1. Animal Farm & The Russian Revolution

2. Animal Farm Written by George Orwell Published in 1945
Immediate success-translated into many languages
An allegory written to expose the Stalin regime and destroy the “Soviet Myth” that their socialist society was good

3. The Russian Revolution
1859—Marx publishes The Communist Manifesto
1917—Czar Nicholas II abdicates
1918—Communist Party established
—Civil War, Reds (poor) vs. Whites (rich)
1920—85% of Russian population (peasants) flee
1922—Secret Police established by Stalin
1924—Lenin dies, Stalin & Trotsky takes over the Bolsheviks

4. The Russian Revolution
1925—Trotsky exiled to Mexico
1926—The Russian propaganda newspaper The Pravda (truth for young pioneers) was founded
1928—Stalin crushed revolt of farmers
1932—Massive famine, lower class still works hard for the country
1933—Soviets begin limited trading with the west
—The Great Purge—Stalin uses KGB to eliminate opposition

5. The Russian Revolution
1939—Russia sign Non-Aggression pact with Hitler
1941—Germans invade Russia
1945—Western leaders, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt meet with Stalin at the Yalta Conference
The word Soviet means “council”

6. Many of the Characters and Events Parallel People and Events in Russian History
The story of Animal Farm is an allegory of the events that took place in the early 1900s. Orwell wrote it to enlighten the western societies to what was actually happening behind the Iron Curtain.

7. Parallel People/Characters and in Russian History
Mr. Jones
Irresponsible to his animals (lets them starve)
Sometimes cruel - beats them with whip
Sometimes kind - mixes milk in animal mash
Czar Nicholas II
A poor leader at best, compared to western kings
Cruel—sometimes brutal with opponents
Sometimes kind—hired students as spies to earn income

8. Parallel People/Characters in Russian History
Old Major
Taught Animalism
Workers do the work, rich keep the $, animals revolt
Dies before revolution
Karl Marx / Lenin
Invented Communism
“Workers of the world unite", take over gov't
Dies before Russian Revolution

9. Parallel People/Characters in Russian History
Animalism
No owners, no rich, but no poor
Workers get a better life, all animals equal
Everyone owns the farm
Communism
Same as above
All people equal
Gov't owns everything, people own gov't

10. Parallel People/Characters in Russian History
Snowball
Young, smart, good speaker, idealistic
Really wants to make life better for all
One of leaders of revolution
Chased away into exile by Napoleon's dogs
Leon Trotsky
Other leader of "October Revolution"
Pure communist, followed Marx
Wanted to improve life for all in Russia
Chased away by Lenin's KGB
Eventually killed because Stalin thought he was too powerful-best leader

11. Parallel People/Characters in Russian History
Napoleon
Not a good speaker, not clever as Snowball
Cruel, brutal, selfish, devious, corrupt
His ambition is for power, killed opponents
Used dogs, Moses, and Squealer to control
animals
Joseph Stalin
Not a good speaker, not educated like Trotsky
Same as Napoleon, didn't follow Marx's ideas
Cared for power, killed all that opposed him
Used KGB, allowed church, and
propagandized
Stalin Means “Man of Steel”

12. Parallel People/Characters in Russian History
Squealer
Big mouth; talks a lot
Convinces animals to believe and follow Napoleon
Changes and manipulates the commandments
Propaganda department of Lenin's/Stalin’s government
Worked for Stalin to support his image
Used any lie to convince the people to follow Stalin
Benefited from the fact that education was controlled

13. Parallel People/Characters in Russian History
The Dogs
A private army that used fear to force animals to work
Killed or intimidated any opponent of Napoleon
Another part of Napoleon's strategy to control animals
KGB - Secret Police
Not really police, but forced support for Stalin
Used force, often killed entire families for disobedience
Totally loyal, part of Lenin's power, even over army

14. Parallel People/Characters in Russian History
Moses the Raven
Speaks of Sugar Candy Mountain – Heaven, where animals go if they work hard
Snowball and Old Major were against him
They thought Heaven was a lie to make animals work
Napoleon let him stay because he taught animals to work and not complain
Religion
Marx said "Opiate of the people" a lie
Used to make people not complain and do their work
Religion was tolerated because people would work
Stalin knew religion would stop violent revolutions
*Note: Some believe Moses is Rasputin

15. Parallel People/Characters in Russian History
Mollie
Vain - loved her beauty and self
Didn't think about the animal farm
Went with anyone who gave her what she wanted
Vain, selfish people in Russia and world
Some people didn't care about revolution
Only thought about themselves
Went to other countries that offered more for them

16. Parallel People/Characters in Russian History
Boxer
Strong, hard working horse, believes in Animal Farm
"Napoleon is always right", "I must work harder"
Gives his all, is betrayed by Napoleon, who sells him
Dedicated, but tricked communist supporters
People believed Stalin because he was "Communist"
Many stayed loyal after it was obvious Stalin was a tyrant
The people of Russia were betrayed by Stalin who ignored and killed them

17. Parallel People/Characters in Russian History
Animal Farm Slogan:
4 legs good, 2 legs bad
Lenin’s Slogan:
Peace, Bread, Land

18. Parallel Events in Russian History
Battle of the Cowshed parallels the Civil War that occurred after the 1917 Revolution
The confessions and executions of the animals reflect the various purges and “show trials” that Stalin conducted to rid himself of any possible threat of dissention.

