HISTORICAL INSPIRATION

FOR ANIMAL FARM

VLADIMIR ILICH “LENIN” ULIANOV
• VLADIMIR LENIN IS GENERALLY SEEN AS THE INSTIGATOR OF
THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION, AND WAS THE ORIGINAL LEADER
OF THE SOVIET UNION UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1924
• HIS DEATH LED TO A SUCCESSION CRISIS, WHICH RESULTED IN
THE EXILE OF HIS FAVOURITE, LEON TROTSKY, AND THE
ASCENT TO POWER OF JOSEPH STALIN
 KARL MARX
• KARL MARX IS THE AUTHOR OF THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO,
WHICH WAS SEEN BY THE SOVIET UNION AS ITS
PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATION.
• KARL MARX ARGUED THAT HISTORY WAS A CYCLE OF CLASS
STRUGGLE, WITH THE UPPER CLASSES ATTEMPTING TO HOLD
ONTO THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION AND THE LOWER CLASSES
ATTEMPTING TO SIEZE THEM.
 OLD MAJOR
• OLD MAJOR, AS THE INSTIGATOR OF THE REVOLUTION ON
ANIMAL FARM AND ITS PHILOSOPHICAL TOUCHSTONE, IS A
COMBINATION OF MARX AND LENIN
• HIS ROUSING SPEECH CAN BE COMPARED WITH THE
COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, OR THE MANY SPEECHES
ORGANISED BY LENIN, WHO WAS AN EXCELLENT ORATOR
• HE IS SEEN AS THE ONLY IDEOLOGICALLY PURE PIG, WITH HIS
PRINCIPLES BEING DISTORTED BY NAPOLEON
 JOSEPH ‘STALIN’ Jughashvili
• A GEORGIAN REVOLUTIONARY WHO ENDED UP AS THE
LEADER OF THE SOVIET UNION AFTER LENIN’S DEATH,
DESPITE NOT BEING FAVOURED BY HIS PREDECESSOR
• HE IS WELL KNOWN FOR THE GREAT PURGES, WHICH WE WILL
DISCUSS LATER, AS WELL AS HIS DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS
WITH NAZI GERMANY AND HIS INVOLVEMENT IN THE ALLIES
DURING WW2
 NAPOLEON
• NAPOLEON IS THE PIG WHO DE FACTO SUCCEEDS OLD MAJOR,
AFTER A POWER STRUGGLE AGAINST HIS ARCH NEMESIS,
SNOWBALL, MIRRORING STALIN’S STRUGGLE AGAINST
TROTSKY
• HE ORGANISES ANIMAL FARM’S SECRET POLICE FORCE, IN THE
FORM OF THE DOGS, IMPOSES RATIONS UPON THE OTHER
ANIMALS AND, WITH THE HELP OF SQUEALER, DISTORTS THE
RULES LAID DOWN BY OLD MAJOR
• HE IS DEPICTED AS BEING IDEOLOGICALLY BANKRUPT
LEON ‘TROTSKY’ BRONSTEIN
• A JEWISH REVOLUTIONARY AND LENIN’S PROTEGE, HE WAS
SEEN AS THE POSSIBLE SUCCESSOR OF THE ORIGINAL SOVIET
LEADER BEFORE HE WAS DRIVEN OUT BY STALIN
• HE WAS DEMONISED BY THE SUBSEQUENT REGIME, BEING
TAKEN OUT OF PHOTOS AND ACCUSED OF HAVING BEEN A
TRAITOR TO THE REVOLUTION
• HE DIED IN EXILE IN MEXICO, HAVING BEEN KILLED BY AN
AGENT OF THE USSR
 SNOWBALL
• ONE OF OLD MAJOR’S ORIGINAL DISCIPLES, SNOWBALL IS AN
IMPASSIONED IDEOLOGUE WHO OFTEN COMES INTO CONFLICT
WITH NAPOLEON, WHICH MIRRORS THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN
TROTSKY AND STALIN
• AFTER HE IS DRIVEN OFF OF ANIMAL FARM, INCREASINGLY
RIDICULOUS LIES ARE TOLD ABOUT HIM, AND HIS
INVOLVEMENT IN THE REVOLUTION. EVERY MISFORTUNE ON
ANIMAL FARM IS BLAMED ON SNOWBALL
 VYACHESLAV MOLOTOV
• MOLOTOV WAS A MEMBER OF THE USSR’S INNER PARTY AND A
DIPLOMAT, WHO GAINED PROMINENCE IN THE 1920S
• HIS MOST FAMOUS ACT OF DIPLOMACY IS THE MOLOTOV-
RIBBENTROP PACT, WHICH ASSURED INITIAL NON-AGRESSION
BETWEEN THE USSR AND NAZI GERMANY, AND ALSO SPLIT
POLAND BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES
 SQUEALER
• SQUEALER IS ONE OF NAPOLEON’S LACKEYS, SERVING MUCH
THE SAME DIPLOMATIC ROLE AS MOLOTOV, WHILE ALSO
ACTING AS A MINISTER OF PROPAGANDA
• HE IS THE PIG RESPONSIBLE WITH PERSUADING THE OTHER
ANIMALS TO ACCEPT ANIMAL FARM’S INCREASINGLY HARSH
CONDITIONS, AS WELL AS THE ONE WHO PHYSICALLY ALTERS
THE COMMANDMENTS
 VLADIMIR MAYAKOVSKY
• VLADIMIR MAYAKOVSKY WAS A MODERNIST POET WHO
SUPPORTED THE SOVIET UNION DURING THE RUSSIAN
