Historians estimate that around twenty million perished under Stalin’s totalitarian socialist regime (Keller). Around 18-45 million died in China’s Great Leap Forward under Mao Zedong’s similarly structured dictatorship (SimpleHistory). Many more perished during his Cultural Revolution (Lowndes). Though similar to fascism in terms of death toll and suffering, communism is somehow interpreted as an egalitarian utopia, which is far from the truth. In Animal Farm, George Orwell presents a fascinating allegory of the rise of the Soviet Union and the dangers of communism. Through a simple fable, Orwell provides a detailed study of how absolute power corrupts and how dictatorships don’t ever work even if they have a populist basis. Any system that puts too much power into the hands of a few people is doomed to fail. Stalin leveraged Marx’s “Dictatorship of the Proletariat” to seize absolute power (Daugherty). Animal Farm’s central idea is that of a failed socialist utopia like the Soviet Union, with egalitarian socialist ideals, corrupted and twisted into something unrecognizable by power-hungry elites. Both Old Major and Karl Marx saw a fundamentally unjust system with flagrant exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoise and challenged the status quo, inciting many revolutions. Karl Marx believed that all of society’s production is carried out by the proletariat, but the bourgeoise steals the fruit of their hard labor and reaps all the benefits, or “for those of its members who work, acquire nothing, and those who acquire anything do not work” (Marx, 21). Old Major endorses the same beliefs in the relationship between animals and humans, when he says “Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself” (Orwell, 4). Karl Marx was against any divisions amongst the proletariat, including classism, nations, or religion, because he believed these differences would be further exploited by the bourgeoise. Old Major’s commandments are similarly structured stating that animals should never have any of the habits of the humans and should always be equal and united. In his speech, Old Major says “No animal must ever tyrannize over his own kind. Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers. No animal must ever kill any other animal. All animals are equal” (Orwell, 5). Both imagined a classless society free of private property, in which everyone received equal shares of the products that labor creates. They saw this as the ultimate and inevitable end result of society. The similarities between Old Major and Karl Marx also spill over to Napoleon and Stalin. While Stalin rose to power through lies, manipulation, and elimination of everyone who stood in his way (starting with Trotsky (Stuart)), Napoleon blazes a similar trail in Animal Farm with Snowball paying the price. Squealer is Napoleon’s mouthpiece, just like how all of the media in the Soviet Union were Stalin’s. Both Napoleon and Stalin controlled the flow of information and relied on propaganda to push their rhetoric, as propaganda is a key component of any authoritarian regime (McGregor). When the pigs stole all the milk and apples on the farm, Squealer justified it to the gullible animals by saying that “Milk and apples (this has been proved by Science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig” (Orwell, 15). This is a partial truth, as it’s necessary for the well-being of any animal. Though all animals are considered equal, Squealer also says that “We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organization of this farm depend on us. Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples” (Orwell, 15). So, Squealer is using propaganda and fear to convince the other animals. Napoleon’s army of dogs is based on the Soviet secret police, who relied on fear to suppress all dissent and to establish a totalitarian regime that controlled every aspect of life in their society (Stuart). Napoleon and Stalin share many similarities, but Animal Farm is not an exact replica of the Soviet Union. Though Stalin collaborated with the capitalists in World War II, similar to how Napoleon makes friends with the farmers in Animal Farm, he never reverted Russia back to a tsardom or abandoned the communist rhetoric, while Napoleon completely strays from everything the ideology of animalism once stood for. The animal farm ends as a total failure because they never manage to build the windmill to industrialize the farm and their living standards never improve, but the Soviet Union rose to being a superpower that challenged the United States for many decades during the Cold War before it finally fell (SimpleHistory2, Stuart). Stalin’s collaboration with the allies was a temporary measure, and he later betrayed them, establishing socialist dictatorships in the territories he seized from Germany (SimpleHistory2). On the other hand, Napoleon colludes with the humans and even invites them to the farm for a game of poker to show his solidarity, causing some friction when “Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington had each played an ace of spades simultaneously” (Orwell, 60). The animal farm is permanently renamed to its pre-revolutionary name, signaling the abandoning of all founding principles. Napoleon announces in his speech that “the name ‘Animal Farm’ has been abolished. Henceforward the farm is to be known as ‘The Manor Farm’—which is its correct and original name” (Orwell, 59). All commandments are erased except for that of “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” George Orwell captures the giddy rise and inevitable corruption of utopian socialist ideals in a way that can be understood by everyone in a cute but gritty allegory. It’s horrifying to see the transformation of what starts out
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Castles in the Air, a short story by Anushka, 11
