REFLECTION OF RUSSIAN REVOLUTION !

Reflection of Russian Revolution through Animal Farm

George Orwell wrote this novel in the 20th century when the Russian revolution occurred.

Orwell was an English soldier who had involved in the Spanish civil war. At that time, there

was a system called Stalinism where a person named Stalin taking over all the power in

Russia; Orwell do not agree to this controlling system. Orwell, then, tried to convince other

people to be aware of the system. Therefore, he wrote a book called Animal Farm basing on

the event that happened at that period informing ideas against the system. Animal Farm is a

story about animals trying to set themselves free from humans as they are not well treated. The

animals then trying to push Mr.Jones, the owner of the farm, out of his power. The rebellion

was led by a group of pigs with the rest of animals following their thoughts. In Animal Farm,

George Orwell reflects the Russian revolution through the characters, changes in laws, power

structures.

Orwell uses the characters in Animal Farm as representatives of the people in the

Russian revolution. In the story, pigs were the smartest among all of the animals, so they

become the leader who directs the rebellion beginning since the Old Major was still alive.

After the Old Major had died, the new leader was still a pig. Napoleon, then, substituting the

position of Old Major. Napoleon used to act fairly; however, he then turned to be a dictator

since he raises the puppies for purpose. At this point, the Old Major is representing Lenin, the

previous president of Soviet Union before Stalin (Guidorizzi, 2007), and the puppies are

considered the rest of the Soviet government. Furthermore, the main character is Napoleon. He

is considered as a representative of Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union. Napoleon took

advantages of other animals. For example, he raises the puppies for a purpose that he would

use them to help him take over the farm. Also, as a leader, he directs other animals to do works

while he does not. Stated in the article “George Orwell’s Animal Farm Condemns
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Communism”, Stephanie Guidorizzi (2007) says “Napoleon desire all of the power for

himself and chased Snowball off the farm, an obvious reference to Stalin forcing Trotsky into

exile. Napoleon acquired complete control over Animal Farm and ultimately became

untouchable.” This shows the comparison of the Russian revolution to the story Animal Farm

as Orwell provides the action of Napoleon in a similar way to what Stalin had done during the

time of revolution. Therefore, the Russian revolution is reflected in the representation of Stalin

by Napoleon.

Besides reflecting the Russian revolution through the characters, Orwell demonstrates the

position of the characters such as leaders and workers to represent the structure of power. John

Rodden (2003) has stated in “Appreciating Animal Farm in the New Millennium” that “

Animal Farm also has stinging moral warning against the abuse of power.” In Russian

revolution, the political system used was a dictatorship. The leader of the government was

Stalin. He as the absolute power over others; therefore, he created policies called Stalinist

policies. Comparing Stalin to Animal Farm, Napoleon, as a leader of Animal Farm, is the one

who has the absolute power as everyone trusts him and no one can oppose him in any way.

Napoleon used to oppose against Snowball at the beginning as they have different ideas.

Snowball thought that building windmill would be beneficial, but Napoleon did not agree. He

thought that the animals should focus on growing weeds and hay instead as it seems to be

more important in living. As a result, he kicked Snowball out, and become the only leader on

the farm. This interprets the characteristics of dictatorship as the only person who is able to

have an idea is the leader, and the rest have to follow no matter they agree or disagree with the

leader’s idea. This could imply that the power is centralized only to the leader.

Last, Orwell illustrates changes of the political system in Russian revolution in Animal

Farm. By referring to animalism, Orwell interprets the idea of equality that the animals were
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trying to form by getting rid of human power. The animals set up the rules of seven

commandments including whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy, what ever goes upon four

legs, or has wings, is a friend, no animal shall wear clothes, no animal shall sleep in a bed, no

animal shall drink alcohol, no animal shall kill any other animal, all animals are equal.(p.

24-25). Then, they reduce the rules into “four legs good, two legs bad”. The commandments

were created to make the animals equal; however, after Napoleon becomes the leader, he

breaks the rule by allowing the pigs to come to work late and having the pigs drinking milk

and eating better food. He also claims that the pigs are the brain of the farm, so they need

more nutrient to makes their brains well function. According to the allowance and claim, the

pigs are taking benefits over other animals. Stated in the article Animal Farm at 70, “‘All

animals are equal, but some are more equal than others’ was especially effective in capturing

the hypocrisy of the Bolshevik Revolution turned into a bureau tic nightmare” said by Rossi

and Rodden (2016) infers the similarities of Animal Farm and the Russian revolution. Even

though both Napoleon and Stalin began the revolution for equalities, they still take advantages

over others and run the revolution for themselves.

In conclusion, Orwell wrote the story Animal Farm to replicate the Russian revolution

through characters, the structure of power, and political systems. The story Animal Farm can

be analyzed in details and compared to the Russian revolution to see the similarities. As a

leader, both Napoleon and Stalin has become in the power, which allows them to do benefits

for their own purpose. This causes the changes in the ideas of revolution as they no longer run

the revolution for equality, but for themselves.

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References

Guidorizzi, S. (2007). George Orwell's Animal Farm Condemns Communism. Social Science

Docket, 7(1), 72.

Rodden, J., & Rossi, J. (2016). Animal Farm at 70. Modern Age, 58(4), 19-27.

Rodden, J. (2003). Appreciating Animal Farm in the New Millennium. Modern Age, 45(1), 67.