Old Major Allegory

George Orwell, whose real name was Eric Arthur Blair, was a British author active between 1928 and 1950. He was born in India in 1903, and was taken back to England as a small child. He grew up as a poor boy in a time and setting when poverty was looked down upon and social class was important. In 1922, Orwell joined the police force in Burma but eventually became ashamed of the British oppression of Burma. Five years later, he decided to lead a life of poverty in London and Paris, living with the homeless and the lower class, and writing about his experiences before going back to England. In 1936, after marrying Eileen O’Shaugnessy, he travelled to Spain to observe and write about the Spanish Civil War. While in Spain, he became involved

Even if some events are more comparable to Nazi Germany or General Francisco’s Spain, the main allegory of this book is Animalism representing Communism and Marxism. In which the animals, representing the proletariat, throw over their oppressors (Mr. Jones) much like the bolshevik revolution of October 24th. Despite starting with good intentions, both revolutions end up with a fascist and oppressive political regime. Following this allegory we can observe that the three main leaders of Communist Russia have pig counterparts in the book. Old Major is based on Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, Snowball is based on Leon Trotsky and Napoleon on Josef Stalin. In the book, Old Major has an idealistic view of a socialist utopia and inspires the upcoming revolution, even if he dies early on. Karl Marx was the co-author of The Communist Manifesto, a book which calls to revolution as its conclusion, and Lenin was the first leader of communist Russia, and he also had “positive ideals and good intentions”. After Old Major’s death, the leadership is shared between Snowball and Napoleon, who disagree on every subject, similarly to Trotsky and Stalin. The link between Trotsky and Snowball is further explored by the parallels between the Snowball-led “Battle of the Cowshed” which won the animal revolution and Trotsky’s involvement in leading the Red Army in 1917. We can also notice how Stalin exiled Trotsky in the same manner that Napoleon exiled Snowball, with a fierce secret task force of dogs (which can be interpreted as representing the NKVD, the precursor to the KGB). Stalin and Napoleon both also tried to re-write history by controlling the media (or in Napoleon’s case, through Squealer’s propaganda), inserting themselves as victorious leaders and discrediting their rivals. Furthermore, both Napoleon and Stalin lived a luxurious lifestyle while their countries were going through