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Animal Farm. The Russian Revolution. Introduction to Communism and Animal Farm.
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Animal Farm The Russian Revolution
Introduction to Communism and Animal Farm In 1945 the fear of communism was spreading across the globe. An author by the name of George Orwell chose to warn the world of the subtle takeover of communism. In his novel, Animal Farm, he painted a vivid parody of the Russian Revolution, and therefore of communism’s rise to power.
The Russian Revolution • Czar Nicholas II was an ineffective leader of Russia in the time before World War I. During the war these characteristics of bad leadership were brought out, and the people revolted in order to gain equality among themselves. This was the beginning of the Russian Revolution.
The Russian Revolution • After the Czar was eliminated, Russia set up a provisional government for a short time, which was soon overthrown by the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks used their influence to create the Soviet Union, a country formed around the idea of Communism, or a society without classes in which all property is owned by everyone.
The Russian Revolution • However, the one party state soon became corrupted. The leaders of the state lived in luxury while the rest of the party worked hard and lived in poor conditions. The communist leaders assured the public that they needed a one party state so as to ensure that there would be no more ‘capitalist exploitation’ such as in the time of the Czar.
The Russian Revolution • In the years following 1924 one communist leader began to gain considerable amounts of power. Stalin used force to consolidate his power and become the undisputed leader of the union, beating out the more intelligent and clever Trotsky. Under Stalin things became more difficult than they had been even under the Czar.
Karl Marx • Karl Marx was a German philosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist, and revolutionary, whose ideas are credited as the foundation of communism. His ideas were published as the Communist Manifesto, which predicted that the working class would eventually rise up and take the means of production for themselves, in which all people would own land and property equally.
Leon Trotsky • Lev Davidovich Bronstein, later known as Leon Trotsky was the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs within the Soviet Union, and later the leader of the Red Army. On the surface, Trotsky remained the most prominent and popular Bolshevik leader, although his "mistakes" were often alluded to by troika partisans. Behind the scenes, he was completely cut off from the decision making process. By 1927 he was cast out of the Soviet Union by Stalin, even though he was the more intelligent and well liked leader.
Joseph Stalin • Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili) in 1878, was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953. During this time he used his influence and force to assume full control of the Soviet Union. After Lenin’s death it was originally planned that there would be three leaders of the Soviet Union that would rule with equal power called the troika, which was supposed to be composed of Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, and Joseph Stalin.
Animal Farm • Mr. Jones ruled his animals carelessly and ineffectively, and they soon grew tired of it. A pig by the name of Old Major told the animals that they needed to rebel against the humans, and establish a farm in which they would all be equal. Old Major died soon after this speech, and never saw such a revolution.
Animal Farm • Using the maxims of Animalism (equality among all animals), the animals worked the farm themselves and reaped the benefits. However, within time a definite line of power was drawn between the pigs and the rest of the animals.
Animal Farm • Power was mostly concentrated between Snowball and Napoleon, Snowball being more likeable and clever than Napoleon. However with superior force, (the use of dogs), Napoleon cast out Snowball and began to institute new laws and ideals that gave more and more luxuries to him and made conditions hard for the other animals. He assured them it was for their safety so that Jones would not come back.