REVOLUTION, WRITING SURREAL AND OFTEN HEROIC POEMS
SUCH AS 150 000 000, IN WHICH A RUSSIAN MAN PHYSICALLY
UNITES WITH HALF OF THE PLANET AND DEFEATS AMERICAN
PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON
• AFTER THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION AND THE COMING INTO
POWER OF STALIN, HE FELL FROM THE PARTY’S FAVOUR
 MINIMUS
• MINIMUS IS ANIMAL FARM’S OFFICIAL POET, WHO WRITES THE
MANY ANTHEMS THAT SUCCEED THE ICONIC BEASTS OF
ENGLAND
• LIKE MAYAKOVSKY, HE SUPPORTS THE REGIME THROUGH ART,
THOUGH UNLIKE MAYAKOVSKY HE DOES NOT FALL OUT OF
NAPOLEON’S FAVOUR
 ALEXEY STAKHANOV
• ALEXEY STAKHANOV WAS A RUSSIAN MINER, FAMOUSLY USED
IN RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA AS AN EXAMPLE OF PERSEVERENCE
AND HARD WORK FOR HIS CONSISTENT EXCEEDING OF WORK
QUOTAS
• THE STAKHANOVITE MOVEMENT WAS NAMED AFTER HIM,
WHICH WAS AN ATTEMPT TO GET WORKERS TO EMULATE HIS
DILLIGENCE
 BOXER
• BOXER IS A HORSE LIVING ON ANIMAL FARM, WHO, AFTER THE
REVOLUTION, BECOMES UNQESTIONINGLY LOYAL TO
NAPOLEON
• HE LIVES BY HIS FAMOUS MOTTO, I WILL WORK HARDER, AND
EVEN IN OLD AGE NEVER CEASES TO PROVIDE HIS
DETERMINATION AND DILLIGENCE TO THE PARTY
• HE IS EVENTUALLY BETRAYED BY
NAPOLEON
 OTHER ANIMALS
• MOSES THE CROW PROPBABLY REPRESENTS GRIGORYI
RASPUTIN, A RUSSIAN MONK WHO WAS INFLUENTIAL AT THE
COURT OF THE TSAR, OR THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN
GENERAL. HE IS DEPICTED AS GIVING THE ANIMALS A FALSE
HOPE BY TELLING STORIES OF THE PARADISE-LIKE SUGAR
CANDY MOUNTAIN AND THUS KEEPING THEM FROM RISING UP
• BENJAMIN THE DONKEY REPRESENTS ORWELL HIMSELF,
HAVING GROWN DISILLUSIONED WITH THE SOVIET UNION.
ORWEL’S FRIENDS USED TO REFER TO HIM AS DONKEY
GEORGE, DESPITE HIS REAL NAME BEING ERIC BLAIR
 THE HUMANS
• MR JONES, THE ORIGINAL OWNER OF ANIMAL FARM,
REPRESENTS THE TSAR, WITH HIS FARMHANDS BEING
LOYALISTS
• MR PILKINGTON, A NEIGHBOURING FARM OWNER,
REPRESENTS THE WESTERN WORLD AND MORE SPECIFICALLY
AMERICAN PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON
• MR FREDERICK, A PARTICULARLY BRUTAL NEIGHBOUR OF
ANIMAL FARM, REPRESENTS NAZI GERMANY AND MORE
SPECIFICALLY ADOLF HITLER
 THE BATTLE OF THE COWSHED
• THE BATTLE OF THE COWSHED, WHICH IS THE ATTEMPTED
RETURN OF MR JONES WITH THE HELP OF THE OTHER
FARMERS, REPRESENTS THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR AND THE
VARIOUS COUNTER-REVOLUTIONS AGAINST THE SOVIET
UNION, AS WELL AS THE INVOLVEMENT OF FOREIGN POWERS
IN THE CONFLICT
• THE WHITES IN THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR WERE SPLIT INTO
VARIOUS CAMPS, BUT ALL WERE WORKING IN TANDEM WITH
MONARCHISTS
 BATTLE OF THE WINDMILL
• THE BATTLE OF THE WINDMILL WAS THE ATTEMPTED
INVASION OF MR FREDERICK, WHICH DESTROYED MUCH OF
ANIMAL FARM’S INFRASTRUCTURE
• THIS IS A REFERENCE TO THE DEVASTATING EASTERN FRONT
OF WORLD WAR TWO, KNOWN IN THE SOVIET UNION AS THE
GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR, DURING WHICH INITIAL GERMAN
VICTORIES DESTROYED MUCH OF WESTERN RUSSIA
 THE KGB
• THE KGB WERE THE SECRET POLICE FORCE OF THE SOVIET
UNION, RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ARREST OF POLITICAL
PRISONERS, SURVEILLANCE AND ASSASSINATIONS.
• THEY PLAYED A POWERFUL ROLE IN USSR POLITICS UNTIL ITS
LAST YEARS
 THE DOGS
• EARLY ON IN THE STORY, THE DOGS BLUEBELL AND JESSIE
GIVE BIRTH TO NINE PUPPIES, WHICH NAPOLEON TAKES AWAY
FROM THEIR PARENTS TO RAISE PERSONALLY
• ALTHOUGH MUCH OF THEIR INDOCTRINATION HAPPEN IN THE
BACKGROUND, BY THE TIME THEY BECOME RELEVANT TO THE
STORY THEY ARE DANGEROUS AND FIERCELY LOYAL TO
NAPOLEON, ACTING AS EXECUTIONERS IN HIS PURGES