CHAPTER
- IX
• ANIMAL FARM «
"From each according to his ability, to
each according to his need......."
"The free development of all is the condition
for the free development €5f each."
"Communist Manifesto"
-187'Animal Farm', the l i t e r a r y c r e a t i o n of the Tribune
s o c i a l i s t , i s a s p i r i t u a l parody of 'Communist Manifesto'
and a s a t i r e of the betrayed Revolution. Orwell was the
l i t e r a r y e d i t o r to the left-wing newspaperyTribune,
(November 1943 - February 1945), when he wrote 'Animal Farm'.
The s o c i a l and p o l i t i c a l questions of the " c r i s i s s i t u a t i o n "
of the F o r t i e s sharpened his s o c i a l i s t p e r c e p t i o n s . The
Soviet b e t r a y a l of Socialism, as seen by the Left VJing
sympathisers in the S t a l i n i s t purges and d e p o r t a t i o n s of
inconvenient accomplices, was a painful bout of memory to the
B r i t i s h s o c i a l i s t a l s o , Tfte Moscow Purge T r i a l s of 1936 t o 38^
which was a c r i s i s of belief to s e n s i t i v e Commissars then,
was to become a. nightmare to a l l comrades in the Tv/enty th
Party Congress of 1956. Zinovieu, Kamenev and Bukhanin
were executec'; seven m i l l i o n a r r e s t s were made followed by
half a m i l l i o n e x e c u t i o n s . As many as two and half
million
Prisoners died in the camps. Ninety eight
out of one hundred members of the Central Corniriittee were
purged. In 1937-38, a purge of the army eliminated nearly half
of the o f f i c e r corps and seventy five out of eighty members
of the Supreme M i l i t a r y Command, Coromunist China could have
s t u d i e d from Russian h i s t o r y of S t a l i n era in handling her
d i s s e n t e r s in TLannanmel» Square. The Moscow t r i a l s alone
could make S t a l i n not only the b l i p and blimp of h i s t o r y
along with H i t l e r but a l s o the 'scum of the e a r t h ' , as David
Levin the c a r t o o n i s t , p o r t r a y e d him in the c e l e b r a t e d cartoon
occassioned by S t a l i n - H i t l e r summit*
The s p e c i a l i t y of 'Animal Farm' i s , as Orv/ell s a y s : "Animal Farm" w a s , f i r s t book in which I t r i e d , with
-188full consciousnesG of what I was doing, to fuse
political purpose and artistic purpose into one
whole". (Why I write' CEoL Vol: 1. P:29).
The political purpose was demolition of the Soviet political
myth. The Russian myth was the prevalent mistaken belief of
ijestern intellectuals and workers that,Soviet Union was
truly a Socialist State and Russian model Socialism could
be replicated everywherco Orv/ell says :"Since 1930 I had seen little
USSR was progressing towards
could truly call Socialism.
was struck by clear signs of
into a hierarchical society,
have no more reason to give
any other ruJlng class"
(CECTL Vol.Ill F:457).
evidence that the
anything that one
On the contrary, I
its transformation
in wliich the rulers
up their power than
Orwell's declaration of purpose^ like the Miltonic
announcement about the creative prompting of 'Paradise Lost',
as "vindication of God's ways to man", gives a consistent
tenor to 'Animal Farm', The propagandistic purpose of the
allegoric fable goes well with the stylistic nuances so
intimately that. Swiftian savage satire, Aesopean fable,
Spenserian allegory, Herodotian history and VVellsian romance
mix, merge and mingle to make a unified literary genre,
unexplored so far. The outlines of the fable of 'Animal Farm'
got concretised in Orwell's mind when he saw a 10 year old
boy in a small village driving a carthorse along a narrow
path, whipping it whenever it tried to turn. It struck him
that if only such animals became aware of their strength^man
should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals
in much the same way as the rich exploit the proletariat.
Against this silhouette, Orwell proceeded to analyse Marx's
.../-
-189-
theory from the animal's point of view. The o u t l i n e
had been in his mind for nearly 6 years from the s i g n i f i c a n t
cut off date of 1936, when he became both " f e r v e n t l y s o c i a l i s t
and a r d e n t l y anti-communist". The a e s t h e t i c purpose of 'Animal
Farm' i s vindicated by the style^-.vhich is the model of good
English p r o s e . '''Animal Farm' and K o e s t l e r ' s 'Darkness at Noon'
are the two present day works of f i c t i o n which c r i t i c s abdicate"^
according t o Tom Hopkinson. John Atkins s t a r t s his analysis
of 'Animal Farm' quoting Tom Hopkinson and shows how Swift
and Orwell win- the enduring r e s p e c t of the generations by
t h e i r c r e a t i o n of p o l i t i c a l c o n t r o v e r s i e s in Thames-like
s p a r k l i n g s t y l e . Bernard Crick quotes the c e l e b r a t e d s a l u t a t i o n
of Napolean, which explains the reasons f o r inclusior> of milk
and apples in the d a i l y d i e t of his fellow p i g s , as the
passage t h a t commands pride of p l a c e . Orwell's s a t i r e s t a r t s
with the p i g s ' s t r a t e g y of reserving milk and apple exclusively
f o r them on the plea tV^^tthey ' ^ j ^ brain ( i n t e l l e c t u a l )
workers. Consumption of n u t r i t i o n a l food as an economic
index of wealth or luxury i s adopted even in communist
c o u n t r i e s , which use Net Material Product (I%\P) as the measure
of macro-economy c o n t r a s t e d with the Gross Domestic proouct
(GDP) of market economies and Gross S o c i a l Product (GSP)
of s o c i a l i s t c o u n t r i e s p a r t i c u l a r l y by Yugoslavia.
