Stone Washington
We the people vs. we the animals
By Stone Washington
All animals are eqval, bvt some animals are more eqval than others.
~ George Orwell, Animal Farm (1945)
Prologue to 'We the Animals'
Although the novel Animal Farm written almost 70 years ago by the prodigious master of dystopian classics George Orwell, even in 2013 his book seems almost prophetic to me in its forward-thinking vision. Remember when Orwell wrote Animal Farm in 1945 Europe lay in smoldering ashes at the end of World War II and the defeat of the Axis Powers – Hitler's Nazis, Hirohito's Japan and Mussolini's fascists. For within this complex classic lies many cryptic symbols that then represented the time of the encroaching Soviet Russia with the hammer and sickle to now morph into what Jonah Goldberg called "liberal fascism" – a giant yellow smiley face with a Hitler mustache. By using critical analogy one can easily understand the obvious messages Orwell's Animal Farm wanted us to learn in the twenty-first century.
The story of Animal Farm was written by George Orwell who modeled the story on the events of the Bolshevik Revolution (1917-21) where Russian peasants overthrew the Monarchy in favor of socialism, a suppressive system where nothing is owned individually and everything is shared through the community. Orwell compares the first leader pig ('Old Major'), to the father of Marxism and the diabolical, socialist tyrant, Karl Marx (1818-83), who believed that human society will prosper only through the clash between the workers who provide for the business (proletariat), and the ownership class, those who regulate the business and reign over the working class (bourgeoisie).
Equality vs. Egalitarianism (equality of results)
Orwell pens a fanatically inverted, dystopian tale which begins when the drunken Farmer Jones goes to bed and the farm animals conduct a meeting. Old Major, a prize pig, declares that the humans are bitter and that the animals are subject to being their slaves. He has a dream that he will stand up against the humans and earn freedom for the barn. However, Old Major soon dies allowing other pigs like 'Snowball,' 'Napoleon' and 'Squealer' to plot their animal revolution against the humans, to take control from Farmer Jones.
The pigs assemble Old Major's ideas into a system called "Animalism" and they give speeches about how they will break into the farmer's food cabinet and redistribute the food to the hungry animals (Marxism). The tame raven, 'Moses' (representing the anti-animal form of the Moses from the Bible) seductively preaches about 'Sugarcandy Mountain' in the sky, where after death they will enjoy all the things they want. They change the name of the farm from 'Manor Farm' to 'Animal Farm.' The Animals even concocted their own laws (the "Seven Commandments") that all the barn animals were made to follow. The animals grow successful crops while the pigs supervise them. Among the gang of animals is 'Boxer' the carthorse, who goes by the slogan "I will work harder!" in order to advance the animal's rebellion, and 'Benjamin' the old donkey, who remains unconvinced that the animals shall prosper. Miraculously, over time the animals master the ability to read and count.
After a while Snowball and Napoleon are at odds with each other. Snowball teaches the sheep the slogan, "Four legs good, two legs bad" while Napoleon raises a group of nine puppies to become his future guard dogs. Napoleon the pig begins to strangely reflect the conniving, tyrannical, fallen French dictator Napoleon Bonaparte. Squealer, Napoleon's spokesman, attains the animal's loyalty by warning them they must obey or have to deal with Farmer Jones taking charge again. Soon news of the animal rebellion spreads to throughout the community causing two neighboring farmers, Mr. Fredrick and Mr. Pikington to spread deceitful lies about Animal Farm being cannibalistic and immoral.
This incident starts an invasion from Farmer Jones upon Animal Farm. But despite the attack, the Animals rally together and lead a successful counter-attack on Farmer Jones and his men under the leadership of Snowball, who has studied the ancient Roman emperor Julius Caesar's war campaigns against Gaul. They win the battle immortalizing it as the "Battle of the Cowshed." Soon Snowball considers building a windmill for the barn to balance out the wind and warn the animals of impending bad weather. However, Napoleon summons the dogs he had taken to raise puppies who are now fully grown ferocious dogs. They drive Snowball from the farm ensuring that Napoleon has complete control. Boxer creates another associative slogan, "Napoleon is always right," as the animals slavishly submit to Napoleon's tyrannical rule who then takes credit for the windmill proposal even though it was Snowball's idea.
After a year of hard work a strong, gusty wind demolishes the windmill causing Napoleon to falsely blame the entire incident on Snowball (socialist propaganda). All of the animals then move into Farmer Jones's house, for the winter is bitter and food is scarce. After Squealer spreads false accusations against Snowball, the animals go into a panic. To worsen things, Napoleon sends his guard dogs on a variety of animal attacks to stifle opposition (killing many innocent animals in the process). Soon a mound of corpses rest at Napoleon's feet. Napoleon is pleased; the animals are now controlled by fear.
