Animal Farm Vs. Marxism
In the movie Animal Farm, writer George Orwell reflects the life of a small group of animals living together on a farm. He depicts the social actions of each animal and gives them individual qualities, personifying them as if they were able to function as humans. With each animal able to reason and act on its own, Orwell progresses through the story with a plot closely satirizing beliefs by Karl Marx, a great social and economical philosopher of Russia. Orwell illustrates the four concepts underlined in Marx’s Das Kapital discretely as they intertwine with events in the story. They are the theory of history, the labor theory of value, the nature of the state, and the dictatorship of the proletariat. In the following paragraphs I will compare and contrast the relationship between Orwell’s Animal Farm and the philosophies of Karl Marx known as Marxism. In Marx’s theory of history, Marx believed that throughout all of time there has been an ongoing struggle between the oppressed and their oppressors. He also alleged that this class struggle for the control of labor and productive property, and the constant conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat would ultimately lead to a revolu
Animal Farm shows the dictatorship of the proletariat profoundly after the expulsion of the Jones. First Snowball takes over to lead the farm in a positive direction toward a utopian community. He is forced out by a greedy, self-centered pig named Napoleon. Napoleon becomes the authoritarian government; he develops into the dictator of the proletariat. Contrary to Marx, he does not strive to make the farm a better place. He is only interested in his own well being. He even makes the farm regress, bringing them back to a capitalist state by working the animals the same as farmer Jones once did. Although the rest of the animals lived up to Marx’s theory by giving all they had in building a windmill, for what they thought was for the benefit of the farm, Napoleon became the complete opposite of what the authoritarian rule should be. Marx’s final perception of capitalism was the dictatorship of the proletariat. In this concept, Marx believed that in order to advance a society toward communism after the collapse of the bourgeoisie, there would have to be a stage of authoritarian rule. This period would allow for the reeducation and reorganization of the proletariat. Once the people are able to recognize their purpose and what it stood for, the government would eventually disappear, ending in true communism. Nationalism was not an idea favored by Marx. He thought it the cause of many wars and the barricade between capitalism and communism. He stated that workers should not identify with their nationality but their occupation. This was the only way that commun
Some topics in this essay:
Animal Farm,
Marx Orwell,
Marxism Marx’s,
Farmer Jones,
Contrary Marx,
George Orwell,
Das Kapital,
Jones Snowball,
animal farm,
Jones Pilkington,
Napoleon Napoleon,
farmer jones,
marx’s theory,
dictatorship proletariat,
theory value,
marx believed,
story animal farm,
concept marx,
producing product,
story animal,
authoritarian rule,
marx’s theory value,
Join now to see the rest of the essay!
Approximate Word count = 1066
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|