In this report, I will be relating the novel ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell with the concept of Totalitarianism, fascism and socialism. Animal farm is a fable, a satire, where many characters are related to historical figures of Imperial Russia and the Soviet society. The characters in Animal farm can be related Stalin and Trotsky. Readers can draw parallels between Napoleon and Stalin, and snowball and Trotsky. Just as Stalin and Trotsky played a major role in the Russian revolution, the two pigs played the same role while taking over the farm from Mr. Jones.
When we start stating the characteristics of totalitarianism, and relate them to the opinions of different philosophers, the first one being Aristotle. Aristotle’s view on slavery was that the lower class was supposed to serve as slaves to the elite. Just when Napoleon takes over the animal farm and starts sowing his hypocrisy and makes all the other animals except the pig’s work, to fulfill his hunger and needs. When we talk about Heraclitus Cosmic forces concerned him more than the political forces. He divided mankind into moral and intellectual elite. The third one being Plato, he saw no conflict between the interests of the individual and that of the state, as he believed the characteristics of the individuals in the society determined those of the state. Plato and Aristotle were on the same page, when they believed that the Rulers would eventually deceive the society they were ruling. Machiavelli, on the other hand stated that the state was a mere instrument for the ruler; that the political power would be the destruction of the state. Just as the pigs used intelligence and education as tools for oppressing all the other animals, when they stated the seven rules, they changed them according to their convenience as all the other animals could not read. He thought that a government was necessary to control people and the activities in the society and that a totalitarian government would be the best choice. Machiavelli supported the autocratic regime compared to the republic regime.
Next in line comes the concept of Fascism, which is when a state is not ruled by one, but a group of people/ class of people. It is the privileged class who usually rules the society. The two principal manifestations of fascism stated by Andrew Heywood were Mussolini’s Fascist dictatorship and Hitler’s Nazi dictator- ship in Germany. In the book, the pigs are the powerful ones who could rule over other animals, by saying that they were the brains behind the whole project and slowly turned from leaders to rulers. The reader of the would understand the negative effects of fascism, as Orwell displayed it in a negative light.
According to Andrew Heywood, Socialism was born as a reaction against industrial capitalism. Socialism, according to my understanding of the reading means, something quite similar to communism but much more effective. Society should work together to be more efficient and provide more, to support the community. As the last commandment stated that all animals were equal, socialism’s motif is for everyone in the community to be equal. The animals at the farm all worked together and received equal benefits. Orwell must have chosen the concept to show his support towards this concept, but slowly the farm starts to become more fascist; which promotes that a community should share and everyone should receive equal benefits. Under socialism, there is a broad topic mentioned by Heywood, Marxism which should replace capitalism and eventually in the future, will.
Anarchism, one of the many concepts stated by Heywood, is an ideology which proves that the political authority in any form, especially the state, is unnecessary. Anarchists think that the authority is a violation to freedom. Anarchists such as William Godwin believes that human beings alone would be able to handle their matters peacefully. In my opinion, if anarchism was applied while building the windmill, it would have been a peaceful matter, rather than the pigs being autocratic and ruling over all the other animals.
In my view, feminism, one of the political ideologies mentioned by Heywood, plays a part in the book Animal farm. Feminism aims at advancing the social roles of women in the society. In the book, the pigs are portrayed as patriarchal because there is an instance in the book where the hens are ordered to produce 400 eggs a week, which shows as they were just used to generate income. The book also portrays, Molly, the only female character highlighted in the story as less intelligent and ignorant.
After Heywood, the next reading stated Locke’s concept of Tyranny. Tyranny is usage of power to accomplish selfish motives and desires. It is not the use of law, but usage of one’s power and will to carry out actions. Locke has used excerpts from King James 1 to highlight his point. His aim is to bring out the difference between a lawful king and a tyrant man, the former follows laws for public good whereas the latter uses his will to satisfy their desires. The major example of tyranny in Animal farm is when Napoleon calls a meeting which stats with the pigs asking all the animals to commit to any bad crimes, and if they did so, their throats were ripped off by dogs, which cost many animals their lives. After this incident, the animals in the barn struggled to be comfortable and worked even harder for Napoleon because they feared being killed in a brutal way by Napoleon.
The next concept given by Locke is ‘the dissolution of government’, which is forming a new government. When the state stops acting in favour of the society, it might as well be replaced. This happens when the legislation breaches it functions and the executive does not perform its duties. When a government is impeached or dissolved, people can recreate it by choosing a state that works in their favour and best interests. In the book, the animals overthrow Mr. Jones and for their animal farms, where at first, they are their own bosses and everything works in their favour. Locke argues that, dissolving a government will protect the system from rebellion.
Karl Marx, is next, where in his reading he makes everyone look at the question of power, equality and how these factors can bring about the society to change. Marx pointed out the difference between natural constrains and social constraints. Under feudalism, the wealth and the class of people determined how much they needed to work, to earn a living. Karl Marx argued, that the organization of labor led to inequalities. Marx also thought that religion and politics came after the production and distribution of resources. Marx understood the stages of history as modes of production; communism, feudalism and capitalism. And the forces of production were basically the technical, scientific and material parts of the economy. There were constrains on surplus, the relations of production justified how the surplus is taken from the people who produce it and the and who got to decide where the surplus would be used. Capitalism, did not clear such relations out, as it wasn’t legally defined. But in feudalism, being a lord or a peasant had a hierarchy and the hierarchy was legally defined. The concept of capitalism, where there was no hierarchy in the animal farm amongst the animals, turned into feudalism as the pigs became the lords and all the other animals had to obey to them and the pigs decided where the surplus would go and how the resources were divided. When Marx looked at industrial capitalism; and divided it into two main classes, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. The proletariat were the ones who made goods out of resources but never owned them, and the bourgeoisie did. It’s the difference in who controls the means of production, that lead to exploitation in capitalism. The pigs are the bourgeoisie class, whereas all the other animals were proletariats. The proletariats did not have means to the resources, so the only thing they could sell, was labor. They were being way less than what they produced, the gap between the value of wage and of what’s produced was the surplus.
According to Orwell, humans all practice capitalist policies. The animals who try to escape this, get trapped into it again because of Napoleon, who makes the farm a slave society and all the animals have to work hard to earn their reward.
The novel ends with the pigs taking over not only the farm, but adapting all the traits of their oppressors and follow the same practices to oppress all the other animals. The seven laws are reduced to single law- All Animals Are Equal / But Some Are More Equal Than Others. In the end, the pigs cannot differ between the pigs and the humans.
Bibliography
• Animal Farm, George Orwell
• John Locke, second treatise of government
• Karl Marx, Manifesto of the communist party
• Paul M Hayes, Fascism
Submitted by
TANVI SHETH
20171476
BBA LLB Sec A