Animal Farm and History

The figures in George Orwell's Animal Farm are obvious representations of the communism, fascism, and historical revolution. The animals of the farm signify the working class who feel slaved and exploited by higher authorities (Mr. Jones). The Russian working class (led by the Bolsheviks) rose up and usurped the Tsar and restored a completely new order: socialism. The French 3rd estate, along with the vast majority of the peasant class in France, impeached Louis XVI and replaced the monarchy with the Committee of public safety. Fascist Germany, after creating a somewhat stable government, elected Jews as scapegoats, identical to the animals on the far, except the animals chose humans. The government/revolution models expressed through the book clearly represent the uprisings of the Communist Era, including fascism and socialism.

As the animals gain more of an understanding for their social rules and laws, the pigs start to realize their power and advantage over their "citizens." Soon enough, the pigs start to save extra rations for themselves and change laws without consent from the public. Better yet, they justify their injustices. This series of events directly represents how Hitler, Stalin, and Robespierre exploited their own power. Hitler led Germans into antagonizing Jews, and justified it as a means of safety and prosperity for Germany. Stalin, after rising to power during a time of newly-found communism, organized secret polices to purge any suspicious people/groups whom he felt opposed him. Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety developed themselves into a centralized government group with supreme power, creating new laws and killing thousands of people. The essential similarity between these three regimes and Animal Farm is this: all of these radical regimes became the very thing they sought to destroy. They sought to destroy monarchy and lack of representation. Are their new regimes any different? The answer is no, and that contradiction in itself led to each of their collapses.