Extended Essay

English B
Subject: English B Category 3

A critique to the Soviet Union in the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell
How does George Orwell portray the social organization and historical characters of the Soviet Union during
the regimen of Stalin through his novel Animal Farm?

Word Count: 3851

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Table of Content

Introduction………………………………………………………………. 3

Similarities of the Soviet Union society throughout the book……………….3

Characters of the book and their counterpart in USSR history……………5

The change of the Seven Commandments………………………………...7

Metaphors and allegories all over the book……………..…………………8

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………8

Bibliography……………………………………………………………….9

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Introduction
Eric Arthur Blair, more known by his pseudonym George Orwell, was an essayist, author, and
novelist of the 20th century. He was born on June 25, 1903, in Bengal, India. His family was middle
class since his dad used to work as a colonial civil servant. Eric was raised in England, and from a
young age, he showed his talent in writing. He attended Eton, a prestigious university, but was later
forced to drop out of his studies and work because of his family's economic situation. He became a
colonial officer assigned to Burma, where he saw the exploitation of the European towards their
colonies firsthand. Later in his books, he would talk about colonialism, democracy, and classism,
but to keep the embarrassment towards his family, he took the pseudonym, George Orwell.

Later in 1936, he participated in the Spanish Civil War, in which he took the republican side; there
he encountered many people with a leftist ideology, communists, anarchists, and socialists. Amidst
these years he witnessed the rise of authoritarian regimes, like Fascism in Italy, the Nazis in
Germany, and the government of Stalin in the Soviet Union.

George Orwell wrote Animal farm between November 1943 and February 1944, but while his work
was written Great Britain and the Soviet Union established an alliance over World War II to defeat
Germany, the editors feared that publishing the work would affect the relationship, so it took almost
an entire year to be read by the audience. At first, it wasn’t well seen, but later the critique would
consider this novel as one of the best English works of literature. Even the CIA welcomed this book
as anti-communist propaganda. Eric Blair would later die of tuberculosis at the age of 46.

Eric Blair wrote Animal Farm as a direct critique of the organization of the Soviet Union which was
born after the Bolsheviks' rise against czar Nicholas II, which ended the Russian Empire in 1917
and became a Communist State led by Lenin. After Lenin’s death, Josef Stalin emerged and
became one of the cruelest dictators, ruling with fear and extreme police brutality. The Soviet Union,
known at that time as an agricultural country, became an industrial and military superpower
throughout his regimen. Stalin’s authority would continue until he died in 1953. The Soviet Union
would later crash in 1991 splitting up into various states and giving birth to Russia.

Animal Farm is a satirical political novel about the Soviet Union and how its leaders forgot the real
meaning of communism. So then, how does George Orwell portray the social organization and
historical characters of the Soviet Union amid the regimen of Stalin in his novel? He portrays them
by using the element of allegory. George Orwell places the story on a farm in England where the
animals decide to rebel against the cruel authority of Mr. Jones and create their own government.
As the book progresses, we can see the radical changes within the farm, such as the social classes,
laws, ideals, and their leader.

Similarities of the Soviet Union society between the book

During the years from 1900 to 1910, the people who managed the Russian Empire were capitalists
and the high class. The middle and low classes weren't able to feed themselves and were living in
extreme poverty. Russia was in many wars, which they lost, but when the czar announced that
Russia was going to enter the Great War of 1917, the Russian people were disturbed by this. The
Russian Empire wasn't as advanced as other European countries at the time and didn't stand a
chance to compete against Germany. This drove the proletarian and working class into a desperate

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and angry state, so they decided to join left-wing parties, one of them being the Bolsheviks, guided
by Vladimir Lenin, who was led by socialist Marx ideals. With the help of Trotsky, and Stalin, the
Red Army took the most important cities on the night of October 24 in 1917. This event was known
as the Russian Revolution, which ended the Russian Empire and gave birth to the Soviet Union.

The story is placed on a farm named Manor Farm, which is controlled by a drunk farmer called Mr.
Jones. These can be seen as similar to conditions that Russia faced throughout the reign of the last
czar of Russia, who had a poor form of government and left the masses in extreme poverty, in the
meantime, he and his family lived in prosperity. On the farm, the animals received bad treatment
and poor living conditions from Mr. Jones, while, he was living in prosperity. Later we are introduced
to Old Major, which is a pig that is considered “pure”, so the animals follow him. One day, he tells
his peers about a dream he had where the animals were finally free from the men and rebel against
them. The Old Major speech is very similar to the discourse about socialism, especially of the
“Communist Manifesto”, which counterpart of capitalism, its main idea is about that there are no
social classes and that the State would give the resources to the public. It was an idea that was
born by the Industrial Revolution by Marx, where the working class were exploited by the
bourgeoisie. When Mr. Jones was expelled from the farm, there is a resemblance to how the
Bolsheviks entered the winter palace, where the czar and his family were.
Mr. Jones is with the other four people in the house when the animals broke in. When the
Bolsheviks broke in, the czar was with his wife and his three children; but instead of being expelled
from the country, they were killed on the night of 16 July 1918.

