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RUSSIAN REVOLUTION: THE RISE OF THE LEADER

Russian Revolution: The Rise of Leaders in Animal Farm
It will assure the free transfer of landlord, crown and monastery lands to
the Land Committees [elected by the peasants as instruments for seizing
the landlords estates], defend the soldiers rights, enforcing a complete
democratization of the Army, establish workers control over production,
The Congress resolves: that all local power shall be transferred to the
Soviets of Workers, Soldiers and Peasants Deputies, which must
enforce revolutionary order. -- John Reed, Ten Days That Shook the World
The Russian Revolution was claimed to free working-class population from their
substandard living conditions to gain support from the lower class, the majority of Russian
population. After the successful revoultion, the leaders of all revolutionaries became an
official soviet government. The promising statement was being broken without the citizens
attentions.

Animal Farm was written by George Orwell, a British author, in 1943, but not
until 1945 that this book got to publish due to the fear of British government that the book

would risk their international relation with Soviet union during World war II. Orwells
Animal Farm mainly dicusses the rebellion of animals against humans, owners of the farm.
Thereafter, the leaders tries to create their own utopia which is an ultimate failure. The dark
sides of the rising of Soviet government were revealed through allgorical characters. Orwell
intends on using Napoleon, a pig who leads the rebellion, as a figure of Joseph Stalin, one of
the leader of the Russian Revolution. In Animal Farm, Orwell illustrates how Napoleons
actions widen the gap between himself and other animals, exposing the truth buried behind
the Russian Revolution.
Napoleons movement in supporting education comes with hidden agenda,
differentiating animals into classes, which in addition uncovers the true intention of Stalins
education policies. Napoleon has brought the difference in animals level of intelligence into
his concern. After unraveling each animals intellectual ability, he discovers As for the pigs,

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they could already read and write perfectly and None of the other animals on the farm
could get further than the letter A. It was also found that the stupider animals, such as the
sheep, hens, and ducks, were unable to learn the Seven Commandments by heart ( p. 31-32).
In Napoleans mind, animals are classified according to their cognitive ability. Napoleon sees
the weakness as something to be taking advantage of especially from Some[that] are
naturally stupid( Letemendia, 1992, p.130).When Squealer annouces Our Leader,
Comrade Napoleon... has stated categorically categorically, comrade that Snowball
was Joness agent from the very beginning yes, and from long before the Rebellion was
ever thought of( p.81-82), he uses abstract words that require critical thinking in his
announcement; amimals do not understand the meaning. It reduces animals self-esteem in
making an independent intellectual analysis, implicitly reminding them of their lower social
position.
Therefore, the animals simply conclude that If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be
right. The thought of rebelling against pig leaders is wiped out as an effect of being
reminded of how worthless they are with an addition of obedient animals whom willingly
stays under their leaders demand. According to Cox ( 2011), not only that The Soviet
system of education was plainly not focused on the maximization of choice; the education
outputs were instead carefully orchestrated to fulfill state economic and political needs, but
also This is especially true for authoritarian and ideologically homogenous regimes, for
which the education is often explicitly used as a tool for the management of social
perceptions and cooperation ( p.3). Education fuctioned as a media that goverment is in
control of, especially for the purpose of managing youths attitudes toward their political
works. The goverment saw the valid benefits of maintaining their citizens belief; prevent
them from douting governments political works which could possibly lead to future protests

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RUSSIAN REVOLUTION: THE RISE OF THE LEADER
or rebellions. Education, a positive figure, was used to eliminate the motive of later
complication in Soveit Union as being portrayed through orwells persepective in Animal
Farm.
Napoleon has pulled himself up to the peak of the social class pyramid as he gains
supreme power by using force to remove Snowball from Animal Farm.
In the beginnig of the story, Napoleon and Snowball are co-leader; power is divided between
both of them. Orwell describes their relationship situation as Snowball and Napoleon were
by far the most active in the debates. But it was noticed that these two were never in
agreement: whatever suggestion either of them made, the other could be counted on to
oppose it( p.31). The power struggle starts to develop which is beneficial to the whole farm
in the way that there is a opposite view to balance out one anothers extreme ideas. However,
as the story proceeds, Napoleon desires to be in control of the other animals. Toward the end
of windmill debate, In a moment Snowballs eloquence had carried them away...By the time
he had finished speaking, there was no doubt as to which way the vote would go ( p.52);
Snowballs windmill proposal is very likely to win which would harm Napoleons prestige.
Hence, Napoleon comes up with new strategies to take over power from snowball, his
dangerous rival, expelling snowball:
At this there was a terrible baying sound outside, and nine enormous dogs wearing
brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn. They dashed straight for
Snowball, who...slipped through a hole in the hedge and was seen no more. ( p.52-53)
By doing this, Napoleon can ensure that no one will get in the way of his power. He will be
the only one who absolutely seize the power.
In the similar way, Stalin and Trotky had a struggle over ideologies and the
leadership of the Russian communist parties( Parkinson, N., & Greaves, I., 2012, p.260)

