Communism In George Orwell's Animal Farm

Background Research for Animal Farm

1. Communism: Communism is a form of government in which everyone is equal. People often tend to use the term "Marxism" interchangeably with communism, but Marxism is simply the theory of communism while communism itself is a political system where the fundamentals of Marxism are actually applied. The main proponent of communism Karl Marx, who did not invent the idea, but simply "gave it new meaning". His philosophy inspired many revolutionaries such as Lenin, Stalin, and Mao Zedong to establish their own communist governments. The Russian Revolution brought an end to the Russian empire, which led to the start of communism in Russia ("Communism").

2. Totalitarianism: Totalitarianism is a form of government

“Bloody Sunday”: On January 22, 1905, over hundreds of members of the working class were either killed or wounded. It originally started as a protest in St. Petersburg, with Father Gapon leading the movement, against the poor living and working conditions. People demanded the czar's help with this situation, but he was not present at the time. In his absence, his guards decided to fire upon the crowd when they became restless. This massacre further decreased the czar's popularity amongst his people, resulting in widespread rebellions ("Bloody").

7. Grigori Rasputin: He was a Russian spiritual healer with close ties to the Romanov family. Rasputin healed the heir to the throne, Alexs, which bolstered his appeal with the czarist government. Amongst the common people, he was notorious for corrupting women and his drinking habits. Interestingly enough, he had to be shot, poisoned, beaten, burned, and finally drowned before he would die. ("Grigory").

8. Karl Marx and the Communist Manifesto: Marx was a German philosopher who contrived a new ideology- Marxism. It branched out into a number of different ideologies, one of them being communism. In his book, Das Kapital, which later came to be known as the Communist Manifesto, Marx provides a critical analysis of the capitalist system. He inspired many future revolutionaries who wanted to change the economic system in their own countries, one of them being Lenin

Russian Alliance (Potsdam and Yalta Conferences): In order to win World War II, the Allies had to cooperate with the USSR, which lead to the final victory over the Nazis. When it was certain that the Allies would win, the "Big Three" (Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill) met to discuss the future of post-war Europe. The first meeting was in Yalta, and it lasted from February 4 to February 11, 1945. In summation, a guide to how political issues would be dealt with was made there ("Yalta"). The Potsdam Conference (1945) resulted in the establishment of the Council of Foreign Ministers, which was tasked with making a peace treaty dealing with Germany and the rest of the Axis power ("Potsdam").

25. Russian Orthodox Church (pre-, during, post-revolution): Prior to the Russian Revolution, Orthodox Christianity was the country's official religion. The Russian Orthodox church had a number of privileges and had huge assets in churches and land. One of the first decrees of the October Revolution was the separation of church and state. That caused the church to lose its privileges. During the civil war, the church sided with the White Army.

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That further deepened the animosity between communists and the Russian Orthodox church. Communists started executing priests and taking away their property. At some point in post-revolutionary Russia, almost all clergy were either shot or forced into labor camps