After implementing a communist system in their government, other countries found out. In the story
it can be seen the reaction of other farms, they were afraid that their animals were going to rebel
against them, so they started inventing stories about them. The two main farmers are Mr. Pilkington
and Mr. Frederickson, the first farmer is described as an easygoing gentleman given the horrible
conditions of his farm; on the other hand, Mr. Frederickson is known for his several lawsuits, but his
farm is better cared and smaller. Both of them are enemies, but when it comes to Animal Farm,
which they refuse to call it that way, they became terrified of them. Mr. Pilkington can be seen as
Winston Churchill, meanwhile Mr. Frederickson, is Adolf Hitler, the way the author describes the
states of their farms it can be easily interpreted as their respective countries.

In 1928, Stalin introduced the five-year plan, which its main goal was to industrialize the Soviet
Union. At first, he was against it, but later he agreed to it. The Soviet Union's economy was based
on the agriculture, and Stalin wanted to change it into a manufacturing based economy. In the
novel, Snowball, tries to build a windmill that’ll help the farm to help the farm. At first Napoleon is
against it, but after he expels Snowball, he takes over the project. At the same time the construction
of the windmill , all the animals suffer from hunger. This can be seen in the famine that devastated
the USSR in 1930, which the territories most affected were Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

Napoleon maintains a good relationship with Mr. Frederickson, even tough the animals dislike him.
One day they found out that Napoleon and Mr. Frederickson have made a deal for Napoleon to sell
a pile of timber at an unreasonable low amount of money, but at the same time having an almost
friendship with Mr. Pilkington. Napoleon claims that it is only for that Mr. Frederick raises his price.
Later Napoleon finds out that Mr. Frederick, never needed the pile of timber, and the very next
morning Mr Frederick attacked the farm. In real life, Hitler and Stalin had a pact named Molotov-
Ribbentrop Pact. This was a non conflict nor aggression towards each other territory, and also

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divided the Eastern European countries to Germany and the Soviet Union. Stalin and Hitler were
enemies, since Hitler campaign at first was against communism and socialism; and Stalin almost
forge a pact between Britain and France in an anti-German campaign (Carley, M. J.,1993).
Whoever, Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, that German troops invaded Soviet territory,
and pushed the USSR to World War II.

Amidst the attack, which was later named “the Battle of the Windmill”, of Mr. Frederick, the windmill
was destroyed, after it took almost two years. In World War II, the USSR was devastated. At least
27 million people died, including military and civilians. Squealer announces this as a victory, since
they have driven the enemy far away. Many animals, including Boxer, don't share the same
sentiment.

In the last chapter, Napoleon and other pigs are seen by the other animals gambling and drinking
with humans. Mr Pilkington is there, and gives a toast towards Animal Farm, and Napoleon also
toasts, saying that it was never his intention that other farms rebel against their owners. This can be
seen as the Tehran meeting, where the respective leaders of the USA, Great Britain and the Soviet
Union coordinated their military strategy against Germany, and put an end to Wold War II.

Characters of the book and their counterpart in USSR history

Many characters of the book are based on important historical figures amid the Soviet Union history.
For example, Mr. Jones is the counterpart of czar Nicholas II; he was known as the last czar of
Russia, he had a poor form of government and left the country on a miserable state for the multiple
wars he invested in and lost, leaving the modest part of Russia on a horrible state. The character,
Mr. Jones, takes everything from the animals with no limits and then makes their lives miserable. He
can also be seen as the economical and social system, capitalism, which can bring inequality and
can be exploitative towards the workers. He is one of the few human characters that appear in the
book. The other humans are farmers or characters that are nameless and don't affect the narrative.
All the animals represent a different historical character or institution whose actions are influenced
by their counterpart.

Later in the story, after they overthrew Mr. Jones, we are introduced to the elite of animals on the
farm, the pigs, which are considered intellectuals. The main pigs are Snowball, Napoleon and
Squealer. From the very beginning, we are hinted at who their counterparts are by their dialogues
and actions.

Snowball looks for innovation on the farm so he proposes to build a windmill. His speeches are
described as “eloquent” and “brilliant”, and his views on the defense of the farm from the humans
are to spread a message about how to rebel against their respective owners. At the beginning of the
book, he is considered a hero but, in the middle, he is banished from the farm by Napoleon’s dogs
that chased him. He was inspired by Leon Trotsky, a general that helped Lenin mid the Russian
Revolution, and later went against Stalin's views. This made Josef Stalin expel Trotsky from the
Soviet Union, later in 1940 he was assassinated by the KGB in Mexico.

