Ahmed Nafi Year 11 03/05/2007
Can communism flourish under human control?
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In Animal Farm, George Orwell portrays the events of the Russian Revolution as a comical satire. The fable is based on a stereotypical farm set out in the country. However, he uses its characters to symbolize the players of the Russian Revolution. Inside Manor Farm, which symbolizes Russia, the animals plot a revolution to overthrow Farmer Jones, who characterizes Czar Nicholas. Orwell uses his dry sense of humour and irony to cast an entertaining and interesting perspective of the Russian Revolution.
The revolution as we know it was achieved in the October Revolution, 1917. The revolt was lead by a man named Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. He led the Bolshevik Party with the influence of a German economist, Karl Marx, who wrote the book, Das Kapital and his communist philosophy. Lenin pounced on the timing to seize power in October, as the demonstrations and street-fighting led to the capturing of the Winter Palace. This was a symbolic gesture to the Russian people as it was the location of several massacres of peaceful public demonstrations in 1905. Following Lenin’s death, two leaders stood up to grasp responsibility for the future of Russia and communism. One was a cunning and silent Joseph Stalin and the other was a gifted speaker by the name of Leon Trotsky. By 1926, Stalin used his wit and intelligence to dishonour Trotsky and eventually exiled him in 1929. Stalin mastered the use of propaganda to use Trotsky as Russia’s scapegoat and brought hatred upon him. Stalin gained total control in 1928; he lied to the Russian public, set up secret forces and squashed any opposition who dared to raise a voice. He made false promises of freedom and equality while ironically becoming a tyrant himself.
