Animal Farm has usually been interpreted, as a satire on the betrayal of the Russian revolution and the rise of Stalin (Greenblatt). They have seen that Old Major, the older pig and mentor, clearly portrays Marx and Lenin. Napoleon, the dominant ruler after Old Majors death, is Stalin. Snowball, the opposing force of Napoleon, is Trotsky. Framer Jones, the oppressive owner of the farm, is Czar Nicholas II. Farmer Frederick, the neighboring farmer who the animals later do business with, is Hitler Germany and Farmer Pelkington, another neighboring farmer, is England (Smyer). Old Major was the main figure of the rebellion although he died before it actually occurred. Animal Farm is a novel perpetuating Marx's convictions of democratic socialism disguised as "Animalism".
Lenin became the leader of the working class of Russia. Like Old Major, Lenin and Marx wrote essays and gave speeches urging the working class to rebel, that can be compared to the barnyard animals in Animal Farm. The peasants of Russia, like the animals, believed that in the new society dreamt of by Marx and Lenin, Old Major, there will be no oppression because the working class will have all the money and power. This hope and Lenin's prompting led the revolt against the Czar, Farmer Jones.
After the death of Lenin a power struggle between Stalin and Trotsky started which can parallel to the struggle between Snowball and Napoleon. Snowball introduced the idea of the windmill to supply electricity, which can be compared to the industrial revolution in Russia. The growth of factory and industry in Russia was very depressing but depended on the obligatory labor of serfs, which can be compared to the never-ending labor of Boxer in Animal Farm. During a debate between Napoleon and Snowball about the benefits of building a windmill, Napoleon called his dogs out to exile Snowball from the farm. This very much symbolizes when Stalin exiled Trotsky. Trotsky and Stalin's relationship was very much like Snowball’s and Napoleon’s. Trotsky organized the Red Army and gave inspiring speeches that took the hearts of the people. Everyone thought that he would win the power over Stalin. But Trotsky lost all the power to Stalin when he was expelled.
Another parallel between the Soviet Union and Animal Farm is propaganda. Propaganda is a useful tool in any totalitarian society. In Animal Farm, Squealer, Napoleons messenger, was the form of propaganda because he “brainwashed” the animals by making them believe what the pigs were doing was the right thing. He also changed the “Seven Commandments” to better fit the lifestyle that the pigs later took on, as they became more corrupt. Some examples of Napoleon changing the “Seven Commandments” would be; He changed the law that said animals shouldn’t be cruel to other animals because that would symbolize how humans treated them. Yet we see Napoleon brutally kill dozens of animals for having been affiliated with Snowball. Before the other animals protest they see that the law was now no animal shall kill another with out reason (Orwell p.98). Some other changes that Napoleon made was the rule “No animals shall sleep in a bed” was changed to “ No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets” (Orwell p.79). And finally all of the “Seven Commandments” were abolished and replaced with “All animals are created equal, but some are more equal then others” (Orwell p. 133). In Russia, the Bolsheviks carried out propaganda on the people by passing out leaflets and putting stories in the papers that where not true but would make them feel good about their situation. One of the important themes of this book is the lack of awareness and what it can cause (Smyer). Napoleon, like Stalin, realized that if he could ‘change history’ he would be able to control the other animals on the farm from rebelling against him. As Greenblatt said “if language is abused, if words can have entirely contradictory meanings…then since thought is dependent on language, all unorthodox modes of thought can be made impossible, history can be altered, the individual can be reduced to an automaton, incapable of thought or disloyalty”.
In the story we did see how Napoleon changed history many times. We see this when he changed the “Seven Commandments” and when he would change stories around to convince the animals that he was actually better than Snowball. For example when he told the other animals that when Snowball bravely defended the farm against Farmer Jones Snowball was actually trying to help him take over the farm again and Napoleon was the one who had fought bravely. Even though the animals, at times, question Napoleon’s version of the past and his authority, they were frightened that the past will return, the past with Farmer Jones. Napoleon had succeeded in terrorizing the animals with the past to make them loyal to him. The animals were too frightened and simple minded to recognize that what they truly feared in the past was resurrected in their current state of affairs. The animals didn’t want to let go of the past and see the present and how similar it had actually become to their past with Jones. Napoleons, through his perversion of words, made them think their lives were terrible with Framer Jones even though it was actually much better with him. Now even though the animals are trying to hold on to there past they are actually losing it. The animals’ history is their revolution and revolutionary feelings of striving for freedom and equality of all animals. However, what actually turned out was an inequality of the animals and no hope for any future with equality (Smyer).
The theme throughout Animal Farm is presented through the allegory of corrupt pigs and the passivity of the barnyard animals. The book was written to express Orwell’s disenchantment with the state of human nature. The point he is trying to make is that even when we begin with honorable intentions, there will be those who let their base instinct take control. Orwell portrays this nature by parodying events in real history.
What he was trying to teach by writing this book was that power, in the hands of few, is corrupting and doesn’t benefit the general people. Something we must understand is that given the right conditions, events like those portrayed in “Animal Farm” or particularly those events that occurred during the Russian Revolution can happen anywhere. We don’t have to look to far to see how certain third world governments today are able to control their population with fear and intimidation; Syria, Iraq, Serbia, to name a few.