The original title, Animal Farm: A Fairy Story
On July 3, I was talking to a friend who mistrusts politics
of every kind. After thinking about what he said, I realized the George
Orwell’s book Animal Farm agreed with him. I re-read Orwell’s tale,
alternately laughing and cringing at this dark view of human nature.
The original title was Animal Farm: A Fairy Story.
Like many other tales in this genre, before Disney, this fairy tale ends sadly.
Animal Farm can be read as a very good re-telling of
the history of the Soviet Union from the death of Lenin until the end of World
War II. For years after the death of
Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky fought for control. Trotsky was a revolutionary
idealist. Stalin was ruthless. Stalin won.
And over time, Stalin erased the memory of Trotsky and other heroes of the
Revolution.
Orwell’s tale also describes the fate of nearly all
revolutions except the American Revolution.
I will be writing later about Hannah Arendt’s book On Revolutions.
She explains why America did not descend into the fate of France, Russia, and
nearly every revolution of the last two centuries.
In the revolt on the Manor Farm, the animals throw the
farmer off his land and run the farm themselves. The pigs are the cleverest creatures and take
over management of the farm. At first
they set up a socialist utopia, but strife begins, especially between the two
pigs vying for leadership: Napoleon (Stalin) and Snowball (Trotsky). Eventually
Napoleon trains attack dogs and exiles Snowball. He continues to consolidate pig power, until
finally the pigs make friends with their human neighbors and oppress the rest
of the animals as badly as the humans.
After overthrowing the Tsar, the common people of Russia
ended up with worse oppression in the form of the Soviet Union. By the end of Animal
Farm the animals other than pigs were worse off than they were under the
farmer.
My friend’s view of politics is vindicated in Orwell. Checks and balances are all that stands
between any nation and its own Animal Farm. Orwell said his goal in
writing was to promote Democratic Socialism. He wanted to ensure no ruler could
consolidate absolute power, left or right.
So I can read Orwell as a call to go and fight for
democracy. My friend can read Orwell as a parable of why political involvement
will lead nowhere good.
We both agreed in our conversation, that the history of the
Church taking power was simply bad.
Every government run in God’s ends with people saying they are doing
God’s will when they crush others.
In Animal Farm the pigs set up a government based on
Seven Commandments of how animals should behave. Over time the pigs violate,
rewrite and finally erase all of the commandments and replace it with a new
one:
All animals are equal, but some animals are more
equal than others.
--> Every theocracy, every tyranny, every authoritarian government could use this motto.
