Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution The years of leading up to the Russian revolution were bleak for the Russian population. Russians were poor, starving, and fed up with the Tsar. The revolution began with the ideas of Lenin, which carried on to Trotsky and ultimately Stalin, who completely changed Russia. The resemblance between these three leaders of the Russian revolution and the three leaders of Animal Farm, Old Major, Snowball, and Napoleon, shows that the movie Animal Farm is an allegory to the Russian Revolution. Old Major, the original leader of Animal Farm, closely resembles Lenin. The most notable similarity is that both Old Major and Lenin are both the original leaders and they both place the idea of revolution into the minds of their followers. Besides the fact that they are the original leaders of their revolutions, Lenin and Old Major share the common ideas of freedom and equality as well. They are also avid believers in the ideas of Karl Marx, who had written about the bourgeois rebelling against the proletariat. Lenin uses the ideas of Karl Marx to encourage the poor and famished workers in Russia to revolt. He promised them peace, land, and bread which are three things the Russians did not have. As a result, Lenin is able to overthrow the tsar and make a socialist government where everyone is equal and everything is owned by the state. Old Major does something similar by convincing the farm animals that removing the humans, who are essentially the proletariat, will remove all problems. Then, Old Major sets new laws prohibiting the farm animals to do certain things, such as trade, and he makes all of the farm animals equal to one another. From many of his ideas, Old Major clearly represents Lenin. Through his actions, Snowball can be related to Trotsky. Snowball is Old Major's successor for a short period of time and he believes in the original ideals set forth by Old Major. Although Trotsky did not become Lenin's successor, he, like Snowball, believes in the original ideals set by the original leader. In Animal Farm, Snowball takes good care of the farm animals. His kindness can be compared to Trotsky, who meant for the best for the Russian people. One example of Snowball's care is when he proposes to lessen the farm animal's work by building a windmill. Another similarity between them is that Snowball constructs an army to defend the farm. Trotsky created the red army, which defends Russia. Unfortunately, like Stalin did to Trotsky, Snowball is run out of animal farm by Napoleon. The final similar character is Napoleon, whose abusive behavior is matched to Stalin.
Napoleon is a cruel leader who uses propaganda, fear, and police to control his subjects. He forces them to work on the farm to sell hay, and he uses the profit to buy alcohol for himself. At the end of the day, the animals return to their homes with no food to eat. Animals who do not follow Napoleon's orders are killed, such as the hens who did not give up their eggs. Eventually, Napoleon creates the windmill and industrializes the farm. Stalin's leadership is more or less the same as Napoleon's. Stalin turned back on many of the policies that were created when Lenin was the leader, and made them work. As Napoleon does in Animal Farm, Stalin starved his people as well. Also similar to Napoleon, Stalin enforced his policies with the use of secret police. Finally, Stalin industrializes Russia with the five year plan, which is comparable to Napoleon's windmill. In a word, the movie Animal Farm can be seen as a parable to the Russian Revolution. The leaders of animal farm, Old Major, Snowball, and Napoleon, perform actions such as starting the revolution, creating an army, and using secret police, that are akin to the actual doings of Lenin, who began the revolution, Trotsky, who created the red army, and Stalin who used secret police to enforce his laws.