Similarities Between Animal Farm And Joseph Stalin

George Orwell’s Animal Farm is his attempt to properly tell what happened in Russia under Joseph Stalin in a more simplified way than censored history would. Each step of Napoleon the pig’s rise to power can be tied to a step Stalin took, and the way in which both changed the rules and the people’s perception mirror each other as well. The revolution, driven by the people’s distaste for a clearly corrupt government, was built on a set of rules which show the good in communism. However, they were manipulated by the new leader who came to power by violently oppressing opposition and removing the resources necessary to fuel a revolt by everyday people. Stalin’s rule is an example of how revolution requires stable replacement government and

In increasingly drastic and damaging steps, the law became corrupt. Stalin didn’t spend his first day in office ordering the execution of all other staff. Rather, he built up to it, and he began by accusing Trotsky of being unfaithful to “Leninism”. This could be seen as usual political debate, but these accusations evolved into the discharge and then the murder of political opponents. Some rules were valued more than others, and manipulated by totalitarian leaders for personal gain rather than staying loyal to the people and the revolution. In Animal Farm, this shift is much more obvious since there is a physical list of rules which are modified. The first rule to be altered is “No animal shall sleep in a bed” with the addition of “with sheets”. This is seemingly harmless, considering the murder that happens later on; a bed has nothing to do with the betrayal of your people. However, alongside the propaganda from Squealer, this made changing the rules feel normal. The animals were convinced that the rule was always like that, but somewhere in them, they became accustomed to the sense that a new rule is different from before. Later, a rule shifted to allow alcohol, then murder, and finally, the most important rule changed. The most important and basic quality of the fair society they intended to create was that everyone was equal. However, this was finally irrelevant when the rule became “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Stalin and Napoleon changed the rules so they were now subjective, and under a totalitarian leader who controls the media, subjective laws have no consequence. These laws were not modified to help the people more or accommodate for an evolving society. The leader revised them because that allowed them to have better food, appearance, wealth, etc. with complete disregard for the people. This is how they became corrupt,