Joseph Stalin
Stalin was a Russian dictator born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, on December 18th, 1879. From young age, he had been bullied for his pockmarked face due to the contraction of smallpox in infancy. As a result, he had learnt to carry great hatred towards those who had looked down on him.
With great disparities to Stalin’s later ‘works’ in life, he had been studying to become a priest since his nonage, and eventually got a scholarship to Tiflis Theological Seminary at the age of 14. Five years later, Stalin joined a secret organisation that supports Georgian independence from Russia, who goes by the name Messame Dassy. Messame Dassy introduced Stalin to the writings of Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx.[17] Thus influencing him to join an underground revolutionary Marxist movement in Tiflis. Consequently, he was elected a member of the Tiflis committee in the Russian Social Democratic Workers party, and hence he left home to do so. A year later, after coordinating a strike at a large Rothschild plat at Batum, he was imprisoned, and afterwards banished to Siberia.[20] He escaped in 1904, and during the Social Democratic Workers party split, Stalin identified himself as one of the Bolsheviks.
Stalin spent the next seven years as an activist, organising raids and bank robberies during the 1905 Revolution for the party’s funds, with numerous other Marxists seeing this as a ‘highway robbery unworthy of a revolutionary socialist’.[18] In 1912, Stalin traveled to Vienna to study Marxist literature concerning the nationality problem. An book titled Marxism and the National Question was written after the trip, in which the word ‘nation’ was found to be described as “a historically constituted, stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up manifested in a common culture.”[19]
In 1913, Stalin was arrested yet again, and was exiled for life to North Siberia. The name ‘Stalin’, meaning ‘Man of Steel’ was adopted in prison.20] After the overthrow of Nicolas II, the new prime minister, Alexander Kerensky allowed all political prisoners to return to their homes, and Stalin once again became the editor of Pravda, a newspaper published by Leon Trotsky, as he had been since 1911. [21] ‘The April Theses’ was issued upon Lenin’s return from exile in Switzerland, by Lenin himself. The April Theses was announced in several speeches, in which Lenin had hoped would encourage the overthrow of the Provisional Government. The main elements of the speeches included:
After the October Revolution, in which the Provisional Government was overthrown, Stalin was appointed, by Lenin, as the Commissar of Nationalities, in which Lenin had joked to Stalin that: ‘You know, to pass so quickly from an underground existence to power makes one dizzy.’ [20]
Throughout the years of the civil war (1918-1921), Stalin began as a military commissar during the the Polish campaign, taking credit for defeating the White Army during the battle of Tsaritsyn, and on numerous more fronts. Over the long haul, he rose to the highest ranks, becoming a member of not only the Political Bureau, but also the Organisational Bureau. Lenin had valued Stalin for his organisational talents, his ability to troubleshoot.
Before Lenin’s death there were already two possible contenders for his place. Leon Trotsky, known for his intelligent speeches, his quick mind and military skill during the civil war, on the other hand, Stalin, who, at the time was still an unimportant figure in the Soviet Union, was more known for his behind-the-scenes work and organisational talents. In 1924, the dying Lenin, who had already suffered two stokes decided to impose a new leader for Russia. He wrote a testament, describing Stalin’s motives as ‘evil’, and his willingness for Trotsky to carry on. Naturally, Stalin hid the testament from the parliament, fearing that Trotsky would show it to them during the next meeting. Fortunately Trotsky did not show the letter, and Stalin’s position was consolidated.[23] In spite of Trotsky’s popularity, Stalin teamed up with Politburo members Zinoviev and Kamenv,, who then began criticize Trotsky for minor faults, emphasising the fact that he was a former Menshevik and a newcomer to the party.[23] Vladimir Lenin died on January 21, 1924. Immediately, Stalin set out to obliterate the old party leadership and take total control. He served as a member of a three-man committee, known as a troika, which included Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev, both prominent Soviet politicans. [24] This caused Trotsky to be pushed around by Stalin and his allies, and in October 1927, he was expelled from the Central Committee and exiled a few months later to Alma-Aata, a remote land located in present-day Kazakhstan, which was seemingly not far enough for Stalin, owing to the fact that he was banished entirely from the Soviet Union in the following year, in which he was reported to have lived in countries such as Turkey, France and Mexico City.[25]
Evidently, Stalin became the dictator of the Soviet Union in December, 1929.
In the early 1930s, Stalin, infringing the Bolshevik Policy agrarian policy, seized and collectivised the land given earlier to the peasants by the Bolsheviks themselves, believing that the collectivism would increase food production. Farmers began a demonstration, destroying more or less half of the U.S.S.R’s livestock and produce. Millions of farmers were then killed because of the forced labour, or starvation during the famine, which was due to the resentfulness of losing the land.[26]
In 1934, Kirov, who was the leader of the Leningrad Communist Party, was believed to have been murdered under Stalin’s orders. Subsequently, massive purges were ordered by Stalin, in which anyone suspected of disloyalty was either sent to prison camps, murdered, or forced to put on public trials, where they were pleaded guilty to crimes they didn’t do. Additionally, ‘93 of the 139 Central Committee members were killed, 81 of the 103 generals and admirals were executed.’ [39] By the end of the 1930s, the reign of terror spread to commoners. 20 million denizens of Russia were sent to the gulag, which were labour camps help in Siberia, where conceivably half of them died. The Muslim and Christian religion were forbidden, even after Lenin’s New Economic Policy allowed them to be. In fear, newspapers credited his name with every success, parents taught their own children to love Stalin more than themselves. Hence, a totalitarian dictatorship was set up, where the entire Soviet Union obeyed his order.
