Who Is Joseph Stalin's Persuasion In Animal Farm

George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm,’ is an allegoric novel set on an English farm, telling the story of the animal’s difficulty in overthrowing Mr Jones and running the farm. However, the storyline shares many parallels with the Russian Revolution from 1915-1945. One of the many similarities between the two is the way the leader preserved his power. The character Napoleon, a young pig, can be compared to Joseph Stalin, as they both created and sustained their power using similar methods. Napoleon did this by taking advantage of the animal’s poor memory and supplying them with incorrect information and propaganda. He also created his power by blaming all of the farm’s misfortunes on Snowball, who can be compared to the intellect, Leon Trotsky, as he was a common enemy and scapegoat. The final method Napoleon used to keep and generate his power is through the use of emotive persuasion, more specifically fear.
One method that Napoleon used to abuse the animal’s memory is the changing of the seven commandments.
The commandments were written at the beginning of the rebellion as a constitution to Animalism. However, as the novel progresses the commandments mysteriously change, this is a result of Napoleon’s thirst for power and changing the rules to suit his needs. “No animal shall kill any other animal,” (Ch2 p24), this was one of the commandments at the beginning of the novel, although when Napoleon wished to perform the show trials (Ch 7), it strangely changed to “No animal shall kill another animal without cause,” (Ch 8 p87). This illustrates that Napoleon knows no limit when it comes to getting his own way and gaining power, and will resort to devious methods in order to do so. This can be compared to Joseph Stalin, who similarly gained his power by working in the shadows. The evidence further demonstrates that Napoleon took advantage of the animal’s poor memories in creating his power, by changing the
commandments.
Another technique that was used by Napoleon to create and maintain his power was through the use of propaganda and incorrect information. Squealer, a young pig was constantly giving false facts and figures to the animals as a way of persuading them that their life was better than it had been in Jones’s day. This was all a form of propaganda. By maintaining that their production levels were higher than they had been before, ensured the animals were constantly working without causing trouble, “increased by 200%, 300%, 500%,” (Ch 8 p88). Squealer also told of the improvement to their quality of life, “more oats, hay, turnips than in Jones’s day…worked shorter hours…water was of better quality…lived longer,” (Squealer, Ch 9 p107). None of this, however, was correct information, there was the same if not fewer amounts of food and the water most definitely wasn’t of better quality, but this all helps demonstrate the depth of manipulation that Napoleon employed to create and maintain his power.
One especially prominent tactic that Napoleon used to sustain his power, is blaming every problem that occurred on the farm, on Snowball. Not only did this make the animals feel as if they had a common enemy, but also made Snowball a scapegoat, “when anything went wrong it became usual to attribute it to Snowball,” (Ch 8 p75). This helped Napoleon create power because even if he was at fault for anything, he could blame it on Snowball and it wouldn’t be questioned, “he stole corn…trampled the seed beds,” (Ch 8 p75). This especially helped his efforts in sustaining power as Squealer was constantly sprouting information on how terrible Snowball was, “do you know the enemy… overthrown our windmill? SNOWBALL! … This traitor,” (Squealer, Ch 6 p69). By creating false rumours about Snowball, it led the animals to feel unified as they all shared a common enemy, which in turn helped Napoleon develop authority. Napoleon also used Squealer to spread lies about Snowball being associated with Mr Jones, “he was in league with Jones…Jones’ secret agent,” (Squealer, Ch 7 p77). By portraying Snowball as the ‘bad guy’ meant that Napoleon was seen as a supreme ruler for running Snowball off the farm, which in turn helped enhance and maintain his power. As shown in the evidence above, it is clear that Napoleon portrayed Snowball as a common enemy, and blamed him for everything that went wrong on the farm. This, along with spreading rumours of Snowball’s allegiance to Mr Jones, helped Napoleon create and sustain power amongst the farm animals.
The final scheme that Napoleon utilized to gain and continue his power is through the use of fear. One particularly noticeable example of the use of fear is when Napoleon performed the show trials (Ch 7). Animals were forced to plead guilty to crimes they hadn’t committed, before they were executed by Napoleon’s dogs, “finished confessions…the dogs promptly tore their throats out…They were all slain on the spot,” (Ch 7 p81). The show trials definitely helped Napoleon gain power because the fear of being ‘slain on the spot’ forced the animals to remain subdued and not rebel against him and the other pigs. Another method Napoleon used to induce fear within the animals is the use of his dogs. The dogs were taken from their mothers at a young age, and from there Napoleon hand raised them to be his killing machines, “nine enormous dogs…their snapping jaws,” (Ch 5 p52). This again helped Napoleon maintain his power because by generating fear within the animals it suppressed any rebellions that could have occurred. The evidence shown previously further demonstrates the way Napoleon used fear to generate and preserve his power.
Throughout the novel Napoleon is constantly taking measures to create and retain his power, the methods he used to do this are supplying the other animals with false information and propaganda, in changing the commandments and giving incorrect statistics. As well as blaming everything entirely on Snowball, while creating rumours about his association with Mr Jones. Finally, he used fear, by performing the show trials and implementing his dogs to stamp out rebellion.
Reference:
Orwell, George. (2014). Animal Farm. 2nd Edition. Melbourne. Text Publishing Company.