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RUSSIAN REVOLUTION: THE RISE OF THE LEADER
which Stalin respresented an immense bureaucracy determined to preserve its power and
privileges while modernizing soon with extreme brutalitythe new Soviet society. On
the other hand, Trostky led an opposition against the bureaucracy in defense of the
revolutions original ideals ( Hidal, 2016, p.156). After the death of Lenin, many Russian
residents at first assumed that Trotsky would take over Lenins power as his heir, since Lenin
and Trotsky were working very closely before. Stalin, who was another candidate for Lenins
place, was displeased about that fact. He saw Trotsky was a manifest threat to his rise to
power. Corresponding to the exiling of Snowball, Stalin banished Trotsky from Russia before
orchestrated his vicious murder with a foot long ice axe 11 years later ( Parkinson, N., &
Greaves, I., 2012, p.257).
In order to to gain more respect and appreciation from the animals, Napoleon decides
to free himself from scandals, to make himeself look innocent by blaming others for the
failure he created. Since the action of him exiling Snowball cause animals to dout his reasons
for commiting it, Napoleon lies about the reasons. Squealer accomplishes that demand for
Napolean. He makes a convincing speech by first praising Napoleons hard work,...every
animal here appreciates the sacrifice that Comrade Napoleon has made in taking this extra
labour upon himself. Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure! On the
contrary, it is a deep and heavy responsibility. No one believes more firmly than Comrade
Napoleon that all animals are equal( p.55).Then, he states,... sometimes you might make
the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?( p.55) which to make the
animals feel like they are not capable of making wise decisions. Finally, he puts a thought
that Napoleon wants animals to believe in their head with the sentence; Suppose you had
decided to follow Snowball, with his moonshine of windmills Snowball, who, as we now
know, was no better than a criminal?( p.55). At this point, animals still have a little faith

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left in Snowball as shown in the defense that one of the animals said, He fought bravely at
the Battle of the Cowshed,( p.55). Those faith and respect that are given to snowball signify
a portion of power. Napoleon believes that its his right to gain back all those respect. If he
has those, he has all the power in his hand to control every decision in the farm. Regarding of
the way he did, he annouces,Comrades, do you know who is responsible for this? Do you
know the enemy who has come in the night and overthrown our windmill?
SNOWBALL!(p.69-70). No one defends for Snowball this time; Napoleons plan is
completed. This sentence takes animals faith in Snowball back to the person revealing it,
Napoleon because animals need mental reliability. How much power Napoleon could have
depends upon the amount of respect and belief from the animals. Likewise, Stalin convinces
his poeple to believe that Trotsky is a bad man while he is the one protecting them from him
by throwing him out of the country as shown in one of his speeches:
Firstly, how long has Trotsky been aware that his attacks upon the Party aggravate
relations? When, precisely, did he become aware of this truth? This is not the first
attack that Trotsky has made upon the Party, and it is not the first time that he is
surprised, or regrets, that his attack aggravated relations. Secondly, if he really wants
to prevent relations within the Party from deteriorating, why did he publish his The
Lessons of October, which was directed against the leading core of the Party, and was
intended to worsen, to aggravate relations? That is why I think that Trotsky's
explanation is quite unconvincing. (1925)
To conclude, Orwell uses Napoleons strategies of obtaining the ultimate power in
Animal Farm as a parody to uncover shady secrets during the revolution which the Russian
goverment caused the feeling of betrayal to all Russians.

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References

Banerji, R. (2012, August 28). Trotsky's grandson recalls ice pick killing. Retrieved from
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19356256
Cox, A. M. ( 2011). Policy and Practice: Russian and Soviet Education during Times of
Social and Political Change. Retrieved from Boston College University Libraries.
Hidal, O. K. (2016). Trotsky in Norway: Exile. Delaware, OH: The Historian. 82-184
Letemendia, V. (1992). Revolution on Animal Farm. Journal Of Modern Literature, 18(1),
127-137.
Parkinson, N., & Greaves, I. (2012). Famous trauma victims Leon Trotsky. Trauma, 14(3),
257-262.
Reed, J. (1977). Ten days that shook the world. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Stalin, J. V. (1925, January 17). On the Opposition. Speech presented at A Plenum Of
The Central Comittee, Moscow.