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By George Orwell
Background Information
Animal Farm is an allegorical fable in which animals attempt to
create a revolutionary utopia. In the end their visions of utopia are
over run by tyranny and corruption.
On the surface this appears to be just a tale about the animals on
Manor Farm. This fable has deeper meanings. George Orwell wrote
this story as a representation for WWII and the different government
ideologies of the time. The representations of ideas and people can
be applied to any time period, even today. The battles of man vs.
man and man vs. corruption of power continue to rage. They are a
part of the existence of man.
This story is an allegory because of all the deeper meanings. An
allegory is when there is several levels of meaning.
Animal Farm is a fable because it has a clear moral or lesson.
Communism in Russia
In the mid 1800s Capitalism flourished in Europe and America.
In 1847 Karl Marx drew up a plan for the Communist League to unite
the working classes of Europe. Marx wrote The Manifesto of the
Communist Party. Marx imagined a workers’ revolt followed by a
paradise society where each person would work according to his or her
ability and receive according to their needs.
Russia had a very clear cut difference in the classes. There was the
very wealthy and the very poor. This extreme gap in social classes
opened the door for manipulation and corruption.
1917 saw the Communist Revolution in Russia. The Czar and his
family are overthrown. Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and Joseph
Stalin took control as a ruling body called the Central Executive
Committee with Lenin in the lead.
In 1924 Lenin died.
Trotsky and Stalin developed opposing ideologies.
Opposing Ideologies
Trotsky Stalin