the novella Animal Farm by George Orwell

Name: Azzeddine Loukili Group: 03 Semester: 3

Proffessor: Mohamed Dellal 2015/2016

Outline:

I introduction.

II body.

1 George Orwell’s political views in relation to his personal life and his writings.

2 Supporting George Orwell’s critique in Animal Farm.

3 Disagreeing with George Orwell’s critique in Animal Farm

III conclusion

George Orwell whose real name is Eric Arthur Blair, was a British novelist, essayist, journalist and critic. He was famous by his political tendencies, and his criticism to Imperialism before and during the second world war¹. He has written many political novels such as Nineteen Eighty Four and Animal Farm which is a political satire novella in which he criticizes the Bolshevik revolution . George Orwell describes the failures of the Bolshevik revolution that erupted in Russia and dismantled the Tsarist autocracy in 1917 , which led to create the Soviet Union. In his fable, Animal Farm, George Orwell portrays the events of the Soviet Union in a farm that is controlled by some animals which refer to the personalities that led the Bolshevik revolution. The place in which the events take place is called Manor Farm, but after the animals had rebelled against Mr. Jones ,the owner of Manor Farm, they named it Animal Farm, and the pigs take the leadership, especially two pigs who are Napoleon and Snowball . The revolution succeeds in the beginning, and the animals begin to learn reading . The pigs are the cleverest animals in Animal Farm. They teach themselves how to read and run the farm claiming that they do the hard work by running it and planning for the future of Animal Farm. However, after that there is a fight between Snowball who suggests the idea of a mechanical way of working, and Napoleon who only wants to rule the farm. In the long run, Snowball, who represents Leon Trotsky, is expelled out of Animal Farm by Napoleon’s dogs, and new commands are given by him. Incontestably, George Orwell does not mention any failures in the short period after the rebellion, but directly after Napoleon, who represents Joseph Stalin, take the leadership of Animal Farm, he changes the rules according to his own benefits. The animals of Animal Farm are not well-educated and most of them could not read the seven commandments². That reflects one of the most important failures which lead to other downfalls. deceived by his lies, the animals believe that Napoleon is the perfect leader. Furthermore, cunningly and artificially, Squealer is the one who manages to eliminate any small doubt raising in the air of Animal Farm about how sincere the pigs are. signs of the failure of the rebellion appear explicitly when the pigs change the seven commandments in which they allow themselves to sleep in the human beds whereas only few animals notice it. Squealer exploits their foolish and illiterate minds to convince them again that the seven commandments have never been changed, which means that these animals are too lazy in thinking. As the story progresses, more failures appear, and The pigs start to wear Mr. Jones clothes and use his tools which were prohibited before . Furthermore , Napoleon holds meetings and makes deals with humans from other farms. He even decided to sell Boxer to a knacker in order to buy wine. His dogs protect him and execute every animal which disagree with him. George Orwell emphasizes his position from the failing of the revolution when he describes the pigs playing cards and drinking wine with human beings from other farms while the other animals could not tell apart between the pigs and the humans. Perhaps Orwell does not criticize socialism or communism as much as he criticizes Stalinism. He blames Joseph Stalin’s greed, arrogance and power which lead the Bolshevik revolution to its failure. Personally, I agree with Orwell that the corrupt leaders could be a reason why the revolution failed, and that he brings a genuine critique of the totalitarian regimes under the title of communism, but his critique of communism does not mean that other regimes and political systems are better. Even though George Orwell called himself an anarchist, he had socialistic tendencies in his writings, and many writers admit that he was a socialist against totalitarianism³. Thus, I will discuss George Orwell’s political tendencies in relation to his personal life and his writings , and I will explain why many writers and politicians agree with George Orwell’s critique of the totalitarian regime that existed in the Soviet Union because of the corrupt leaders who covered it by the name of communism or socialism. Also, I will try to elucidate meticulously the reasons why many people disagree with George Orwell’s critique.

In order to understand Orwell’s political opinions, platforms and his desire to unveil the truth about certain governments and regimes, I will try to analyse his past experiences in Burma, Spain and England, in which he developed certain views toward many international regimes and wrote many novels in which he expresses his political tendencies and his critique to particular regimes.⁴ George Orwell was born in India, and his father was a minor British official in the Indian civil service. After finishing his studies, Orwell decided to go to Burma as an assistant superintendent in the Indian imperial police. In 1927, he left Burma and went back to England. He regretted all the time he passed serving Imperialism in that country, and he recounted his experiences there in a novel called “ Burmese days” . To expel guiltiness, Orwell went to live in the slums of Paris and London with poor people .He worked as a dishwasher in French hotels and lived with beggars in London as a kind of punishment for himself. These experiences were enough to galvanize him for “ down and out in Paris and London”⁵. In 1936, Orwell decided to fight in the Spanish civil war against Franco, so he joined the workers Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) and fought against Nationalists. That independent communist party did not believe in taking orders from Moscow⁶. Being injured, Orwell left Spain toward England in 1937. By fighting with a communist party ,I may say that George Orwell had some communist tendencies and views. Nevertheless, the party which Orwell joined has never received any orders from Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union , which means that Orwell had a communist tendency, but never supported the communism which was adopted in the Soviet Union. In 1944 Orwell finished Animal Farm in which he criticizes the betrayal of Joseph Stalin to the Bolshevik revolution, and his critique of totalitarianism was explicitly expressed in his famous novel nineteen eighty-four.