Napoleon, whose speeches were known for their success among the animals, and his perspective
of the threat that humans represented. He would later become the cruel governor of the Animal
Farm. The pig Napoleon is clearly the counterpart of the infamous leader Josef Stalin, known for his
totalitarian government, and his impact on World War II.

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Squealer is the personification of what the newspapers said at the time, more specifically
propaganda. He convinces the farm that Napoleon's actions are just him looking out for his people.
Soviet propaganda normally used many methods, like portraying Stalin as a generous man, making
a cult of his personality. To this day, many of the media are in charge of making their politicians look
as good people, and making a cult of his personality. Another common form of propaganda as
Stalin’s regimen, was the censorship and control over the publishing of books. This led that many
freethinking writers and scholars fled from the USSR, whereas the ones who stayed were
imprisoned and even executed. By the Great Purge, many books of Lenin were removed from the
libraries.

The two horses named Boxer and Clover can be analyzed as the working class that wishes a better
treatment by the government, accepting the work that is given towards them after the change of
political system. Boxer is the perfect image of the proletarian, his favorite phrase is "Napoleon is
always right." and “I will work harder”. An important detail is when the book describes the level of
reading of the animals on the farm, the pigs are obviously the most advanced. Boxer only knows 4
letters of the alphabet, but he is aware of the importance of education and desires to learn the
whole alphabet after his retirement. This retirement never comes, given that he is the strongest on
the farm, he works harder than the other animals. When he is injured, he is sent to the glue factory,
which meant that he was going to be sacrificed. When Benjamin, an old donkey and friend of Boxer
reads the cart’s sideboards to announce where Boxer is going, all the animals start panicking, at the
same time Napoleon sends Squealer to calm the animals. Stalin's regime promised to always
protect the proletarian, but at the same time, he eliminated every threat. The gulags are a great
example of this, they were basically forced work camps, where more than 50 million Russian
farmers were sent because they refused to give up their lands to the State.

The other animals such as the sheep just follow their leader without critical thinking, in this case,
Napoleon. Benjamin is the old donkey who thinks that no matter who is in charge, it will be
miserable in some way, he can be interpreted as the old people of the USSR, but also as the
scholars that stayed in the territory. The hens at first are behind the rebellion ideals, but later
Napoleon demands that all the eggs be given to him. Because of this, the hens try to rebel against
their government, but they were unsuccessful. The hens represent the peasants that did not agree
to the five-year plan and were sent to the gulags as a punishment.

Animals such as dogs and the crow Moses represent institutions. The dogs are the military, since
they are always behind Napoleon and the pigs. They chase Snowball and execute every person
that was against Napoleon. Stalin instead of the dogs, he had the NKVD, the secret police that
slaughter anyone that was a threat against Stalin’s government. Moses, is a raven that claims the
existence of Sugarcandy Mountain, a place where animals go when they die. He is the counterpart
of religion, mainly the Russian Orthodox Church. After Mr. Jones leaves, Moses departed from the
farm and returns after the Battle of the Windmill with the support of the pigs, even though they don’t
believe Moses. After the Bolsheviks overthrew the government, the church and the state were
separated and later Stalin would persecute any religious practice, since he was behind Karl Marx
theory. According to Marx, religion was basically a form to maintain calm to the working class, so
that the higher classes would take advantage of them. But later Stalin saw how effective was
religion for his totalitarian government, just like Napoleon.

The change of the Seven Commandments

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An important detail of the book is the changes in the Seven Commandments. After throwing out Mr.
Jones, the animals write seven commandments according to the last words of Old Major. These
Commandments were made to keep the animals humble and equal. According to Orwell (1945)
these Commandments were:
1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal.

But after this, Napoleon, along with other pigs, start to experience the life of humans and enjoy it.
The majority of changes on the Commandments is to allow privileges to the pigs. Ultimately, it
seems that the pigs have broken every single one of these original rules, but didn’t pay the
consequences. Analyzing every commandment, we can see how the pigs pass over them and
change them towards their favor, especially Napoleon.
The first one is “Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.”, that at the beginning Napoleon
refused to interact with humans, but later he saw the benefits that came with opening his market.
Later, Napoleon becomes friend of the very same humans that he first wished death upon them. But
also, the animals are surprised when they see the pigs walking on two legs.

The following ones changed, so that Napoleon, along with the other pigs, can disobey them. Some
are: “No animal shall sleep in a bed” and “No animal shall drink alcohol”. They were modified to “No
animal shall sleep in a bed - With Sheets.” “No animal shall drink alcohol - To Excess.”, because at
that point they started to live the commodities that Mr. Jones experience. Many animals noticed this
changes, like Clover, but Squealer is always there to say that it has always been that way. Muriel, a
goat that knew how to read, became aware of these changes, but she always blamed herself.

