Characters, items, and events found in George Orwells book, Animal Farm can be compared to similar characters, items, and events found in the 1917 Russian Revolution. This comparison will be shown by using characters in the book and people in the history if the Russian Revolution and showing their similarities.

Old Major s role can be compared to Lenin and Marx whose ideas were to lead to the communist revolution. Like Old Major, Lenin and Marx wrote essays and gave speeches to the working class people. The working class in Russia, as compared with the barnyard animals in Animal Farm, were a laboring class of people that received low wages for their work. Like the animals in the farm yard, the people in Russia thought that there would be no oppression in a new society because the working class people (or animals) would own all the riches and hold all the power.

Farmer Jones role compares to the Czar Nicholas II. Czar Nicholas II treated his people like Farmer Jones treated his animals. The animal rebellion on the farm was started because Farmer Jones was a drunk who never took care of the animals, he came home one night, left the gate open, forgot to feed the animals and the animals rebelled. Czar Nicholas II made his working class people very mad at him with the way he wielded his authority and preached all the time, and the people suffered and finally demanded reform by rebelling. The Czar said The law will hence forward be respected and obeyed not only by the nation but also the authority that rules it - and that the law would stand above the changing views of the individual instruments of the supreme power.

The animal Napoleon can be compared as a character representing Joseph Stalin in Russia. Both were very mean looking, didn t talk very much but always got what they wanted through force. Stalin became the Soviet Leader after the death of Lenin. He was underestimated by his opponents who always became his victims, and he had one of the most ruthless, regimes in history. In was not till very many years later that the world found out about the many deaths that Stalin created in Russia during the Revolution. For almost 50 years the world thought that the Nazis had done the killing in Russia, when in fact it was Stalin. Napoleon used dogs, Moses and Squealer to control the animals and often used the dogs to kill other animals to get more power.

The animal Snowball can be compared as a character representing Leon Trotsky in Russia. Snowball was very enthusiastic and was a leader who organized the defense of the farm. He gave speeches and instructions but was not very beneficial. All the other animals liked him, but he was outsmarted by Napoleon. Trotsky and Stalin s relationship was very much like Snowball s and Napoleon's. Trotsky organized the Red Army and gave speeches and everyone in Russia thought he would win power over Stalin. After Lenin s death Trotsky lost all his power to Stalin and was expelled from the communist party. He was at one time considered the second most powerful man in Russia.

Besides characters there are many items that can be compared as symbols in the book and in Russia. The whip that Napoleon used in the farmyard to wield power can be compared to the power that Stalin used on the Russians. Napoleon carried a whip in his trotter. Stalin used his power to starve the Russian people and to have Lenin arrested. Stalin s main goal was to maximize his personal power. Stalin whipped his people into shape by police terror, and by destroying remnants of individual prosperity. Propaganda is another item that was used in the Russian revolution. It can be compared to Squealer in Animal Farm. Squealer brainwashed the barnyard animals into believing that they did not like apples and milk, while he and Napoleon were stealing the food for themselves. In Russia, the Bolsheviks carried out propaganda on the people by passing out leaflets and putting stories in the newspapers that were not true. They told workers, soldiers, and peasants to not trust their own hands and to take away land from the landowners. Another item that is similar in both Animal Farm and Russia are the dogs and the secret police. Napoleon trained his dogs when they were puppies to guard him and to obey his every command. They chased Snowball away. Stalin trained his secret police to do his bidding whenever he issued an order. Stalin had his secret police kill between 60,000 to 70,000 people. These police were called the Checka.

The was some similarity of events that took place in Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution. The windmill that is present in Animal Farm can be compared with the growth of industry in Russia or the Industrial Revolution. Snowball first introduced the windmill concept to the farm but Napoleon disagreed with him and had the dogs chase him away. Napoleon then presented the windmill as a good idea and the animals were presented with hope that things would get better on the farm. When it blew down, Napoleon blamed it on Snowball. Napoleon thought that if he could keep the barnyard animals busy all the time replacing he windmill that they would not realize how bad their living conditions were, and he could blame the destruction all the time on Snowball. The windmill is the only thing that was holding the animals together as a unit. In Russia the growth of factory and industry was very depressing but depended on the obligatory labor of serfs. Russia hoped that by keeping the serfs working all the time and promising them a better world that they would not realize how bad their living conditions were. The Industrialists were pressing their own constitutional demands. None of the social classes were fighting each other because there were no classes left. What Russia got working was to make the people think that the prospect of loss of potential improvements in conditions of life of the here and now, could only be attained by stimulating labor to unprecedented efforts. The last event that was similar in the book and in Russia was the animal rebellion on the farm and the Russian Revolution of 1917. Farmer Jones was drunk a lot and would forget to feed the animals on the farm. The withholding of this food is what finally forced the animals on the farm to rebel against Farmer Jones. In Russia, there were many food shortages which caused the people to demonstrate and then the Russian soldiers refused to suppress them and the leaders demanded that Nicholas transfer his power to parliamentary government because everything was getting out of control. Soviet workers and soldiers formed a special committee and established a government. The same day the emperor abdicated.

Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution s characters, items, and events have many things in common. Animal Farm shows the history of the Russian Revolution in a novel that is fun to read for all ages.