Napoleon then changes the sixth commandment: "No animal shall kill each other" to "No animal shall kill another animal without cause." This subtle syntax change will have genocidal consequences to the animal farm residents. Suddenly Frederick, a courageous human initiates an attack upon Animal Farm's windmill, blowing it up in the process. But the animals have the day and thwart the human's attack at the "Battle of the Windmill." Next the pigs discover a case of whiskey and get drunk, leading them to plant barley and create their own alcohol. But amidst the drunken fervor Benjamin is the only one who perceives that Squealer has been secretly altering the Seven Commandments under Napoleon's decree. The animals, excluding the pigs and dogs, suffer from depleted rations in the winter; but they persevere due to their pride of being free from human control. Napoleon is elected president of the "Animal Republic" as the farm prospers throughout the next couple of years.
The pigs and dogs continue to benefit from the Republic while all the other animals remain in the same, poor condition. Later on Squealer begins to walk on his hind legs (like a human), while Napoleon begins to dress like a human and carries alcohol and a whip, the weapon the animals are extremely fearful of! The sheep chant the new slogan, "Four legs good, two legs better." Now there remains only one leviathan commandment which stresses that "some animals are more equal than others" establishing that prejudice and injustice is the natural law governing Animal Farm. The pigs begin to dress in clothes, while smoking tobacco and installing telephones and newspaper stands in the farm. Soon the pigs invite humans over for a tour of the farmhouse and change the name "Animal Farm" back to "Manor Farm." The other animals are excluded from the festivities gaze through the barn windows with a disgusted look of perplexity, unable to distinguish the pigs from the humans. Now no animal shall dread humans ever again!
Epilogue to 'We the Animals'
In a sense history is the eternal war between animal nature and human nature. Since Darwin's evolution classic, Origins of Species (1859), the animals seem to be winning. Orwell's famous quote from Animal Farm is this, All animals are equal...but some animals are more equal than others. In other words when animals rule men, when natural laws are cast aside to make room for oppressive, self-pleasing tyrannical motives, this will inevitably lead to democide – government caused genocide of persons and nations.
Karl Marx (1818-1883), the father of communism and socialism is the de facto mouthpiece of Animal Farm's anarchic rebellion which opened the door to a real Communist dictator, one who masterfully dominates and suppresses the animal body while retaining his title through harsh, deceptive propaganda – Napoleon. Napoleon is of course an identical match to the actual French dictator Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), but Orwell ultimately compares the pig Napoleon to the ruthless Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) who after the death of Lenin ruled the Soviet Union with an iron fist as leader of the Communist party for almost 30 years (1924-1953). Just as Napoleon ruled over the animals, destroying any sense of power and authority they had under the false "Animal Republic" Stalin seized control of the Soviet Union and completely controlled the country while expanding his sphere of influence across the globe, initiating the plague of international communism throughout the world. Snowball the pig politically symbolizes Leon Trotsky (1879-1940), the infamous leader of the Red army and the Bolsheviks who unsuccessfully revolted against Stalin.
Trotsky (1879-1940) was a radical Marxist revolutionary, leader of the Left Opposition, whose ideals opposed Stalin's satanic maneuvers that controlled the Soviet Union. Snowball and Napoleon shared power over Animal Farm in the beginning, yet Snowball successfully organized public committees and brings to life his ideas for a self-sufficient society (the windmill). Trotsky was deported from Russia by Stalin just as Snowball was exiled from Animal Farm, unable to prepare for Napoleon's diabolical crusade for power. Although Squealer the pig may not have a historical counterpart, he does represent the deceptive, oppressively evil propaganda that sustains the animals under Napoleon's tyrannical empire. He "squeals" constant threats and lies upon the animals, especially when certain animals (Snowball) arise to suspicion of the "Animal Republic." Boxer the carthorse represents the exploited members of the working class (proletariat) who slavishly work and labor, only benefiting others (bourgeoisie). Orwell insinuates that Boxer stands to profit most only under a true socialist society where everyone in the community contributes to the common gain. And finally Benjamin, the old donkey, represents the quiet, naive animal body, subject to Napoleon's dominion. Like a servile slave, he keeps his thoughts to himself, afraid or uninterested in rebelling against Napoleon.
In today's world America can be seen as a twenty-first century Animal Farm. Obama reigns supreme as the Machiavellian dictator, Napoleon whom the majority of us either support or mindlessly follow (like Benjamin). The Pig-class or ruling elites secretly control "We the Animals" cause a universal depression, a pandemic skepticism that the people are powerless to effect positive change against the leviathan government which daily crushes all their hopes and dreams. America, we must wake up and rise from the animal farm of subjugation! Stand up strong as men and women. Get off our four legs and stand up from liberty, justice, American exceptionalism and truth to live as human beings, not as animals who "act" as if they are fair and balanced humans, but in reality they are a selfish oligarchy of pigs.
