… One day I saw a little boy, perhaps ten years old, driving a huge cart-horse along a narrow path, whipping it whenever it tried to turn. It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in much the same way as the rich exploit the proletariat. George Orwell (1947)

proletariat: the working class, the peasant class

1903-1950 British essayist, novelist and critic Disillusioned about Socialism by Spanish Civil War Wrote other dystopian classic 1984 about Big Brother

Orwell wrote Animal Farm in 1943-1944 Orwell wrote Animal Farm in 1943-1944. He wrote it to criticize Joseph Stalin and Soviet Russia.

Literary Form George Orwell decided to write Animal Farm in the form of a fairy story, or fairy tale. He used the literary form of the animal fable.

Literary Form Animal fables are short stories that teach a moral lesson. They include animals that often talk and act like humans. This literary form has been around for thousands of years.

Allegory On the surface, Animal Farm tells the story of farm animals who are tired of obeying the orders of a cruel master. This is the story’s literal meaning. This novel also tells the story of Soviet Russia during and after the Russian Revolution. This is the story’s figurative meaning.

An allegory is a story that includes characters, setting, and elements that have both literal and figurative meanings.

Satire Animal Farm is also written as a satire. It criticizes the Soviet Union to seem both laughable and despicable.

A satire is a literary work that uses humor to criticize and make fun of people and/or events. Its purpose is social commentary, with the intention of effecting change.

Czar Nicholas II Czar Nicholas II was Russia’s last czar. He was part of the Romanov dynasty that ruled Russia for over 300 years, the last monarch of the West. In March 1917, there were food riots and army mutinies in Petrograd (a Russian city). Czar Nicholas abdicated the throne due to incompetence. He and his family were killed by revolutionaries. There is a legend that one of his daughters, Anastasia, survived.

The “Fathers” of Communism Karl Marx (d. 1883) Wrote the Communist Manifesto. Communism: a political theory advocating class war, leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned Google definition) Vladimir Lenin (d. 1924) The leader of the Bolshevik Revolution (Russian Revolution, 1917). First head of the Soviet State.

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Overthrow of Jones = Bolshevik Revolution led by Lenin . Overthrow of Jones = Bolshevik Revolution led by Lenin

Leon Trotsky A leader of the Russian Revolution. Brilliant intellectual and speaker He was eventually defeated by Stalin in the struggle for power. Trotsky was chased away by Stalin’s KGB (secret police) and fled to Mexico City, where a Soviet agent killed him in 1940.

Joseph Stalin Joseph Stalin was born into the peasant class. Unlike Trotsky, Stalin was not well-educated and could not discuss Marxist theory on a sophisticated level. Stalin was named General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1922. Stalin used his position as secretary to gain supporters for his future rise to power.

Under Joseph Stalin, the country fell under totalitarianism

a form of government with strong central rule that controls individual freedoms.

Squealer

Propaganda: the spreading of information (usually biased and misleading) to further a political cause

Dogs

Secret Police

Boxer and other animals (besides Pigs)

Proletariat: working class

Sheep

Ignorant Masses

Although exact figures cannot be determined, some historians have estimated that Joseph Stalin may have killed as many as 20 million people. Adolf Hitler is believed to have killed 11 million people in the Holocaust.