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what is propaganda?
Propaganda is a system that is designed to indoctrinate people and was found to be used since the time of wars. It uses a variety of different media tools such as videos, images and more visual aspects to persuade the audience of the propaganda to think, believe or follow the main purpose of the propaganda. Propaganda will often use information and ideas to persuade the audience by pointing out the logic and benefits of the main purpose.[14] Propaganda tries to replace poor causes and theories with what is believed to be better and tries to persuade audience that the new theory is better than the previous one.[15] The most famous use of propaganda was during the time of Adolf Hitler. Hitler used propaganda to express his hatred towards Jewish people was proved to be very effective as it caused his country to support his ideas and was also one of the caused of World War 2.[16]
relation with animal farm
Propaganda was heavily used in both George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm and during the time of the Russian Revolution. As Animal Farm was intended to be an allegory of the Russian Revolution, both uses of propaganda were similar in many ways. Firstly, propaganda was heavily used in the Russian Revolution by the Bolsheviks: posters and images were used to communicate their words with the Russian population as Russia’s literacy rate at that time was very low. The Bolsheviks used pictures and cartoons which was effective.[17] There were many posters that covered as much of Russia as possible as posters were simple and fast to produce.The main reason for the Bolsheviks’ use of propaganda was to declare their laws and rules to the Russian population and their authority of the Russian Revolution. [18] Similarly in Animal Farm, propaganda was mostly used by the pigs, with Squealer in particular to keep the pigs on the farm in power. Propaganda was proved to be very effective in occasions such as the creation of the windmill. The idea was originally suggested by Snowball, but later had been announced by the pigs that the idea was created by Napoleon. Later on, it also allowed Napoleon to persuade the animals that Snowball was the reason their hard work of the windmill was wasted and Snowball was the reason of all the negative aspects of their lives.[19] The pigs also used propaganda to benefit themselves in times such as having to do less work, gaining most of the apples and milk on the farm and having the luxury of living in the farmhouse. They used propaganda to persuade the animals that whilst they get all the benefits on the farm, they were the cause of all the animal’s freedom.[20] The similarity of the use of propaganda in both revolutions was to benefit a single party and influence the less educated to believe that the particular party in power was always correct.
WHY DID ORWELL ALLEGORIZE propaganda? WAS HE SUCCESSFUL?
Orwell chooses to represent the use of propaganda in the novel as it is a powerful tool used by the figures of authority from both the revolutions to indoctrinate the others to believe that the party leadership is always right. Orwell also describes the use of propaganda to criticize the inefficient use of propaganda to brainwash others which defeats the original purpose of persuasion. Orwell was successful in describing the propaganda used in Animal Farm which reflected the Russian Revolution's use of propaganda. He was effective as the propaganda in the novel was designed to hide the true intentions of the authority figures, which is similar to the purpose of propaganda used in reality.