Different social classes in totalitarian communism

Animal farm, the dystopian allegoric novell which depics the harshness suffered
by the working class during the Russian Revolution, in 1917, when the tsars
were fled and the totalitarian states with communist leaders such as Trotsky
were established. When Tsar Nicholas II abdicated (Mr. Jones) he hoped to avoid
Civil War which anyway arrived. During his reign, thousands of peoples lives
got worse, so Russians saw in communism and its leaders a chance to end up
with status differences and to live in a more fair society. Whats interesting is
how George Orwell achieves to show how the rebellion starts like a huge
success, as the Russian Revolution did but also how soon communisms idea of
being all equal transforms by means of leaders corruption, into what I
would call: being all equal EXCEPT us (leaders) . George Orwell adapts the
historic background to a farm with animals which plan to rebel against their
human master, Mr. Jones lost in luxury ends up being an alcoholic and not
taking care of his farm . Orwell also criticizes the communist leaders through
the pigs attitudes and their manipulation of the less intelligent animals,
representing the proletariat group. Yet, in a society were all should be equal
Orwell shows us how there are animals which work harder than others but who
enjoy less benefits. For example Boxer; he woke up earlier than anyone, worked
harder and better than anyone and was paid off with little food while the
pigs( who represent the Communist Party Leaders; Trotsky and Lenin) enjoyed
luxurious lives drinking alcohol or sleeping inside Mr. Jones old house.
The first scene gives us the idea that the Marxist idea of communism will work
perfectly for the farm since their master is giving them little food, and life isnt
being enjoyed. Old Major, the pig which represents Karl Marx carefully explains
what animals in the farm felt: our life are miserable, laborious and short
(page 8) they did not live freely but were slaves of work, of men, they believed
they had no choice. Man is the only creature that consumes without
producing [] yet he is lord of all animals (page 9). Animals were tired of
working for someone who lived on expenses of their production, they felt used
and fooled. Mr. Jones enclosures then, the first group: the tsars. He owns the
animals, they work for him and he doesnt take care nor feeds them well
but spends the incomes in alcohol or any kind of goods. In Russia, the tsars
lived this way, part of what people earned went for them and they would not
reinvest it in economy or repairs but spend it in alcohol.
Orwell perfectly represents the Communist Party Leaders ideals and dreams.
How? He keeps it simple, he from the beginning shows how Napoleon,
Snowball, and Squealer want to take profit from the rest of the animals. The
fact that animals wont be educated, shows how perverse communist leaders
were. If only pigs knew how to read and write, then the rest of the animals
would be tied to trust what they were told, they became non-thinkers. The
same happened in Russia, having such powerful leaders, education as put

behind and work was prioritized, the proletariat groups would not realize that
behind these, personal interests were
The proletariats are represented by the stupidest animals of the farm; hens,
sheep, donkey, horses. Orwell does not show them uneducated for no reason
but to let us see the importance of reading and writing in life. Why? Because
pigs were able to manipulate them, tricking them with games of words in the
Seven Commandments. No animal shall sleep in beds was changed for No
animal shall sleep in a bed WITH SHEETS, as animals did not have good
memory nor knew how to read nor write, they just believed what Napoleon told
them. Squealer, representing the media brainwashed the animals, confusing
them and making them believe what he wanted. In Russia propaganda was
really strong and for the illiterate the drawings, cartoons would mean more
than a hundred words and they would end up trusting the leaders.
Orwell shows us that the utopian society is not reached, far from that the pighumans, (since we can no longer tell one from each other) have put their
personal aims on top of those important for which society must fight for. He
wisely describes throughout the allegory how the working class is silently
suffering, without complaining and the perverse end of Boxer has a deep
meaning, once the worker is no longer useful its thrown away like trash. You,
Boxer, the very day that those great muscles of yours lose their power, Jones
will sell you to the knacker (p. 10) Old Major was not wrong, its Marxs voice
speaking and Boxer did end up that way. We can understand then, why Orwell
represents the working class so insistently, tired of ruling classes hypocrisy he
wants to give a voice for lower class people to speak up their silent thoughts.
Communist leaders had no shame in using violent methods in order to have
everyone under their control, going no further the disuse of Beasts of England
and disintegration of The Seven Commandments lets us see how the true
cause of the Rebellion has been forgotten. No animal shall kill any other
animal, without a cause. The sudden change in this commandment was due
to the killing of the hens, to calm down the horrified animals and make them
believe that what was done was not against the commandments. Orwell fights
for the lower classes which at first not knew their submission to the rich
classes, as well as the animals not knew they were being Napoleon slaves.
Representing them and getting to show them their strength he is able to give
them a chance for change.