On the light of what has been said, George Orwell has been seen as a democratic socialist who criticizes the regimes that make a distinction between classes such as capitalism believing that with capitalism comes inequality⁷. Before I judge Orwell as a communist or a socialist, I will elucidate the differences between these two regimes. Communism and Socialism are political structures that promote equality and eliminate social differences. The main difference between them is that communism is a high developed form of socialism . In communism, everything is owned by the working class, and the workers are working from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. On the other hand, In socialism, the workers are paid and allowed to spend their wages as they choose. Socialism adopts the idea of each according to his ability, to each according to his deeds⁸. George Orwell does not criticize only the totalitarian regime which is hiding behind communism in Animal Farm , he also criticizes capitalism and other regimes that do not offer equality to people as he describes the other farms negatively. Furthermore, he believes that “with capitalism comes inequality”⁹. In searching for Orwell’s political beliefs, D.J Taylor goes on to say in his book Orwell: the life that George Orwell was a democratic socialist throughout his life, and Animal Farm is actually a critique of Stalinism¹⁰. In my humble opinion, I believe that George Orwell encourages the democratic socialism as a political regime that is able to bring equality to any society.

To value George Orwell’s critique from different perspectives, I.N Petro goes on to say that Animal Farm reflects the real events that happened in Russia before the second world war which shaped the Soviet society under the dictatorship of Stalin. Moreover, Orwell criticizes the corrupt leaders of the Russian revolution by relating the characters in Animal farm with real people from the period of the Soviet communism. In the end, Petro asserts that ignorance and indifference are the main reasons of the failure of the revolution¹¹. George Orwell perhaps has not forfeited the right to criticize communism or socialism because he portrays in his fable the regime that was adopted by the Soviet Union as a dictatorship system which is hiding behind the name of communism only to delude citizens of the state whom Orwell describes as ignorant people. Discussing the same theme, Rhodri Williams argues in “Orwell’s political messages” that George Orwell’s experience in the Spanish civil war gave him enough knowledge about the totalitarian regime in the Soviet Union. What is more, Orwell wrote Animal Farm in order to save socialism from communism. His message is that any society which has leaders with absolute power is ultimately going to failure due to the inevitability of leaders exploiting power for their own personal benefits. He adds, George Orwell was right when he exposed the failures of the Bolshevik revolution. According to the same writer, Orwell never believed that the revolution is the correct way of changing a society . In fact, it was a way of keeping it the same. The new faces with new rhetoric seem good in the beginning, but soon it is hard to tell the new faces from the old. On the contrary, Reforming a society is the best choice to defeat corruptness¹². The two writers and I agree that George Orwell criticizes the corrupt leaders or what is called Stalinism in Russia who shaped a dictatorship state with an absolute power in his hands. Perhaps Orwell wants to distinguish the democratic socialism from communism which did not succeed in Russia, also he criticizes the fake communism which was adopted by the Soviet Union. The Bolshevik revolution could not find its way to success, and may be the whole idea of the revolution was wrong as a way of changing a society as Williams explained. Believing that Orwell was a socialist against totalitarianism, I may assert that he has brought a genuine critique of communism which was adopted in the Soviet Union and led by Joseph Stalin, but that communist regime did not meet all the conditions of communism which engenders in shaping a totalitarian regime instead of a democratic socialism or communism.

