Animal Farm: Historical Context

"... Orwell said that he wanted to write the book in a simple language because he wanted to tell ordinary English people, who had enjoyed a tradition of justice and liberty for centuries, what a totalitarian system was like. His experience in Spain had shown him 'how easily totalitarian propaganda can control the opinion of enlightened people in democratic countries' and he wrote the book to destroy the 'Soviet myth' that Russia was a truly socialist society ... "

"This study examines George Orwell's Animal Farm as a political satire which was written to criticise totalitarian regimes and particularly Stalin's practices in Russia. It aims to show elements of satire in Animal Farm, and to compare characters, events and some elements of Animal Farm and The Russian Revolution. Orwell clearly explains that his main purpose for writing Animal Farm was to write a satire on the Russian Revolution (Shelden, 1991, p.399). Through animal satire, Orwell attacks Stalin's practices in Russia and in a wider scope, on
totalitarian regimes ... "

"Prior to 1900, Imperial Russia was largely a land of illiterate peasants controlled by the wealthy nobility. Life in the countryside was much like that of the sixteenth century feudal period in central Europe. On the large estates and in the cities, the aristocracy lived rich, wasteful lives. The beginning of the twentieth century saw a slow, subtle change in the conditions of the Russian people as industrialization developed, later than it had in the rest of Europe. In every country it had reached, industrialization had created changes in class structures; this had forced changes in government policies, usually in the form of creation of representative governments."

"In 1913, Tsar Nicholas II celebrated the tercentenary of Romanov rule in Russia. He and his dynasty ruled over a huge empire, stretching from central Europe to the Pacific Ocean and from the Arctic to the borders of Afghanistan ... "

"2. The specific feature of the present situation in Russia is that the country is passing from the first stage of the revolution — which, owing to the insufficient class-consciousness and organisation of the proletariat, placed power in the hands of the bourgeoisie — to its second stage, which must place power in the hands of the proletariat and the poorest sections of the peasants…"

"An interactive timeline recording the events of Animal Farm, linking them to the Russian Revolution ... "

"Propaganda refers to the process of using words, images, and other forms of communication to sway the opinions of others. The term itself derives from a seventeenth-century Roman Catholic initiative to preach its religious faith and convert people to the church. However, long before and long after the term was coined, people have used methods of social persuasion to "sell" ideas and win support for a variety of causes, often involving war and prejudice. In most cases, the propaganda material has been slanted, using manipulated facts and emotional appeals rather than building cases and promoting causes through honest discourse."

"The Nazis effectively used propaganda to win the support of millions of Germans in a democracy and, later in a dictatorship, to facilitate persecution, war, and ultimately genocide. The stereotypes and images found in Nazi propaganda were not new, but were already familiar to their intended audience ... "

"Lenin certainly understood the role of propaganda and determined the newspaper to be one of the most important tools of a propaganda state. The establishment of Pravda was one of the first tasks he undertook when he came into power. Pravda achieved the goals of Bolshevik propaganda by motivating the people and controlling the media available to them ... "

" ... Donald Trump worked to discredit journalists throughout his presidency, labeling the mainstream media biased. His claims of “fake news” have caused large swaths of the public to lose trust in mainstream media. What are the consequences of his actions? ... "

"The president’s full-court press to dominate media and control cultural institutions is straight out of the authoritarian playbook ... "