The resemblances between ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell

and the Russian revolution

Animal Farm is a novel written by the British author George Orwell in 1945, and the story takes place in a
farm in England. The owner of the farm is named Mr. Jones, a human being, who treat the animals on the
farm badly. Starvation of the animals leads to a revolution, inspired by the words of the late boar Old
Major. After the rebellion, the pigs take charge of the labour on the farm, and it works out – the animals
are now getting all the benefits of their own work. When the pigs get to eat the best apples and drink the
milk, no one questions. Because, as Squealer arguments; “The whole management depends on us (…)
Surely, comrades, there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back?”. And no one can
certainly say anything to that.

Now, if we look at the Russian revolution, we can see a lot of resemblances between that event, and the
events on animal farm. In Russia, the tsar ruled until 1917 where the Bolsheviks succeeded to dethrone
him. In Animal Farm, the animals succeed to chase Mr. Jones and his wife, their oppressors, away from the
farm. This rebellion is led by the two pigs, Snowball, and Napoleon, who might be an allegory for Trotskij
and Stalin – both trying to keep the path which Lenin (Old Major) laid out before his death. The problem is
that just like Trotskij and Stalin, Snowball and Napoleon cannot agree on any decision, which leads to
Napoleon chasing Snowball away from the farm.

Now, the pigs clearly symbolize the Bolsheviks; they do believe strongly in a democratic system of
government, so the first thing they do is plan a weekly meeting with every animal on the farm, where all big
decisions can be made together. On the barn they paint a clear statement; “All animals are equal”. But
nevertheless, they also believe in a strong management of the farm, which should be bestowed on the
cleverest; themselves. Here we get to the point with the milk and apples again because Marx did say that
all should work according to ability and be given according to need. And the pigs are indeed good at telling
the other animals that their brains need the milk and the apples more than the rest of the animals. It is
quite beginning to look like misuse of the words from Old Major. And with all these points Orwell makes a
clear and strong statement with Animal Farm. It is a sheer criticism of Soviet, especially because of the time
where it is written.

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