A year later, Trotsky, who had settled in Mexico, was murdered by an assassin called Ramon Mercader, who, acting on Stalin’s orders, fatally wounded him using an ice pick, and Leon Trotsky died the next day on August 21st 1940.[40]
Due to the purge’s severe depletion to the Red Army, the army of the Soviet Union, Stalin unprepared for Hitler’s attack on the Soviet Union in Jun 1941, although Stalin had still recovered to lead his country to victory, but with an immense cost on the soldiers of Red Army’s account.
After WWII, with the Soviet Union ruling over an empire consisting of the majority of eastern Europe, Joseph Stalin died of a stoke on March 5th 1953.
Why did Orwell choose to represent the event or character in the way he did?
The name Napoleon is shared by Napoleon Bonaparte, who was the dictator of France, who was thought by many to be an Anti-Christ. This gave the character a prefixed connotation, shared by the French dictator Napoleon Bonaparte.
How successful was he?
The representation of Napoleon being a good leader at the start of the book and eventually becoming power-hungry represented what Stalin did to the Soviet Union as well. Orwell explained it as “Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer- except, of course for the pigs and the dogs.”[42]
As the dogs were introduced, it became strikingly obvious about Napoleon and Snowball being rivals, which also parallels Stalin and Trotsky both trying to be the dictator of the Soviet Union.
The true side of Napoleon was seen later in the book, cruelly killing numerous animals on the farm and even hiring a pig to sample his food to make certain there was no poison in it.
What were the links between the evidence you have found and the text?
On chapter 5, ‘Nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn. They dashed straight for Snowball, who only sprang from his place just in time to escape their snapping jaws.” This part of the book described Stalin exiling Trotsky from the Soviet Union, after he finally became dictator. It was clear that he had all the power and Trotsky (Snowball) was powerless.
“When they finished their confession the dogs promptly tore their throats out, and in a terrible voice Napoleon demanded whether any other animal had anything to confess” (page 56) This reflected on Stalin during the purge, killing many of the members of the Leningrad Communist Party (the pigs) and even the innocent peasants.
With great disparities to Stalin’s later ‘works’ in life, he had been studying to become a priest since his nonage, and eventually got a scholarship to Tiflis Theological Seminary at the age of 14. Five years later, Stalin joined a secret organisation that supports Georgian independence from Russia, who goes by the name Messame Dassy. Messame Dassy introduced Stalin to the writings of Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx.[17] Thus influencing him to join an underground revolutionary Marxist movement in Tiflis. Consequently, he was elected a member of the Tiflis committee in the Russian Social Democratic Workers party, and hence he left home to do so. A year later, after coordinating a strike at a large Rothschild plat at Batum, he was imprisoned, and afterwards banished to Siberia.[20] He escaped in 1904, and during the Social Democratic Workers party split, Stalin identified himself as one of the Bolsheviks.
Stalin spent the next seven years as an activist, organising raids and bank robberies during the 1905 Revolution for the party’s funds, with numerous other Marxists seeing this as a ‘highway robbery unworthy of a revolutionary socialist’.[18] In 1912, Stalin traveled to Vienna to study Marxist literature concerning the nationality problem. An book titled Marxism and the National Question was written after the trip, in which the word ‘nation’ was found to be described as “a historically constituted, stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up manifested in a common culture.”[19]
In 1913, Stalin was arrested yet again, and was exiled for life to North Siberia. The name ‘Stalin’, meaning ‘Man of Steel’ was adopted in prison.20] After the overthrow of Nicolas II, the new prime minister, Alexander Kerensky allowed all political prisoners to return to their homes, and Stalin once again became the editor of Pravda, a newspaper published by Leon Trotsky, as he had been since 1911. [21] ‘The April Theses’ was issued upon Lenin’s return from exile in Switzerland, by Lenin himself. The April Theses was announced in several speeches, in which Lenin had hoped would encourage the overthrow of the Provisional Government. The main elements of the speeches included:
- No Support for the Provisional government
- Fight for the Soviets to take power
- Establish workers’ control of industry
- Proclaim a Communist Party; establish a new international [22]
After the October Revolution, in which the Provisional Government was overthrown, Stalin was appointed, by Lenin, as the Commissar of Nationalities, in which Lenin had joked to Stalin that: ‘You know, to pass so quickly from an underground existence to power makes one dizzy.’ [20]
Throughout the years of the civil war (1918-1921), Stalin began as a military commissar during the the Polish campaign, taking credit for defeating the White Army during the battle of Tsaritsyn, and on numerous more fronts. Over the long haul, he rose to the highest ranks, becoming a member of not only the Political Bureau, but also the Organisational Bureau. Lenin had valued Stalin for his organisational talents, his ability to troubleshoot.