The last two commandments are the most impactful, because they will change the way the animals
see the Napoleon’s government. “No animal shall kill any other animal” and “All animals are equal”.
Napoleon executes any animal that doesn’t agree with his ideals, and Squealer always covering it
up as a merciful act from Comrade Napoleon, making a modification to the commandment as “No
animal shall kill any other animal without cause”; through hard work and even battles, the pigs won’t
participate, instead they order the other animals to do it. In the end, the animals of Animal Farm,
work harder and receive less food than any animal in the country, and the pigs seem to be proud of
it. Changing it to “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”.

At the end of the book, we can see how the character that was against an oppressive system,
becomes the one behind a new oppressive system. Stalin fought with the Bolsheviks to overthrow
the capitalist system and implement a socialist system, but still, he twisted Lenin’s ideals and made
the working class suffer a lot more than before. Normally, people with this type of government,
which is totalitarian, are made to believe that they are free from a tyrannical government, but
actually they are in a worse situation than before. Because the working class will always be the one
who suffers the most, and the elite will enjoy the products from their hard work.

Metaphors and allegories all over the book

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A few years later, after the book was published, the CIA made it two movie adaptations. Its main
message was to show why socialism was bad. Even tough the main message of the George Orwell
was against totalitarianism, the ending of both movies show a successful revolt against the pigs and
winning, but the book show us the reality. That the animals were in a worse situation after rebelling
against its former government.

Animal Farm is a metaphor for the Soviet Union, but also of a totalitarian government. The use of
animals in the novel can tell us, some of them are based on their biological characteristics, but also
its symbolism that those animals represent in literature.

Some animals that are used for their biological characteristics are the pigs and the horses. The elite
high class are portrayed by pigs because they are intelligent. Horses are known for their loyalty and
strength, so that’s why Boxer never leaves Animal Farm and is the hardest worker, making its
counterpart the working class.

Other animals use the symbolism based in literature, such as Moses, who is a raven. In literature,
ravens represent death or a connection with divinity, and he reappears after the Battle of the
Windmill where many animals died in action; but also trickery and manipulation.

Another use of metaphors inside the book is the stuff that is around them. The windmill and alcohol
are great examples. Alcohol, or whiskey, represents corruption; Napoleon, along with the other pigs
tastes alcohol for the first time in chapter 8, and later uses the money that should have been used in
resources for the farm, in whiskey. The windmill represents the industrialization of the economy in
the Soviet Union, which took almost five years to be made. The windmill is later destroyed in the
battle, meaning that World War II destroyed the economy.

Conclusion
George Orwell wrote this book based on the Soviet Union to show how totalitarian states worked.
Using the example of a normal farm in England with a neglecting farmer, he explains how power will
corrupt the ideals of its leaders. The use of farm animals will depend on the characteristics of the
historical character that portrays them. The pigs are often seen as intelligent, so they’ll portray the
important characters that will make significant changes on the farm, constructing their personality
based on important people of the Soviet Union. For example, Stalin and Trotsky are Napoleon and
Snowball. The other animals are based on institutions and the different types of communities that
live in the Soviet Union at that time. These animals' fates will be an allegory of the consequences
that these people suffered by the totalitarian government of Stalin.

As the book moves on, we can also assimilate the circumcises in the novel to the real life events
that went through Stalin's regime. The author saw how it affected the soviet population, as a
foreigner. The change of rules will change as the leaders will win more power, forgetting the
necessities of the people and only looking out for their own interests, just like Napoleon and Stalin.
George Orwell not only tell the story of the Soviet Union but also the rise of a totalitarian state,
where people suffered a lot more than before and the leaders drunk in power took advantage of the
people. In the last sentence of the novel, the animals look outside from the window seeing how the
pigs, their brothers that helped them to overthrow the human, were just acting like the man that was
prohibited to enter the farm. Meaning that no matter what type of system they have, their leaders
will eventually forget the people.

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“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but
already it was impossible to say which was which.”

Bibliography
Primary Sources
● Orwell, George. Animal Farm. Signet Classics, 1945.
Secondary Sources
● Boobbyer, P. (2012). The Stalin Era. Routledge
● Carley, M. J. (1993). End of the “Low, Dishonest Decade”: Failure of the Anglo-Franco-
Soviet Alliance in 1939. Europe-Asia Studies, 45(2), 303–341.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/152863
● Gregory, P. R., & Lazarev, V. (2013). The economics of forced labor: The Soviet Gulag (Vol.
518). Hoover Institution Press.
● Khafaga, A. F. (2021). Exploring Ideologies of Function Words in George Orwell's Animal
Farm. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 29(3).