Bent rules

Communism's principles and ideals are actually noble and fair to all. It disregards class and holds everyone at the same level but Communism as a whole is easily corruptible. The leaders of these states twist words and alter promises to justify their actions that in many occasions directly contradict the beliefs of Communism. This disturbing pattern is apparent in Animal Farm, where the pigs hold all the power and rule with an iron fist. Just as their fellow pig, Old Major, laid the foundation of their new society, the pigs had changed it to to better suit their selfish needs. In page 92, the dictator, Napoleon again saw that recent troubles in the farm was because of his rule so he places the blame not on Snowball, but animals under his rule. “The four pigs waited, trembling, with guilt written on every line of their countenances. Napoleon now called upon them to confess their crimes...When they had finished their confession, the dogs promptly tore their throats out.” The significance of this event is not whether the executed pigs were actually guilty or not but its that this directly counters the sixth commandment of the Seven Commandments of Animal Farm, “No animal shall kill any other animal”. Along with this insolence towards the Commandments, the pigs, especially Napoleon has been altering and interpreting the Seven Commandments to benefit him and his inner circle. Just as he abuses his powers, his public relations pig, Squealer, justifies it to the rest of the naïve animals by saying that the well being of the pigs will trickle down to the rest of the animals, and as always, they believe him.

Communism's Ace in the Hole

The ideals of Communism make sense and seem to benefit all but only in theory does Communism succeed but when put into practice, it always fails. The leaders of any Communist state know of the fatal flaws of Communism but to keep their power they come up with methods to make up for Communism's shortcomings. One way is scapegoating, in every Communist state there is some level of placing the blame on an innocent person or persons to alleviate the pressure from the government. This method is all too apparent in Animal Farm, in pages 81 to 82, the animals had been working on a windmill to increase the production of food and goods. The animals worked and toiled for nearly a year on the project but the windmill was destroyed by a storm. Napoleon, who had taken control of the farm, knew all too well that the windmill's destruction was going to be placed on him but like many of his Communist counterparts he had made a scapegoat out of Snowball. One of the founders of Animal Farm, Snowball was exiled a while for challenging Napoleon's rule but Napoleon told all the animals that he had come back to sabotage all their work and labors. The dumbfounded animals were skeptical at first but then they were swept by the anti-Snowball sentiments and came to believe that Snowball had actually come back to ruin all their work. By doing so, Napoleon had secured his dominance and found a scapegoat thus increasing his power.

Communism's Sprawl

As in Animal Farm, Communist believed that Communism can only be truly successful if it becomes a global endeavor. Wherever Communism was a success, that state sent people to it's neighboring countries and spread the message of Communism as does Animal Farms' main characters Napoleon and Snowball. In pages 54 "Every day Snowball and Napoleon sent out flights of pigeons whose intructions were to mingle with the animals on neighboring farms, tell them the story of the Rebellion, and teach them the tune of The Beasts of England". As Trotsky sent out agents to spread the news of a Soviet Russia, Snowball and Napoleon sent out their own messengers of their success. This method of spreading Communism not through violence or subjugation but through word of mouth turned out to be very frutiful. In the end, this method made Communism a bigger pain than it realyy meant to be .

George Orwell's "Animal Farm" was published in 1945 during Stalin's reign, and Orwell being a British man was barred from releasing "Animal Farm', it was censored to avoid conflict with the Russians who were Britain's ally at the time."Animal Farm" was censored because "Animal Farm" is a satire of Stalin's reign over Soviet Russia. Although "Animal Farm" was and still is a contreversial novel, it is still considered as one of the best English-language novels by Time Magazine. It pokes fun at Communism's fundementals and harshly criticizes its impact on the world. The book points out Communism's flaws and shows how it can never really be an efficient form of government. "Animal Farm" also points out its susceptibility to corruption, its need to oppress and its tendency to collapse on itself and Orwell took all that Communism held sacred and exposed it for what it really is, a misguided ideal and an incompetent form of government.

The Causes of Communism

At the heart of Communism is a yearn for equality and freedom from the oppressive Capitalist agenda. The very fundamentals of Communism are very understandable but this social experiment always ends in disasters. “Let us face it: our lives are miserable, laborious and short. We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies, and those who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength”(p28, Orwell), this passage is part of a speech between Old Major and the rest of the animals in the farm. This passage effectively represents the dilemma that both the overworked laborers and the animals are facing, the exploitation of the masses for the gains of a few. To go about their new governments, both the animals and workers rebelled and overthrew their Capitalist governments and set up a Communist regime to take its place. Although their intentions were good, early Communist did not realize what had to be sacrificed to create a worker's utopia, they had to give up all their civil liberties and basically sacrificed Democracy to set up a Communist state. Both Communism and Democracy are very different but both have the same goal and thats to the universal goal to of equality. Sadly, even with the best intentions, Communism is a very dangerous threat to Democracy because even though both ideals want equality, Communism always gets rid of all civil liberties that Democracy champions to achieve this goal.