© Stone Washington
August 24, 2013
All animals are eqval, bvt some animals are more eqval than others.
~ George Orwell, Animal Farm (1945)
Prologue to 'We the Animals'
Although the novel Animal Farm written almost 70 years ago by the prodigious master of dystopian classics George Orwell, even in 2013 his book seems almost prophetic to me in its forward-thinking vision. Remember when Orwell wrote Animal Farm in 1945 Europe lay in smoldering ashes at the end of World War II and the defeat of the Axis Powers – Hitler's Nazis, Hirohito's Japan and Mussolini's fascists. For within this complex classic lies many cryptic symbols that then represented the time of the encroaching Soviet Russia with the hammer and sickle to now morph into what Jonah Goldberg called "liberal fascism" – a giant yellow smiley face with a Hitler mustache. By using critical analogy one can easily understand the obvious messages Orwell's Animal Farm wanted us to learn in the twenty-first century.
The story of Animal Farm was written by George Orwell who modeled the story on the events of the Bolshevik Revolution (1917-21) where Russian peasants overthrew the Monarchy in favor of socialism, a suppressive system where nothing is owned individually and everything is shared through the community. Orwell compares the first leader pig ('Old Major'), to the father of Marxism and the diabolical, socialist tyrant, Karl Marx (1818-83), who believed that human society will prosper only through the clash between the workers who provide for the business (proletariat), and the ownership class, those who regulate the business and reign over the working class (bourgeoisie).
Equality vs. Egalitarianism (equality of results)
Orwell pens a fanatically inverted, dystopian tale which begins when the drunken Farmer Jones goes to bed and the farm animals conduct a meeting. Old Major, a prize pig, declares that the humans are bitter and that the animals are subject to being their slaves. He has a dream that he will stand up against the humans and earn freedom for the barn. However, Old Major soon dies allowing other pigs like 'Snowball,' 'Napoleon' and 'Squealer' to plot their animal revolution against the humans, to take control from Farmer Jones.
The pigs assemble Old Major's ideas into a system called "Animalism" and they give speeches about how they will break into the farmer's food cabinet and redistribute the food to the hungry animals (Marxism). The tame raven, 'Moses' (representing the anti-animal form of the Moses from the Bible) seductively preaches about 'Sugarcandy Mountain' in the sky, where after death they will enjoy all the things they want. They change the name of the farm from 'Manor Farm' to 'Animal Farm.' The Animals even concocted their own laws (the "Seven Commandments") that all the barn animals were made to follow. The animals grow successful crops while the pigs supervise them. Among the gang of animals is 'Boxer' the carthorse, who goes by the slogan "I will work harder!" in order to advance the animal's rebellion, and 'Benjamin' the old donkey, who remains unconvinced that the animals shall prosper. Miraculously, over time the animals master the ability to read and count.
After a while Snowball and Napoleon are at odds with each other. Snowball teaches the sheep the slogan, "Four legs good, two legs bad" while Napoleon raises a group of nine puppies to become his future guard dogs. Napoleon the pig begins to strangely reflect the conniving, tyrannical, fallen French dictator Napoleon Bonaparte. Squealer, Napoleon's spokesman, attains the animal's loyalty by warning them they must obey or have to deal with Farmer Jones taking charge again. Soon news of the animal rebellion spreads to throughout the community causing two neighboring farmers, Mr. Fredrick and Mr. Pikington to spread deceitful lies about Animal Farm being cannibalistic and immoral.
This incident starts an invasion from Farmer Jones upon Animal Farm. But despite the attack, the Animals rally together and lead a successful counter-attack on Farmer Jones and his men under the leadership of Snowball, who has studied the ancient Roman emperor Julius Caesar's war campaigns against Gaul. They win the battle immortalizing it as the "Battle of the Cowshed." Soon Snowball considers building a windmill for the barn to balance out the wind and warn the animals of impending bad weather. However, Napoleon summons the dogs he had taken to raise puppies who are now fully grown ferocious dogs. They drive Snowball from the farm ensuring that Napoleon has complete control. Boxer creates another associative slogan, "Napoleon is always right," as the animals slavishly submit to Napoleon's tyrannical rule who then takes credit for the windmill proposal even though it was Snowball's idea.
After a year of hard work a strong, gusty wind demolishes the windmill causing Napoleon to falsely blame the entire incident on Snowball (socialist propaganda). All of the animals then move into Farmer Jones's house, for the winter is bitter and food is scarce. After Squealer spreads false accusations against Snowball, the animals go into a panic. To worsen things, Napoleon sends his guard dogs on a variety of animal attacks to stifle opposition (killing many innocent animals in the process). Soon a mound of corpses rest at Napoleon's feet. Napoleon is pleased; the animals are now controlled by fear.
