Animalism vs Marxism in Animal Farm
Uploaded by ekfrancis on Sep 29, 2001
Introduction
Long before the invention of the television or telephone, much less the computer, people had to communicate by word of mouth or written documents. It was not a peculiar happening for a critic of religious, political, or economical affairs to write his opinions in an allegorical and sometimes satirical fashion. Public awareness to many social wrongs has long been fed by such writings. In 1944, even after the modern means of communication had arrived, George Orwell, an Englishman, expressed his concern that Socialism had taken a sharp downfall under the reign of Russia’s implement of communism. Orwell was inspired to write “Animal Farm” in response to his participation in the Russian Civil War in which Joseph Stalin, the dictator of Russia, had sent his army to fight for “political decency.” Although Karl Marx had developed a promising way of life for the Russian people during the reign of Czar Nicholas II, Marxism was turned around and used as the foothold for revolution. The people of England seemed to admire the Russian war effort and overlooked the faults of the communist regime. Orwell’s book opened the eyes if the Western Democracies to the reality of Stalin’s conquest. “Animal Farm” portrays the major developments in the Russian revolution through its characters, events, and symbolism.
Animalism vs Marxism
In “Animal Farm,” the term Animalism is used to describe the movement the animals are working toward. Mr. Jones owns Manor Farm, the setting of the story. Within the first chapter, the situation the animals lived in is described as slavery. The animals were poorly fed and overworked. An outcry for revolution was stirring. Old Major, an old prize pig of the farm passes on the idea of revolution to all of the animals so that they will know what is destined to happen. In Marx’s “Communist Manifesto,” Marx also calls attention to necessary change (7). The animals resented thy tyranny of the humans and wished to govern themselves where all animals were equal. In comparison, Communism was based on the belief that all people were equal. The common people were tired of the rich getting richer while the poor got poorer. Animalism supported the idea that no one was owned by another. There would be no animals better off than others while no animals would be in bad condition either. Communism flaunted the same policy. Since the people owned the government and the government owned everything,...