Historical Links Through Literature
The Russian Revolution vs. Animal Farm
History and It's Counterparts
Communism vs. Animalism
- Everyone is equal
- In Communism the government owns everything and the people own the government; in Animalism all animals own the farm
- There are no rich or poor in either
Czar Nicholas II vs. Mr. Jones
- Nicholas II was the ruler that the workers rebelled against; Jones was the farm's master who got run off by the animals
- The people saw Nicholas II as an extremely bad leader and the animals thought Jones was irresponsible
- Both were seen as cruel and rarely did something nice for others
Karl Marx vs. Old Major
- Marx created Communism while Major taught Animalism
- Marx's theories were distorted by Stalin while Napoleon changed Major's ideas and abused the power
- Marx was recognized through his knowledge; Major was the respected and wise old boar
Trotsky vs. Snowball
- Trotsky was run out by Lenin's KGB and Snowball was chased off of the farm by Napoleon's dogs
- Trotsky wanted life to be better for everyone in Russia and Snowball wanted all of the animal's lives to be better
- Trotsky was a leader of the October Revolution and Snowball was a leader of the animal's rebellion
Stalin vs. Napoleon
- Neither were as educated or as good of a speaker as the other leader
- Used terror to rule and killed their opponents
- Only cared about power and used manipulation to get their way
Lenin's Prop. Dept. vs. Squealer
- Lenin's propaganda talked him up and made him seem better while Squealer did the same for Napoleon
- The propaganda would do anything to get people to follow Lenin while Squealer went around convincing the animals to support and follow Napoleon
- Since education was controlled, the propaganda had luck in manipulating the people while none of the animals ever really noticed that the rules kept changing
KGB vs. The Dogs
- The KGB and the dogs placed fear in people, forcing them to support their leader
- Killed anything/one that went against the leader
- The KGB was a huge part of Stalin's power; the dogs were a part of Napoleon's way to rule
Religion vs. Moses
- Stalin allowed religion to stay because it made the people work; Napoleon allowed Moses to talk to the animals because they worked harder to get to "SugarCandy Mountain"
- Religion encouraged the people/animals to keep working and not complain
- Both gave the people/animals something to work for (Heaven)
Selfish Peasants vs. Mollie
- Neither cared about the revolution
- Both went to places where they could get more of what the wanted
- Only thought about themselves
Dedicated Betrayed Peasants vs. Boxer/Clover
- Stalin ignored and/or killed even the people that supported him; Napoleon sold Boxer after he put in all of his effort and more
- The people believed Stalin because he was a "Communist", like Boxer believed in Animal Farm
- Even after it was obvious that Stalin was power-hungry, the people still supported him; Boxer continued to work really really hard for Napoleon and the cause
Skeptical People vs. Benjamin
- Neither were sure that the revolution would help anything
- The skeptics knew that Communism wouldn't work with a leader; Benjamin knew nothing would really change
- Skeptics realized that the leaders just wanted power and Benjamin noticed how the rules kept changing
Overall
- The Russian Revolution and the animal rebellion were supposed to improve everything
- Everything ended up being way worse in the end
- Stalin ended up making Nicholas II seem like a better person; the pigs were eventually worse than Jones was