Russia 1894-1945 and Beyond
Why begin here? George Orwell wrote his novel during WWII between November 1943-February 1944 in order to, in his words, expose the Soviet myth in a story that could be easily understood. To understand his story, we have to understand the history he was reacting to.
Getting the terms straight Both terms below are a reaction against CAPITALISM where property and the means of production are privately owned. In capitalism, individualism and competition are valued above the collective group working to help each other.. Socialism ofocused on general welfare and cooperation instead of individualism and competition ogovernment directs production of goods oworkers have equal access to resources and earn money based on the amount of labor they do ononviolent Communism oworkers own all property and resources as a community oall wealth is shared equally Social and economic status of all is the same ogovernment is unnecessary oonly way to reach is through violent rebellion
Where did these ideas come from? Karl Marx othe Father of Communism wrote the Communist Manifesto in 1848 ocalled for destroying people in power through revolution to replace capitalism with communism o Workers of the world unite take over gov t.
Monarchy in Russia and Czar Nicolas II Russia was an absolute monarchy from 1801-1917. oall land belongs to czar onobles run country opeasants have no rights okeep out all new ideas from the west so Russia falls far behind the rest of the world Nicolas II ruled from 1894-1917 and was the last czar in Russia.
Who revolted against the monarchy? Russian Social Democratic Workers Party (RSDWP) forms against monarchy -- party splits in 1902 omansheviks want peasants to lead revolt for themselves obolsheviks want intellectuals to lead the revolt and create a Marxist state for the peasants Vladimir Lenin becomes leader of Bolsheviks
Causes of the Revolution Sick of fighting in WWI population AND military blame czar for poor performance Food shortages Job shortages Inflation cost of everything REALLY high Buildings, houses, and roads all falling apart All power with Nicholas II
How it happened February 1917 workers and military revolt, Nicholas II is forced to give up all power otemporary democracy forms - NO problems are solved October 1917 Bolshevik Revolution olenin leads the revolution in the capitol and takes over on Oct 25 only 20 die, temporary democracy disbanded oczar Nicholas II and family executed o White Russians wealthy class who knew their way of life would end flee to other countries ogoal had been to start a world revolution - Russian Civil War had to be crushed first (lasts until 1921)
Vladimir Lenin Russia became communist under his dictatorship Moved the capital to Moscow and took up residence at the Kremlin (where czars used to live becomes center of Russian Government) Ruled by force Renamed Russia the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) Dies January 1924
Who will take over after Lenin? Leon Trotsky Lenin's #2 man Brilliant speaker, educated Pure communist, followed Marx International outlook advocated helping push for a world revolution Can t get enough support to come to power Joseph Stalin "Man of steel" Not a good speaker, not educated like Trotsky Says he wants more free market economy to help growth Hides his more violent side and his desire for power Gets enough support to become General Secretary of Communist Party
Stalin in Power Uses power as General Secretary to appoint his own men to all positions Accused Trotsky of being a spy and had him exiled and murdered Becomes dictator in 1929 Works to create true socialism through Five Year Plans orapid industrial development to modernize farming and increase production o300% growth in economy ocollectivization government owns all land and crops rather than workers
Stalin Continued Created KGB o Police force to do his dirty work constantly threatening and spying on people to make them act as they should Show trials oany accused of acting against the government got a fast trial, in private, without a jury, and only a judge to decide oforced to confess oexecuted within 24 hours Great Purge omass imprisonment in work camps (gulags) oexecutions to destroy political opposition (and at times supporters) oquotas of how many to be killed
Getting the people on his side: Stalinist Propaganda False information used to manipulate and persuade people to support Stalin Speeches, radio, film, posters, flyers, etc. Pravda otranslates to Truth orussian newspaper Stalin took over in 1930s to print whatever he wanted Frequent target organized religion oridiculed by Communist government as something that would die away onot favored because it had power over people and therefore threatened rule
Rapid Industrialization Marxist idea most efficient way to run an economy is produce, produce, PRODUCE Stalin decided that to compete with other countries, the USSR would have to work FAST (Five Year Plan). Failed miserably! oconstant economy of shortages
And what about the proletariat (workers) this was all for? Lives stayed the same or got worse - life all about labor. Realized the unfairness of communism but had no idea how to rebel. Blindly followed each new leader othe older generation knew the gov t was wrong but realized it would be temporary, so they waited instead of rebelling.
Stalin: Back and forth between enemy and friend Signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler in 1939 promised not to invade Germany and not to help the Allies ohitler invaded Russia anyway in 1941 Tehran Conference Stalin switches to the Allies onovember 1943, Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill agree that Stalin will fight Germany in the East and the rest will take back France in the West. Point at which Orwell becomes REALLY frustrated and begins to write Animal Farm!
George Orwell: Animal Farm In order to write about the Soviet Union without being accused of siding with the Nazis (as the USSR was one of the Allies), Orwell used the farm in his novel to loosely disguise his criticisms. Orwell insisted on sharing the truth, or his view of it, even though no one wanted to hear it. In addition to his novel, he published an essay on how politicians use language to deceive people. The result? Politicians were not a fan of Orwell!
George Orwell: Animal Farm In his essay "Why I Write" (1946), he wrote that Animal Farm was the first book in which he had tried, with full consciousness of what he was doing "to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole." It was initially rejected by a number of British and American publishers, including one of Orwell's own publishers. It became a great commercial success when it did finally appear partly because the Cold War so quickly followed World War II...which Orwell himself kind of foreshadowed in the book itself. Time magazine chose the book as one of the 100 best Englishlanguage novels (1923 to 2005).
Animal Farm published in 1945... Orwell s still, small voice has also made itself continuously heard in its own quiet, persistent, almost nagging way... Already in a score of countries and a dozen languages Animal Farm has made its peculiar mark...; and the political flavor of its message... has not been lost in the translation (Woodhouse 1954).