The Russian Revolution and Animal Farm

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The comparison of characters, items, and events compared between Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution is shown greatly through Orwell's unique use of symbolism and contrast. Orwell expressed his concern that Socialism had taken a harsh fall under the control of Russia's dominating government of communism; this is what inspired him to write Animal Farm. The term Animalism is introduced to readers for the very first time in this novel and is used to describe the movement in which the animals are working toward. Because the animals are poorly fed and over worked, a demand for revolution from the animals begins when their lifestyle is rapidly transformed into a means of slavery. Mr. Jones, the owner of Manor Farm, is constantly drunk and regularly forgets to take proper care of the animals. The withholding of food is what finally forced the animals on the farm to rebel. In Russia, there were many food shortages which caused many civilians to demonstrate rebellion. When soldiers were ordered to suppress them, things got out of control. Soviet workers and soldiers formed a special group and established a government. It is clearly shown in Animal Farm that if a population is suppressed and not allowed to accumulate things for themselves then an overthrow of the government that is suppressing them will be the result. This "Animalist" movement is lead by Old Major. Old Major is an old prize pig on the farm that bluntly mentions the idea of revolution to all the animals. Old Major's role compares to Marx whose ideas were to lead to the communist revolution as well as a criticism of his convictions of democratic Socialism. Like Old Major, Marx gave speeches to the poor working class. 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 farmyard, the common people of Russia thought there would be no oppression in a new society because the working class people would own all the riches and hold all the power. In Marx's "Communist Manifesto", Marx calls attention to change. The animals, at first, resisted the dictatorship of the humans and wished to govern themselves where all
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animals would be equal. Like in Russia, the common people were tired of the rich getting richer while the poor got poorer. Animalism supported the notion that no animal was owned by another. There would be no animals better off than others and no animal would live in despair. Communism flaunted the same policy. Since the people owned the government and the government owned everything, everyone had equal possessions. In Animal Farm, the animals owned the farm thinking that they were free from all human beings. The need for leadership in this situation was so strong that the ...

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