In searching for more details, I would like to discuss George Soule’s attitude toward Orwell’s critique in Animal farm . George Soule, an English colonist, writes in his article “in 1946, the new republic panned George Orwell’s Animal Farm” that Orwell has failed in his critique if he wanted to tell us why the revolution did not success. Moreover, George Soule wonders whether George Orwell tried to say that Snowball should have been on top, or all animals should have been merged in common primitive communism without leaders or organization. In spite of commercial success, Soule explains that the failure of Animal Farm in his opinion arises from the fact that the allegory Novella does not deal with something the writer has experienced rather than stereotyped notions about a state that the writer does not have enough knowledge about. Furthermore , he adds that the reader will certainly face the lack of clarity in the main intention of the author and advises Orwell to try again, but this time on something nearer home¹³. George Soule claims that Orwell went out of his zone to write Animal Farm, and his critique of the deceitful propaganda in Russia is not a critique, but his own ideas about a foreign country. Moreover, he satirized a certain corrupt regime, but he did not suggest a specific solution. As a result, George Orwell has forfeited his right to criticize communism which was adopted in the Soviet Union. George Soule’s attitude may push me to ask the question which is: was George Orwell really ignorant of the real events that happened in the Soviet Union ? , I do not think so. George Orwell probably had enough knowledge about the Soviet Russia. Furthermore, he did not criticize Russia, but its leader, Joseph Stalin, that murdered millions of his people who had disagreed with him, and expelled the others out of the country. Exposing the failures of the Bolshevik revolution, Orwell criticizes the absolute power that is given to one specific leader. Literally, he criticizes Joseph Stalin and blames him for the failure of the revolution.

To conclude, I attempted to uncover the truth which is hiding behind the purpose of writing Animal Farm. I elucidated some specific points that lead to answer the question whether or not George Orwell has forfeited his right to bring a genuine critique of communism or socialism in his Novella. I think that the famous writer has successfully criticized the totalitarian regime which was led by Joseph Stalin in Russia. Perhaps, Orwell did not intend to criticize communism rather than exposing the truth behind the corrupt regime in the Soviet Union. Believing that he was a democratic socialist, it does not make sense to criticize a regime that is so close to his beliefs. In other words, Orwell criticizes Stalinism and its negative results on Russia. Another evidence that supports my thesis is that George Orwell writes in chapter 1 about Old Major’s speech without any bias. This can be seen as a hint of his support for Lenin or Karl Marx pre-thought. However, he was against the misrepresentation of the seven commandments by the leaders of communism after Old Major. He was never against the seven commandments which represent equality among all the animals¹⁴. On the other side, the writer criticizes many characters that helped in an indirect way to build a totalitarian regime such as Boxer, the horse who does the hard work hoping to help in developing the farm. Boxer refers to the working class who were uneducated and believed in Stalin’s lies. Moreover, there is another interested character in Animal Farm which is the donkey Benjamin ,who refers to the intellectuals in Russia, who knew that Joseph Stalin was cheating on them, but they never stood against him. Personally, I believe that George Orwell wrote a very critical Novella in which he targeted the totalitarian regime in Russia after the Bolshevik revolution, and its corrupt leader Joseph Stalin.

Bibliography:

Gava, Itibhar. 'An Evaluation Of George Orwell’S Critique Of Communism In ‘Animal Farm’'. pregunta always. N.p., 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. Link: https://preguntaalways.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/an-evaluation-of-george-orwells-critique-of-communism-in-animal-farm/

² GS .de, Cidsnet. "Grundkurs 2004, Intermediate Course, Gymnasium Steglitz Berlin". N.p., 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. Link :

http://www.gs.cidsnet.de/englisch-online/Grundkurs3/kablo.htm

³ B.Storgard, Claus. 'Opinions : Essays : George Orwell, Socialist, Anarchist Or What...? // George Orwell // Www.K-1.Com/Orwell'. K-1.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. Link: http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/site/opinion/essays/storgaard1.html

⁴ Sedlak, Rudy. 'Orwell On Totalitarianism'. Theorwellreader.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.link: http://www.theorwellreader.com/essays/sedlak.html

⁵ woodcock,George . "George Orwell | British Author". Encyclopedia Britannica. N.p., 2015. Web. 20 Dec. 2015. Link: http://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Orwell

⁶ Worldsocialism.org,. 'George Orwell, Spain And Anti-Fascism | The Socialist Party Of Great Britain'. N.p., 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. Link : http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/1990s/1997/no-1113-may-1997/george-orwell-spain-and-anti-fascism

^{7 , 9} Bordelon, Brendan . "MSNBC Host Claims Orwell’S Anti-Communist Novel ‘Animal Farm’ Is A Tale Of Capitalist Greed [VIDEO]". The Daily Caller. N.p., 2015. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. Link :

http://dailycaller.com/2014/04/29/msnbc-host-claims-orwells-anti-communist-novel-animal-farm-is-a-tale-of-capitalist-greed-video/

⁸ Diffen.com,. "Communism Vs Socialism - Difference And Comparison | Diffen". N.p., 2015. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. Link : http://www.diffen.com/difference/Communism_vs_Socialism

¹⁰ Cattington, D.R . "Was George Orwell A Socialist, Communist Or Capitalist?". Answers.yahoo.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. Link : https://answers.yahoo.com/activity/questions?show=IR4F6FQNKOANIFU6AE3SKSQHO4&t=g

