Animal Farm.The role of Stalinism

The book that I decided to do was Animal Farm. I have read this book once before and it really shows the role of Stalinism. Napoleon, the head pig and the ruler of the farm is most similar to the Russian leader during the Russian Revolution, Joseph Stalin. Napoleon is similar to Stalin in the way that they share most character traits such as intelligence and leadership. Although it seemed in the book that Napoleon never displayed in interest in the strength of Animal Farm itself, instead he was worried more about the power he was able to hold over the farm. Stalin did not start off with power from the start. Joseph Stalin was first appointed to serve on the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party. The Bolsheviks were able to seize power over Russia in 1917 and the Soviet Union came about shortly after. Through the next years Stalin was able to make his way up the party rank. He was promoted to General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1922 by the parties’ first leader, Vladimir Lenin. Having this role allowed him to appoint people that were loyal to him and help him collect information on other members of the party. Once Lenin died in 1924, Stalin outmaneuvered his rivals with his intelligence and soon become the dictator of the Communist Party. The book Animal Farm was published during the same time that Stalin was starting to take over Russia. The farm is taken over by the overworked and mistreated animals. Once they are able to run off the farm owner the main pig, Napoleon is able to use his smarts and leadership to get the other animals to follow his command. Napoleon is best portrayed as Stalin in this book as they both were able to rise up from the bottom by using their cleverness to overcome any of the obstacles in their way. They both were great leaders and were able to get a lot of followers that had the same beliefs that they did. The author has more than one way that he uses to describe totalitarian power throughout Animal Farm. He first starts off by using Mr. Jones as an example by stating that he runs Manor Farm based on the idea that human power over the animals is the natural order of things. Once the animals heard Old Major give his speech on the chance to have a better life without any humans, the animals decide to rebel and overthrow Mr. Jones. As this revolution happens, Napoleon and the other pigs start to run the newly named, Animal Farm with the declaration that they are all fighting for animals against evil humans. The way that I understand the way totalitarian government is used is that one leader is able to do certain things that are able to persuade people to follow in their beliefs. They are able to use such things as power and smarts to get a person to do such things and anyone that does not will usually have those people killed. Also those who hold power in totalitarian regimes only care about one thing while they rule and that is maintaining power by any means possible. I feel that Orwell was able to describe totalitarian in several ways by using the humans as an example then using the animals. Adolf Hitler and Stalin are the two most known totalitarian leaders in Europe. Hitler was the leader of the Nazi Party and is to blame for World War II and causing the holocaust which led to the suffering of many nations. The two leaders were both very cruel and strict. The circumstances in which the two leaders were able to take power were very similar because they were able to take advantage of the situation they were in and rise to the top. The method in which they used were a little bit different, as Stalin built his way up the ladder slowly and had to remove anybody that seemed to be a threat whereas Hitler’s road to power was shorter to where he was able to become the only leader in just 19 months. Overall the roads to power for the two were different. Hitler took power by means of election where Stalin had to make his way by outmaneuvering many people. In the book the animal that becomes the main leader is the pig, Napoleon. I feel that even though he is modeled as Stalin his rise to power is mostly similar to that of Hitler’s. He is the smartest animal on the farm. By being the smartest he was able to use that ability to get the other animals on his side and believe whatever he said which ultimately led to the animals just accepting him as leader. What I have learned about the totalitarian style of government is that once the leader is able to get to the top he ultimately only cares about one thing and that is staying leader. Such as Stalin was able to outmaneuver people to get to the top and he made sure he appointed people that would be loyal to him from the start so they would not get in his way in the future.

Bibliography
"Joseph Stalin." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.
"Animal Farm: Themes." LitCharts.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2012
Orwell, George. Animal Farm;. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1954. Print

Bibliography: "Joseph Stalin." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. "Animal Farm: Themes." LitCharts.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2012 Orwell, George. Animal Farm;. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1954. Print