Animal Farm

Russian Revolution How It Started o Czar Nicolas II o Absolute power o Huge social gulf between the peasants and the land owner and the elite o Peasants and workers begin rebelling against the Czar in 1905

Bolshevik power o Vladimar Lenin was leader o Gained control in 1917 o Had the Romanov family murdered in 1918 o Wanted Communism

Communism o Comes from the root word of “community” o Equal distribution of wealth and possessions among Russia’s citizens

Lenin o Marxist revolutionist o Led Bolsheviks o Used the Red Guard to stop others from taking over Russia, then used it to take over Russia himself o Led a campaign of “Red Terror”in a systematic plot to execute opponents of communism

Lenin o Created a New Economic Policy o Allowed for limited private ownership of land and business o Called it ‘breathing space” for Communism to prevail

Lenin oMoved capital to Moscow oRenamed Russia to Soviet Union in 1922 o Named his party the Communist party in 1917 o “October Revolution” killed many to gain control and instate Communism

Lenin o Named Joseph Stalin -Secretary General o Powerful position in Communist party o Ability to make appointments to other positions of power o Ability to gain important allies

Lenin o Lenin suffers paralyzing strokes o Removed from leadership position o Lenin dies o Stalin and Trotsky struggle for power

Stalin wins! o Stalin out-maneuvers Trotsky and gains control o Stalin starts to isolate Trotsky within the party because he is a threat

Leon Trotsky o Gifted speaker and writer o Political genius o Tried to end Russian involvement in WWII o Great thoughts and plans but had trouble actually installing them o Was not liked by Lenin

Joseph Stalin o Assumes full control after Lenin dies o Ruled as absolute dictator throughout WWII and until his death in 1953

Stalin’s Repression & Terror o Terrorized country with widespread arrests and executions o Anyone thought to be opposed to Stalin and Communism was executed on the spot

“Reign of Terror” o1934 “great purges” and “show trials” oSent millions to Soviet labor camps o2-7 million innocent citizens are murdered oForced confessions oPublic accusations

“Reign of Terror” o Employed KGB to repress any opposition o Used publications to report statistics inaccurately in his favor

Stalin o 1928 First “Five Year Plan” o Attempt to make Russia a modern industrial state o “Comrades” need to work harder so Soviet Russia can be a beacon of hope to workers everywhere

Stalin in Power o 1933 Second “Five Year Plan”- emphasized rapid growth of Soviet Industry o This worked fairly well, by the end Soviet Russia was a formidable world power

Secret Agreement o “German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact”: secret agreement between Stalin and Hitler o Neither country would attack each other

Liar! o Hitler lied! o “Operation Barbarossa” o Germany fully attacks Russia!

Symbolism o Russian Revolution o Stalin o Communism  Animal Farm  Napoleon  “Animalism”

Allegory Underlying meaning and surface meaning o Grand in scope

Fable A short story that has a moral and has animals as characters

Satire A story that makes fun of something

George Orwell Real name: Eric Blair o Disapproved of Communism o A socialist

George Orwell oCommunism was not pure socialism because: o Gulf in society o Control of the peasants o Hypocritical

George Orwell/author o Used his writings to communicate a political message o Wrote 1984 o Big Brother rules a society o Everyone is watched 24 hours a day