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Animal Farm is an allegorical novel by George Orwell, published for the first time in England on August 17, 1945. An allegory is a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning. Allegories can be found in many places such as the Statue of Liberty and many books as well. In Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard for example, floor nineteen’s initial suspicions about the character Alex Fierro, a shapeshifting gender-fluid demigod, could represent America’s efforts to come to terms with and accept its 1.4 million transgender people. However, floor nineteen’s initial hostile attitude towards Alex quickly evolves as they begin to trust him and her and they accept Alex as a part of their team and friend on the battlefield and in life. This could be a possible allegory for a hopeful future for the gender-fluid people of the world.
Orwell wrote “Animal Farm” as an allegory for the Russian Revolution, the rise of the Soviet Union, and Joseph Stalin, the totalitarian dictator of Communist Russia. This was controversial because in 1945 the allied powers (the United States, Great Brittain, and the Soviet Union) were fighting the Axis powers (Europe, Italy and Nazi Germany). Russia was an ally of the United States in 1945, but in the Cold War, the United States had a rivalry with the Soviet Union. By publishing the book in 1944, Orwell wanted to criticize Joseph Stalin’s totalitarian dictatorship. He wrote the book for a wide audience, especially for future generations to be aware of propaganda and the tactics of dictators. Because it has talking animals, it initially comes off as a fable, but the tone quickly shifts into something darker and realistic. Totalitarian dictators learn from each other and they follow a specific playbook to consolidate power, brainwash, and maintain absolute control over their people.
How does Napoleon stay in control? Napoleon uses propaganda, indoctrination, as well as fear and intimidation to stay in charge. Orwell made Napoleon represent and criticize Joseph Stalin but this could also apply to totalitarian dictators in general such as Hitler and Mussolini. These tools described in the book are the same tools that totalitarian dictators have used to consolidate power in the past.
Napoleon uses propaganda to his advantage by making Snowball a scapegoat and uniting the animals by creating a common enemy. First, he claims that Snowball was stealing the corn. Snowball was chased from Animal Farm full of fear and with the implied promise of death if he ever returned. With that in mind, Snowball would have no reason to risk his life just to get some petty revenge. Then, Snowball was accused of breaking the eggs. He was even accused of stealing the keys to the storage shed and even after the “stolen” keys were found, animals continued to blame Snowball. In this, you can see how propaganda has heavily influenced their thoughts. This is because it has been drilled into their minds that Snowball is a bad animal and has been from the start. Napoleon uses the windmill, a freak accident, to confirm that Snowball is the evil animal that Napoleon and Squealer made him out to be. The windmill falling was most likely due to the huge storm that was occurring that same day. Napoleon uses Squealer as his spokes animal. Napoleon dismisses Snowball’s facts as foolishness when he is the one who is feeding the animals lies. This relates to how Joseph Stalin created his pseudo-science and made real science like genetics, forbidden. Adults and children were also all subjected to nonstop propaganda to drill into their minds that Commander Stalin, El Duche, and Führer were always right. El Duche was a title that Mussolini gave himself the same way Führer was a title Hitler gave himself as was Commander Stalin. This is the same as when Napoleon gave himself the title of “Father of All Animals”.
Indoctrination is used when Napoleon takes the puppies away from their parents and raises them to follow his beliefs and do whatever he wants them to do blindly. The puppies grew up separate from the rest of the world and its views. This relates to how Stalin, Mussolini, and Hitler created an army that didn’t question them. They taught their ideas to children of a young age so that they would grow to not think for themselves. In the same way, children are taught right from wrong at a tender age to get it embedded into their minds, these children were taught fascist ideology to have them grow up to become soldiers loyal to their dictators. This ties into propaganda because even when they aren't specifically targeted, by having posters that they can see and calling their dictators by a given title, they are being subjected to propaganda.
Fear and intimidation. Totalitarian dictators use these tools to keep their positions and for a good reason. These tools were extremely useful to them because if their subjects were afraid of them, they wouldn’t rebel. If their subjects began to question them then they would have to resort to propaganda and fear and intimidation. Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini used fear of outside enemies to ensure that they would not be challenged and would stay in complete control. An example of this is when Mussolini marred the election with intimidation and fraud.
Propaganda, indoctrination, as well as fear, and intimidation; are the tools totalitarian dictators rely on. Napoleon represents totalitarian dictators in general and knowing this, it’s easier to see why they and Napoleon all maintained control over a large population of people or in Napoleon’s case, animals. All these people and pigs used these tools and for a time, successfully managed to keep many people and animals on their side and helping them.
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