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Joseph Stalin's life
Stalin was born in Gori, Russia on December 21, 1879. He had a tough childhood where his father died when he was young and his mother was a vicious, hard-working woman[2]. Since he was young, he enjoyed reading Marxist literature and later quit school to join the underground Marxist movement in Tpillsi in 1899. He was active in the Marxist group for many years and was sent to Siberia on several occasions. [3] In 1922, he was awarded with the unimportant position of the general security, where he was able to build a base of support for his future powers.[1] When Lenin died in 1924, Stalin declared himself as the official ruler of the Communist Party. As Stalin was in control of the Bolsheviks who caused the regime of terror and caused many deaths, peasants and citizens obeyed Stalin's decision largely due to fear and terror. Stalin had used many ways to gain power over his comrades where he came up with the “Five Year Plan” and “Collectivization”.[4] Another way that his thoughts changed from his original opinions influenced by Karl Marx was that he now believed that "modern economy required a high degree of power in the centre"[5] which put him in higher power. Stalin died in 1953.
Relation with animal farm
The novel Animal Farm by George Orwell was well known for portraying the events and people from the Russian Revolution. The powerful Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was portrayed by the pig named Napoleon. Napoleon was the leader of the Manor Farm, which was named Animal Farm after the revolution occurred. In the novel, Animal Farm was the allegory of the Russia in history. Napoleon and Stalin were similar in many ways. Both leaders portrayed the idea of communism in his leadership role. Stalin was one of the most notorious dictators of Russia, whilst Napoleon was considered as the best leader of Animal Farm and his followers believe that anything he did was correct, just as Stalin was idolized within the Russian population. [6] Napoleon eliminated his oppositions with similar cruelty as Stalin did in the Russian revolution. Leon Trotsky, who disapproved of Stalin’s actions and Snowball who opposed to Napoleon’s ideas were both destroyed by the leader of the revolution. Furthermore, both leaders also used violence and threats to control their followers who did not entirely agree to them, where Stalin was in charge of the Bolsheviks and Napoleon had the power of the pack of dogs on the farm to aid him.
why did orwell allegorize stalin? was he successful?
In Animal Farm, Orwell chooses to use Napoleon's character to reveal the hypocrisy of Stalin. He is used in the novel as a criticism towards Stalin's actions during the Russian Revolution which could be the possible cause of failure of the revolution. Orwell effectively expresses this opinion through the actions of Napoleon where the pigs denounced capitalism and advertised communism at the start of Animal Farm but gradually became more obsessed with the privileges that their power has brought him such as extra food and profit. He soon brings in more and more privileges for himself through justification.[7] Napoleon’s character successfully allegorized Stalin as it showed the ruthless and manipulative characteristics in Napoleon which can be found within Stalin too.