.

Old Major, the initiator and theoretician of the revolution, represents Karl Marx. His concept of "Animalism" stands for Communist doctrine. Like Old Major, Marx died before the revolution and never lived to see what became of his ideas.

Squealer, the manipulative and talkative pig, represents the Soviet propaganda apparatus that served Stalin. He bolstered Napoleon's image and transformed him into an icon, just as Soviet propaganda elevated Stalin. The propaganda service was responsible for making the leader appear infallible and for denigrating enemies and rivals. It succeeded in "turning black into white" — for instance, depicting Trotsky, a revolutionary hero, as a traitor to his country.

The dogs — the pups of Jessie and Bluebell — represent the secret Soviet police, the NKVD (later to become the KGB), led by People's Commissar Lavrenty Beria. Like the dogs in the book, the NKVD's role was to oppress the population, summarily eliminate so-called traitors (in reality, rivals or inconvenient figures), and protect Stalin.

Moses the raven represents Orwell's view of religion. Religion is used to keep people hopeful and productive and is therefore, in Orwell's telling, a tool. After the revolution, the communists attempted to banish religion from public life — as Moses leaves after the rebellion — but they were never entirely successful. In the book, the pigs eventually use religion, in the form of Moses, as a tool themselves.

Boxer the horse represents the loyal, if not particularly perceptive, segment of the population devoted to the regime — those who believed wholeheartedly in their ruler. Like Boxer, they are betrayed and discarded when they are no longer useful.

The sheep represent the proletariat: the working class of unskilled and uneducated laborers who depend on physical toil rather than independent thought. They are easily manipulated and conditioned by politicians, yet their support is crucial to the aims of political leaders. Their incessant bleating drowns out the more reasoned voices of the clear-sighted.