¹¹ Petro, I.N. "In What Ways Does Orwell Criticize Soviet Communism In Animal Farm And To What Extent Is His Analysis Based On Real Historical Events? - College Essay -". Brainia.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 16 Dec. 2015. Link :

http://www.brainia.com/essays/In-What-Ways-Does-Orwell-Criticize/96951.html

¹² Williams, Rhodri . "Opinions : Essays : Orwell's Political Messages // George Orwell // Www.K-1.Com/Orwell". K-1.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 17 Dec. 2015. Link : http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/site/opinion/essays/rhodi.html

¹³ Soule, George. "In 1946, The New Republic Panned George Orwell's 'Animal Farm'". New Republic. N.p., 2013. Web. 18 Dec. 2015. Link : https://newrepublic.com/article/114852/1946-review-george-orwells-animal-farm

¹⁴ Gava, Itibhar. 'An Evaluation Of George Orwell’S Critique Of Communism In ‘Animal Farm’'. pregunta always. N.p., 2015 . Web. 20 Dec. 2015. Link: https://preguntaalways.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/an-evaluation-of-george-orwells-critique-of-communism-in-animal-farm

Written by : Azzeddine Loukili.

1 Itibhar. Gava. 'An Evaluation Of George Orwell’S Critique Of Communism In ‘Animal Farm’'. pregunta always. N.p., 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. Link: https://preguntaalways.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/an-evaluation-of-george-orwells-critique-of-communism-in-animal-farm/

2 Cidsnet. GS .de,. "Grundkurs 2004, Intermediate Course, Gymnasium Steglitz Berlin". N.p., 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. Link : http://www.gs.cidsnet.de/englisch-online/Grundkurs3/kablo.htm

3 Claus, B.Storgard . 'Opinions : Essays : George Orwell, Socialist, Anarchist Or What...? // George Orwell // Www.K-1.Com/Orwell'. K-1.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. Link: http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/site/opinion/essays/storgaard1.html

4 Rudy, Sedlak. 'Orwell On Totalitarianism'. Theorwellreader.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.link: http://www.theorwellreader.com/essays/sedlak.html

5 George, woodcock . "George Orwell | British Author". Encyclopedia Britannica. N.p., 2015. Web. 20 Dec. 2015. Link: http://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Orwell

6 Worldsocialism.org,. 'George Orwell, Spain And Anti-Fascism | The Socialist Party Of Great Britain'. N.p., 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. Link : http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/1990s/1997/no-1113-may-1997/george-orwell-spain-and-anti-fascism

7 Brendan, Bordelon. "MSNBC Host Claims Orwell’S Anti-Communist Novel ‘Animal Farm’ Is A Tale Of Capitalist Greed [VIDEO]". The Daily Caller. N.p., 2015. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. Link : http://dailycaller.com/2014/04/29/msnbc-host-claims-orwells-anti-communist-novel-animal-farm-is-a-tale-of-capitalist-greed-video/

8 Diffen.com,. "Communism Vs Socialism - Difference And Comparison | Diffen". N.p., 2015. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. Link : http://www.diffen.com/difference/Communism_vs_Socialism

9 Brendan, Bordelon . "MSNBC Host Claims Orwell’S Anti-Communist Novel ‘Animal Farm’ Is A Tale Of Capitalist Greed [VIDEO]". The Daily Caller. N.p., 2015. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. Link :

http://dailycaller.com/2014/04/29/msnbc-host-claims-orwells-anti-communist-novel-animal-farm-is-a-tale-of-capitalist-greed-video/

10DR, Cattington . "Was George Orwell A Socialist, Communist Or Capitalist?". Answers.yahoo.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. Link : https://answers.yahoo.com/activity/questions?show=IR4F6FQNKOANIFU6AE3SKSQHO4&t=g

11 I.N, Petro. "In What Ways Does Orwell Criticize Soviet Communism In Animal Farm And To What Extent Is His Analysis Based On Real Historical Events? - College Essay -". Brainia.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 16 Dec. 2015. Link : http://www.brainia.com/essays/In-What-Ways-Does-Orwell-Criticize/96951.html

12 Rhodri, Williams . "Opinions : Essays : Orwell's Political Messages // George Orwell // Www.K-1.Com/Orwell". K-1.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 17 Dec. 2015. Link : http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/site/opinion/essays/rhodi.html

13 George, Soule. "In 1946, The New Republic Panned George Orwell's 'Animal Farm'". New Republic. N.p., 2013. Web. 18 Dec. 2015. Link : https://newrepublic.com/article/114852/1946-review-george-orwells-animal-farm

14 ITIBHAR, Gava. 'An Evaluation Of George Orwell’S Critique Of Communism In ‘Animal Farm’'. pregunta always. N.p., 2014. Web. 20 Dec. 2015. Link: https://preguntaalways.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/an-evaluation-of-george-orwells-critique-of-communism-in-animal-farm/