The Story Behind the Story:
The Story Behind the Story:
THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
In Animal Farm, George Orwell uses the animal characters and their story to comment on real people and events – in this case, Stalinist Russia. This type of literary device is called an allegorical fable. To understand and appreciate the allegorical aspects of the story, it helps to know something about the causes and events of the Russian Revolution, one of the most important events in modern history.
Karl Marx was born back in 1818. He was a journalist and had to leave his country because of his unpopular political views. Eventually, he settled in London, England. While he was there he published a pamphlet called “The Communist Manifesto” which outlined his ideas about government and economics. He believed that with communism, all people are equal. “The government owns everything and the people own the government.” Marx died before the Russian Revolution took place.
In the early 1900s, Russia’s poor and working classes were fed up with Czar Nicholas II. Under his rule, people struggled for survival under conditions of widespread poverty, famine, and a lack of modern transportation. Centuries of oppression by the owning classes fueled people’s anger. They had no representation in government and the Czar remained out of touch with their problems. During this time, Karl Marx’s ideas became popular in Russia. By combining these ideas with economic hardship and the brutal rulings of the Czar, a widespread revolt took place. The people wanted a better life – what Karl Marx believed was possible for all people. In 1917, Czar Nicholas II was overthrown and later executed, along with his wife and kids. A provisional government took over for awhile, but then Vladimir Lenin took over, thanks to help from the Bolsheviks, aka the Reds.
Lenin tried to rebuild Russia’s economy, but agriculture was still a problem. The government wanted farmers to work together, sharing equipment and profits. But most farmers wanted to keep their own land and use their own methods.
Lenin died in 1924 and a power struggle began for control of the Communist Party. The first contender was Leon Trotsky, who followed the ideas of Karl Marx. He wanted to improve life in all of Russia and was a great speaker, which made people believe him quite easily. The second contender was Joseph Stalin who followed a ‘modified’ version of Marx’s ideas. He was not a very good speaker and was not educated. So in order to help persuade people he had to use the help of the KGB which was the secret police. Their job was to eliminate all opponents and they did just that as they chased Trotsky out of the country. He was later killed in Mexico and Stalin managed to become dictator of the Soviet Union. While in power, Stalin lived in a self-contained city known as the Kremlin.
The government of the Soviet Union was totalitarian, which meant that it attempted to control all individuals. Stalin instituted a series of Five Year Plans to help with economic growth. He made the collective farms give most of their products to the government to raise money for industrialization. Millions of peasants opposed thus idea and were severely punished. Eight million people were arrested, deported, sent to labor camps or killed.
Other European countries were under the rule of dictators, like Germany, Italy and Spain. The Allied Invasion took place so that Russia wouldn’t overtake Germany. The flag of the Soviet Union’s colors were red and yellow. It had a picture of a hammer and sickle in the corner. “L’Internationale” was the national anthem at the time and propaganda was spread throughout the region by using the newspaper, Pravda. The Russian Orthodox Church was also used by Stalin to preach his ideas of ‘modified communism’ and to convince religious followers that obeying Stalin was what God wanted. By giving into Stalin’s demands, they would be rewarded in heaven.
| | | | | |
|Squealer (Pig) |Old Major (Pig) |Snowball (Pig) |Napoleon (Pig) |Mr. Jones (Farmer) |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
|The Dogs |Moses (Raven) |Boxer (Horse) |Mollie (Horse) |Benjamin (Donkey) |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
|The Hens |Hen’s Revolt |Animal Revolt |The Windmill |The Farm House |
| | | |(and its destruction) | |
| | | | | |
|Manor Farm |Animal Farm |Hoof and Horn |Battle of Cowshed |“Beasts of England” |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
|Sugar Candy Mountain |Mr. Frederick |Mr. Pilkington |Mr. Whymper |Animalism |
~ MARX ~ ~ STALIN ~ ~ TROTSKY ~
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