19. Parallel Events in Russian History
Animal Farm’s Executions
Many animals including pigs, chickens and geese were forced to confess evil deeds. All were executed.
Used by Napoleon get rid of those who may not agree with his tactics and to create control through fear
The Great Purge
Many Russians were executed after “show trials”
Used by Stalin to get rid of anyone who may have disagreed with his leadership

20. Parallel Events in Russian History
In 1921, the sailors at the Kronshdadt military base unsuccessfully rebelled against Communist rule, as the hens attempt to rebel against Napoleon.

21. Parallel Events in Russian History
The Battle of the Windmill reflects the U.S.S.R.’s involvement in World War II—specifically the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943, when Stalin’s forces defeated Hitler’s (as Napoleon’s defeat Frederick).

22. Parallel Events in Russian History
Finally, the card game at the novel’s end parallels the Tehran Conference (November 28–December 1, 1943), where Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Franklin D. Roosevelt met to discuss the ways to forge a lasting peace after the war—a peace that Orwell mocks by having Napoleon and Pilkington flatter each other and then betray their duplicitous natures by cheating in the card game.

23. Themes in Animal Farm
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.
The author places them in the work to teach/warn the reader of something about life.

24. Themes in Animal Farm
The Corruption of Socialist Ideals in the Soviet Union
In the beginning of the Russian Revolution and the Animal Farm revolt the ideas are great—everyone is equal, no one is better than anyone else.

25. Themes in Animal Farm The Danger of a Naïve Working Class
Sometimes, the working class is so busy working, that they fail to see what their leaders are truly doing.
I will work harder!

26. Themes in Animal Farm
The Abuse of Language as Instrumental to the Abuse of Power
Propaganda defined:
The use of ideas, facts. or allegation spread deliberately to further one’s cause, or to damage an opposing cause

27. Symbols in Animal Farm: The Farm
Animal Farm, known at the beginning and the end of the novel as the Manor Farm, symbolizes Russia and the Soviet Union under Communist Party rule. But more generally, Animal Farm stands for any human society, be it capitalist, socialist, fascist, or communist. It possesses the internal structure of a nation, with a government (the pigs), a police force or army (the dogs), a working class (the other animals), and state holidays and rituals. Its location amid a number of hostile neighboring farms supports its symbolism as a political entity with diplomatic concerns.

28. Symbols in Animal Farm: The Barn
The barn at Animal Farm, on whose outside walls the pigs paint the Seven Commandments and, later, their revisions, represents the collective memory of a modern nation. .

29. Symbols in Animal Farm: The Barn
The many scenes in which the ruling-class pigs alter the principles of Animalism and in which the working-class animals puzzle over, but accept these changes represent the way an institution in power can revise a community’s concept of history to bolster its control. If the working class believes history to lie on the side of their oppressors, they are less likely to question oppressive practices.

30. Symbols in Animal Farm: The Barn
Moreover, the oppressors, by revising their nation’s conception of its origins and development, gain control of the nation’s very identity, and the oppressed soon come to depend upon the authorities for their communal sense of self. .

31. Symbols in Animal Farm: The Windmill
Despite the immediacy of the need for food and warmth, the pigs exploit Boxer and the other common animals by making them undertake backbreaking labor to build the windmill, which will ultimately earn the pigs more money and thus increase their power. The pigs’ declaration that Snowball is responsible for the windmill’s first collapse constitutes psychological manipulation, as it prevents the common animals from doubting the pigs’ abilities and unites them against a supposed enemy.

32. Symbols in Animal Farm: The Windmill
The ultimate conversion of the windmill to commercial use is one more sign of the pigs’ betrayal of their fellow animals. From an allegorical point of view, the windmill represents the enormous modernization projects undertaken in Soviet Russia after the Russian Revolution.

33. Works Cited
Pictures

34. Works Cited
Pictures

35. Work Cited
“Propaganda”. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth edition. Merriam- Webster, Inc. Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A. 935.
Sparknotes, “Animal Farm”. Sparknotes.com. 10 October <

36. The End