Before Lenin’s death there were already two possible contenders for his place. Leon Trotsky, known for his intelligent speeches, his quick mind and military skill during the civil war, on the other hand, Stalin, who, at the time was still an unimportant figure in the Soviet Union, was more known for his behind-the-scenes work and organisational talents. In 1924, the dying Lenin, who had already suffered two stokes decided to impose a new leader for Russia. He wrote a testament, describing Stalin’s motives as ‘evil’, and his willingness for Trotsky to carry on. Naturally, Stalin hid the testament from the parliament, fearing that Trotsky would show it to them during the next meeting. Fortunately Trotsky did not show the letter, and Stalin’s position was consolidated.[23] In spite of Trotsky’s popularity, Stalin teamed up with Politburo members Zinoviev and Kamenv,, who then began criticize Trotsky for minor faults, emphasising the fact that he was a former Menshevik and a newcomer to the party.[23] Vladimir Lenin died on January 21, 1924. Immediately, Stalin set out to obliterate the old party leadership and take total control. He served as a member of a three-man committee, known as a troika, which included Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev, both prominent Soviet politicans. [24] This caused Trotsky to be pushed around by Stalin and his allies, and in October 1927, he was expelled from the Central Committee and exiled a few months later to Alma-Aata, a remote land located in present-day Kazakhstan, which was seemingly not far enough for Stalin, owing to the fact that he was banished entirely from the Soviet Union in the following year, in which he was reported to have lived in countries such as Turkey, France and Mexico City.[25]
Evidently, Stalin became the dictator of the Soviet Union in December, 1929.
In the early 1930s, Stalin, infringing the Bolshevik Policy agrarian policy, seized and collectivised the land given earlier to the peasants by the Bolsheviks themselves, believing that the collectivism would increase food production. Farmers began a demonstration, destroying more or less half of the U.S.S.R’s livestock and produce. Millions of farmers were then killed because of the forced labour, or starvation during the famine, which was due to the resentfulness of losing the land.[26]
In 1934, Kirov, who was the leader of the Leningrad Communist Party, was believed to have been murdered under Stalin’s orders. Subsequently, massive purges were ordered by Stalin, in which anyone suspected of disloyalty was either sent to prison camps, murdered, or forced to put on public trials, where they were pleaded guilty to crimes they didn’t do. Additionally, ‘93 of the 139 Central Committee members were killed, 81 of the 103 generals and admirals were executed.’ [39] By the end of the 1930s, the reign of terror spread to commoners. 20 million denizens of Russia were sent to the gulag, which were labour camps help in Siberia, where conceivably half of them died. The Muslim and Christian religion were forbidden, even after Lenin’s New Economic Policy allowed them to be. In fear, newspapers credited his name with every success, parents taught their own children to love Stalin more than themselves. Hence, a totalitarian dictatorship was set up, where the entire Soviet Union obeyed his order.
A year later, Trotsky, who had settled in Mexico, was murdered by an assassin called Ramon Mercader, who, acting on Stalin’s orders, fatally wounded him using an ice pick, and Leon Trotsky died the next day on August 21st 1940.[40]
Due to the purge’s severe depletion to the Red Army, the army of the Soviet Union, Stalin unprepared for Hitler’s attack on the Soviet Union in Jun 1941, although Stalin had still recovered to lead his country to victory, but with an immense cost on the soldiers of Red Army’s account.
After WWII, with the Soviet Union ruling over an empire consisting of the majority of eastern Europe, Joseph Stalin died of a stoke on March 5th 1953.
Why did Orwell choose to represent the event or character in the way he did?
The name Napoleon is shared by Napoleon Bonaparte, who was the dictator of France, who was thought by many to be an Anti-Christ. This gave the character a prefixed connotation, shared by the French dictator Napoleon Bonaparte.
How successful was he?
The representation of Napoleon being a good leader at the start of the book and eventually becoming power-hungry represented what Stalin did to the Soviet Union as well. Orwell explained it as “Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer- except, of course for the pigs and the dogs.”[42]
As the dogs were introduced, it became strikingly obvious about Napoleon and Snowball being rivals, which also parallels Stalin and Trotsky both trying to be the dictator of the Soviet Union.
The true side of Napoleon was seen later in the book, cruelly killing numerous animals on the farm and even hiring a pig to sample his food to make certain there was no poison in it.
What were the links between the evidence you have found and the text?
On chapter 5, ‘Nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn. They dashed straight for Snowball, who only sprang from his place just in time to escape their snapping jaws.” This part of the book described Stalin exiling Trotsky from the Soviet Union, after he finally became dictator. It was clear that he had all the power and Trotsky (Snowball) was powerless.
“When they finished their confession the dogs promptly tore their throats out, and in a terrible voice Napoleon demanded whether any other animal had anything to confess” (page 56) This reflected on Stalin during the purge, killing many of the members of the Leningrad Communist Party (the pigs) and even the innocent peasants.