Napoleon then changes the sixth commandment: "No animal shall kill each other" to "No animal shall kill another animal without cause." This subtle syntax change will have genocidal consequences to the animal farm residents. Suddenly Frederick, a courageous human initiates an attack upon Animal Farm's windmill, blowing it up in the process. But the animals have the day and thwart the human's attack at the "Battle of the Windmill." Next the pigs discover a case of whiskey and get drunk, leading them to plant barley and create their own alcohol. But amidst the drunken fervor Benjamin is the only one who perceives that Squealer has been secretly altering the Seven Commandments under Napoleon's decree. The animals, excluding the pigs and dogs, suffer from depleted rations in the winter; but they persevere due to their pride of being free from human control. Napoleon is elected president of the "Animal Republic" as the farm prospers throughout the next couple of years.
The pigs and dogs continue to benefit from the Republic while all the other animals remain in the same, poor condition. Later on Squealer begins to walk on his hind legs (like a human), while Napoleon begins to dress like a human and carries alcohol and a whip, the weapon the animals are extremely fearful of! The sheep chant the new slogan, "Four legs good, two legs better." Now there remains only one leviathan commandment which stresses that "some animals are more equal than others" establishing that prejudice and injustice is the natural law governing Animal Farm. The pigs begin to dress in clothes, while smoking tobacco and installing telephones and newspaper stands in the farm. Soon the pigs invite humans over for a tour of the farmhouse and change the name "Animal Farm" back to "Manor Farm." The other animals are excluded from the festivities gaze through the barn windows with a disgusted look of perplexity, unable to distinguish the pigs from the humans. Now no animal shall dread humans ever again!
Epilogue to 'We the Animals'
In a sense history is the eternal war between animal nature and human nature. Since Darwin's evolution classic, Origins of Species (1859), the animals seem to be winning. Orwell's famous quote from Animal Farm is this, All animals are equal...but some animals are more equal than others. In other words when animals rule men, when natural laws are cast aside to make room for oppressive, self-pleasing tyrannical motives, this will inevitably lead to democide – government caused genocide of persons and nations.
Karl Marx (1818-1883), the father of communism and socialism is the de facto mouthpiece of Animal Farm's anarchic rebellion which opened the door to a real Communist dictator, one who masterfully dominates and suppresses the animal body while retaining his title through harsh, deceptive propaganda – Napoleon. Napoleon is of course an identical match to the actual French dictator Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), but Orwell ultimately compares the pig Napoleon to the ruthless Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) who after the death of Lenin ruled the Soviet Union with an iron fist as leader of the Communist party for almost 30 years (1924-1953). Just as Napoleon ruled over the animals, destroying any sense of power and authority they had under the false "Animal Republic" Stalin seized control of the Soviet Union and completely controlled the country while expanding his sphere of influence across the globe, initiating the plague of international communism throughout the world. Snowball the pig politically symbolizes Leon Trotsky (1879-1940), the infamous leader of the Red army and the Bolsheviks who unsuccessfully revolted against Stalin.
Trotsky (1879-1940) was a radical Marxist revolutionary, leader of the Left Opposition, whose ideals opposed Stalin's satanic maneuvers that controlled the Soviet Union. Snowball and Napoleon shared power over Animal Farm in the beginning, yet Snowball successfully organized public committees and brings to life his ideas for a self-sufficient society (the windmill). Trotsky was deported from Russia by Stalin just as Snowball was exiled from Animal Farm, unable to prepare for Napoleon's diabolical crusade for power. Although Squealer the pig may not have a historical counterpart, he does represent the deceptive, oppressively evil propaganda that sustains the animals under Napoleon's tyrannical empire. He "squeals" constant threats and lies upon the animals, especially when certain animals (Snowball) arise to suspicion of the "Animal Republic." Boxer the carthorse represents the exploited members of the working class (proletariat) who slavishly work and labor, only benefiting others (bourgeoisie). Orwell insinuates that Boxer stands to profit most only under a true socialist society where everyone in the community contributes to the common gain. And finally Benjamin, the old donkey, represents the quiet, naive animal body, subject to Napoleon's dominion. Like a servile slave, he keeps his thoughts to himself, afraid or uninterested in rebelling against Napoleon.
In today's world America can be seen as a twenty-first century Animal Farm. Obama reigns supreme as the Machiavellian dictator, Napoleon whom the majority of us either support or mindlessly follow (like Benjamin). The Pig-class or ruling elites secretly control "We the Animals" cause a universal depression, a pandemic skepticism that the people are powerless to effect positive change against the leviathan government which daily crushes all their hopes and dreams. America, we must wake up and rise from the animal farm of subjugation! Stand up strong as men and women. Get off our four legs and stand up from liberty, justice, American exceptionalism and truth to live as human beings, not as animals who "act" as if they are fair and balanced humans, but in reality they are a selfish oligarchy of pigs.
© Stone Washington
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