" I believe in only one thing, the power of human will". - Joseph Stalin
JOSEPH STALIN (1879-1953)
Introduction
In Georgia, Russia on December 21st, 1879, a frail child that was prone to bad health was born. This unhealthy child grew up to be one of the most ruthless and murderous dictator in history, ruler of the Soviet Union for twenty five years, the cause of the suffering and deaths of millions. His name was Joseph Stalin ("Joseph Stalin (1879 - 1953)," n.d.). As a child, he lived a very horrendous life because poverty suffered by Russian peasants (Simkin, 2013), perhaps what fueled his desire for a revolutionary change. He devoted his years at a theological seminary to build up an underground revolutionary movement, and after the Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917, his position soon escalated from underground existence to being appointed general secretary of the communist party, a post which gave him leverage over his opponents and gained him a base of support (2013).
Early Life
In the wake of Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin effectively became the dictator of the Soviet Union and defeated all his opponents. One change he made was to swap Lenin’s New Economic Policy with socialist policies that he thought would help the country. While his program of swift industrialization acquired success in productivity, the population suffered "immensely from his collectivization of agriculture" (Joseph Stalin, n.d) and the great purges of the 1930s. Stalin “died of a stroke on 5 March 1953" (n.d) after ruling over most of Eastern Europe following the World War Two.
Connection to Novel
One of the major players in the Russian Revolution, Stalin is represented as as Napoleon the pig in Animal Farm. Napoleon bides his time after Major’s death then emerges as the farm’s dictator, restoring to violence to determine absolute control over the animals. Napoleon is portrayed by Orwell as a selfish being who’s only concern is himself and has no respect for making plans for the farm’s benefit. This is shown when he urinates on Snowball’s windmill plan, emphasizing his vicious and unsophisticated character. Similar to Stalin’s secret police, Stalin uses his trained dogs to destroy all opposition, to ensure absolute control over the animals, highlighting his brutal personality. Correspondingly, they both invert their original ideology (Marxism and Animalism) and resort to intimidation to get to their goals. In the last chapter of Animal Farm, we see that the revolution has not changed anything, yet the animals still dream of living in peace one day. Orwell writes the pig’s final betrayal of Animalism in a ironic tone, but the remaining hope shows that he too believes that the world will one day be free of totalitarian leaders. As readers, we are horrified when we see that the pigs are indistinguishable from the humans, therefore Orwell has done a good job highlighting the absolute brutality that becomes of totalitarian leaders.