Animal Farm vs. the Russian Revolution
...nd in hand, everyone equal in this wonderful land of “freedom”. And the speech is also similar to Karl Marx’s theories of Communism. Overthrowing the cruel taskmasters and making all beings equal. But, of course, it is a wonderful theory. Animalism, Old Major’s (the pig) theory, and Communism, Marx’s theory, preach about the wonders of equality, all men equal in every aspect. But how will this hold against human greed? The story begins in a promising way. The animals, heartened at Old Major’s speech (though, like Marx, he dies before the rebellion), rebel against the evil humans, and win control of the farm. They plant and harvest, thresh and bind, and pull in the entire crop, with plenty of food for all. This is much better than in the days when the humans were in control. Everything is fine for a while, though in some ways the pigs have it better than the others do. Then, however, snowball, the pig in charge, is chased out of the farm by the other pig, Napoleon’s, guard dogs. This is quite similar to the Russian Revolution- Leon Trotsky, dedicated follower of Marx, is chased out of the communist party by the KGB, Joseph Stalin’s secret and loyal police force. Napoleon and Stalin take charge, and soon the farm- and communist Russia- is even worse than it was before the revolutions. The greed of the ones in command brought everything crashing down around their ears. That is the moral of the fable, the lower level of this allegorical novel. As British historian Lord Action states, “All power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely.” George Orwell used satire to attack th...