It was a cold winter day when I saw her. The snow was melting after last week’s heavy snowfall leaving the streets a glittering shade of black. There were hardly any cars on the icy wet streets that day. The houses along the street were so quiet I could almost hear the soft swaying of the trees. My sister, Samira, and I were looking out the window of our room on the tenth floor of our apartment building, as we often do, observing the scene on the street. We have a lovely view of Rock Creek Park and when it isn’t foggy or cloudy, we can see the National Cathedral in the distance. Ever since I was little, perched on this window sill, I had been thinking about the lives of people I saw on the street. Since COVID-19, the window had been my connection to the world. I had spent many hours seeing the world through my window. I traced my fingers along familiar scenes on the glass window—the long black road that looked like it could go on forever, the small houses along the road, the grassy patch where the streets intersected at the roundabout. I often saw people walking their dogs by this grassy patch. But something looked different today. I squinted my eyes to take a closer look. Right then, I spotted a jet black puppy with a striking red collar on that grassy patch right by the sidewalk on Eastern Avenue. I saw no owner around. “Samira, look! Do you see that puppy over there?” I exclaimed as I pointed toward the grassy patch. Samira turned her head and her eyes grew wide. It was a tiny little thing. We watched it walk around in circles for a while. We thought it looked lost. Samira and I started getting hopeful. We looked at each other and, without saying a word, we each knew what the other was thinking. Could it be that that was the puppy we were destined to have? What an incredible chance! It was like waking up from a happy dream and realizing everything you dreamt of is true already. Immediately, Samira went to go tell Mama and Baba, while I continued to observe the puppy, secretly hoping no one would show up. I watched the puppy walk around slowly sniffing the grass. It looked like it was looking for someone who wasn’t there. “Hey, little puppy, I will be here for you, okay?” I said softly, imagining that she could hear my voice. Soon my parents came into the room and peered out of the window. We watched their eyes dart towards the grassy patch. Samira and I looked at each other. It was time to implement “Operation Beg for a Puppy.” My parents were skeptical. A stray puppy with a collar did not seem possible to them. They thought someone would surely be around and we just couldn’t see them. They made us wait a little bit before going down to check on the puppy. Now, the whole family was looking out of the window in excitement and anticipation. At least two out of the four members of the family were so restless, we couldn’t keep still. You know which two. In just a few minutes, I imagined how my life would change with this puppy. I was holding her in my arms, looking into her chocolate brown eyes. I imagined her looking at me as she wagged her tail and smiled. I imagined coming back from school and having someone to always be there to greet me. Sure I had Samira, but a puppy doesn’t talk, complain, whine, screech, yell, or cry as much. I forced myself to stop daydreaming and keep concentrating on the puppy, making sure it was safe. While we were waiting, we saw a man come out of a parked car by the sidewalk with a leash who seemed to be calling the puppy. He attached the leash to the collar and carried it back into the car. Noooooooooo!!!!! The dream had ended. All our hopes shattered like a broken chandelier on a ballroom floor! There went our chance to adopt a puppy. We thought that person was the owner and they were probably going a long way and the puppy needed a little break. I guess we would never know.
Book Club Report: Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
An update from our thirty-second book club meeting! On January 29th, we discussed Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis. Students attended from all over the United States and we had an engaging discussion. This was the first session that I (Maya) led, and it was a delight to get to know the readers. Elijah of Buxton follows eleven-year-old Elijah, who lives in a settlement of people who have escaped slavery in Buxton, Canada (a real historical place.) We started out our discussion by talking about new things about history we had learned from reading the book. We discussed the Underground Railroad, and the dialect, or slang, that the characters in the book spoke in. Next we broke into small groups to discuss our favorite moments in the book. Many people mentioned that their favorite moments were scenes of humor, such as the pranks that Elijah and his friend play on Elijah’s ma, and the pranks Ma plays in revenge. This led to a lively full-group discussion of a humorous scene in the book, when Mr. Travis, the teacher, loses his temper at Elijah’s best friend. We also talked about the way that the residents of Buxton upheld their creed of “one helping one to uplift all.” We agreed that Mr. Leroy followed the creed, and that the Preacher, who did not, was a suspicious character. Finally, we looked at a scene in which the residents of Buxton welcome a family of refugees who have just escaped slavery in the United States. Together, we read the speech that Elijah’s Pa uses to welcome the new residents. Then the students got time to try some creative writing of their own. They could either choose to write their own version of a speech to welcome new refugees to Buxton, or they could write a scene with a funny prank. Students shared out their responses to the group. It was fun to hear the speeches and pranks that people came up with! After a great session of book club, I am looking forward to next month’s meeting, when we will be discussing the wonderful novel Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan. See you next time! Our Next Book (to be discussed on February 26): Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan
