Communism :: Communism Essays

"Every line I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism," reads the preface to George Orwells satire, Animal Farm. The rest of that line, which reads "And for Democratic Socialism as I understand it," was omitted from the 1956 edition of the book. Orwell has been called a traitor to the socialists, while at the aforesaid(prenominal) time becoming a sort of hero to the right wing. Animal Farm is not only a parody of Stalinist Russia, it also demonstrates that Russia wasnt truly a Social Democracy. Orwell criticizes Marx while maintaining his own beliefs in Democratic Socialism. These beliefs are apparent in what Old Major calls Animalism. Animalism originates in a speech by Old Major, Farmer Jones prize boar. Old Major is to Animalism what Marx and Lenin are to Communism. Old Major is able to gather the animals in the barn, to crack up his talk. Both Marx and Lenin would have thought this difficult because they believe d that that the proletariat would always be more concerned with work and survival than revolution or radical change. at one time the animals are gathered, Old Major recounts a dream he had the previous night. He tries to explain to the animals, their place in life and how they can get come to the fore of it. This is what Marx tried to do in his writing. In The Communist publicifesto and A Contribution to the Political Economy Marx wrote about the proletariats appreciation of social position and the sabotage ways of Capitalism. "It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, wrote Marx, "But on the contrary, the social being that determines their consciousness." Marx is saying that there is no inherent reason workers should be oppressed, and they befoolt see the injustice in it, because it is all they know. This is what Old Major says to the animals in the barn Why do we continue in this miserable configuration? Because nearly the whole of the produ ce of our fight is stolen from us by human beings. There comrades is the answer to all of our problems It is summed up in a single word, man. Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He sets the animals to work, he gives them the bare minimum that will keep them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself. Only get rid of man, and the produce of our labour would be