Socialism In George Orwell's Animal Farm

The rapper Kanye West lyricized that “No one man should have all that power.” This quote relates to Napoleon taking over all the power of the farm and ruining it. Showing that when someone consumes all that power it eventually leads to destruction. The book Animal Farm is a story about farm animals who live in a society relating to socialism. The animals are being treated fairly and revolt against the owner and take over the farm. Ultimately, George Orwell’s Animal Farm perfectly parallels the Russian Revolution because both the series of events and the characters both coincide with each other.

Many of the historical figures in Russian history are very similar to the characters in the novel. Possibly the greatest comparison is that of Stalin
and Napoleon where as both of them were hard, brutal leaders who aimed to take full control. Another great comparison is how Trotsky was another communist leader thats power had been taken away by Stalin and Snowball who’s power had been taken away by Napoleon. Also, Lenin, who ruled Russia and died giving up his power, compares to Old Major who also ruled and died giving up his power. Lastly, Csar Nicholas II, who was the emperor, relates to Mr. Jones in that he was the owner of the farm the animals lived on. One specific example in the book that relates to real life is when Old Major dies his ideas of “all men being equal” turned into a harsh dictatorship in which the pigs ruled. “The pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others. With their superior knowledge it was natural that they should assume the leadership” (page 43).

Throughout the novel the pigs evolved, particularly Napoleon when he takes over after Old Major died.
Napoleon started out with “all animals are equal” but eventually his ruling turned into a dictatorship. Like many dictator, Napoleon shut himself out and stayed in the farmhouse with the dogs standing guard. At the end, Napoleon then made himself emperor and was no different then how humans were. Napoleon evolved different because Snowball devoted himself to bettering the animals and Napoleon only cared about power. Snowball idea of building the windmill was so that animals could have reduced work and more rest. Napoleon convinced the animals that Snowball plotted with Mr. Jones and then gets a bad reputation from it. “… Snowball stood up and, though occasionally interrupted by bleating by the sheep, set forth his reasons for advocating the building of the windmill. Then Napoleon stood up to reply. He said very quietly that the windmill was nonsense and the he advised nobody to vote for it…” This quote shows “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” because even though the idea of the windmill would benefit everyone on the farm, Napoleon didn't care and only wanted power.

Both the series of events and the characters in George Orwell’s Animal Farm parallel perfectly with that of the Russian Revolution. Although both sides had it’s pros and cons, ultimately, the animals were better off under the rule of the pigs. Being that the animals were better under the pigs,
Orwell chooses a pig to be a dictator because they were the most intelligent and most worthy on the farm. So, Orwell’s Animal Farm was written to show that when a leader is very greedy they will do whatever they can to gain power rather than benefit others.