The s t o r y of 'Animal Farm', when paraphrased, might
sound pedantic ;: i t i s so simple yet evocative, i t < alao/Jtefies
n a r r a t i o n . The broad o u t l i n e s of the f a b l e are in the sense
of e x p l o i t a t i o n made known to the animals of Manor Farm by
the Old Major. The consciousness of the animals about t h e i r
economic worth and p o l i t i c a l p o t e n t i a l i t y , in the context of
the e x p l o i t a t i v e treatment meted out t o them, by t h e i r master
Jones and his wife, was the s t a r t i n g p o i n t . The Old Major
envisioned a Golden Country (something resembling the opening
../-
-190stages of Socialism) and provided the i d e o l o g i c a l
impulse to the revolution by his resonant and unifyingsong,
"Beasts of England" in the v^ins of 'L' IntornationaJ^s ' .
The animals on a r a t h e r impulsive expression of s o l i d a r i t y
rose in r e v o l t against Jones and in the B a t t l e of Cov.'shed,
man was expelled from the animal's Garden of Eden.
Snowball and Napoloan, two Berkshire boars, assumed
the l e a d e r s h i p of the animals and Universal Declaration of
the Animal Kingdom was d r a f t e d . The 7 Carimandments
c o n s t i t u t e the code of conduct and the e t h i c a l p r i n c i p l e s
of the Animal Kingdom. The inter^ nacine power s t r u g g l e
between Napolean and Snowball v i t i a t e d the p o l i t i c a l l y
clean environment of tlie post r e v o l u t i o n a r y s t a g e . The
Animal Kingdom consis.ts of rapacious p i g s , propagandist
Squealer, conscientious Boxer and Clover and l o n g - l i v i n g
donkey, Benjamin, The fickle-minded Molly, who d e l i g h t s
in womanly adornments and Iv'osses the vave n who alv\/ays
speaks of his vision of Sugar Candy iViOuntains are the other
s u p p o r t i v e Com.rades. The t r a i n of ferocious dogs s e c r e t ly
maintained by Napolean as agents for ; iving vent Lo his i r e
on d e c l a r e d enemies and inconvenient a l l i e s are the gatekeepers
of the Kingdom l i k e t h e i r c o u n t e r p a r t s in the underworld,
Hades.
Construction of the v;ind m i l l , consigning the u t i l i t y o u t l i v e d animals to the knacker and expulsion of Snowball
are the f o c a l points of the f a b l e . Napolean's t a c t i c of
s t i r r i n g the animials to tasks of 'beyond t h e i r reach'^
unconsciously following Robert Brov/ning's a d v i c e / ^'man
should exceed his grasp , otlierwise what's a heaven for " ,
simultaneously dandling the s t i c k of the
r e t u r n of
F r a n k i n s t e i n Snowball to the Farm, while half t r u t h s , l i e s ,
bromides and euphemisms are blared through the propaganda
o u t l e t s of S q u e a l e r . j o i n t o g e t h e r to build-up the manipulatory
environment of the animal world. The a l l i a n c e with P i l k i n g t on
../-
-191and Ferdinand, pigs becoming men and men taking the
posture of pigs e t c . , a l l e g o r i c a l l y sending shock waves
through the spines of back-boned r e a d e r s , bring a f i t t i n g
f i n a l e to the f a b l e .
The h i s t o r i c a l p a r a l l e l s and the a l l e g o r i s a t i o n of
the Russian Revolution as an aborted r e v o l u t i o n and o u t r i g h t condemnation of tyranny are the dominant strands of
the s t o r y . Readers of a l l o r i e n t a t i o n s and p o l i t i c a l
perceptions can f i n d out arguments and view points to
j u s t i f y t h e i r r e s p e c t i v e posture from the F a b l e , To some, i t
i s an a n t i - S o v i e t ^
a n t i - S t a l i n polemic; o t h e r s i n t e r p r e t i t
as a broadside a g a i n s t Socialism in g e n e r a l . To a R-ight
Winger, "Animal Farm" i s an a n t i - r e v o l u t i o n a r y t r e a t i s e ,
The f a s t i d i o u s c r i t i c s of Orwell, bracket 'Animal Farm' and
'Nineteen £ighty-Four' t o h i n t a t the p r o b a b i l i t y of his
r e c a n t a t i o n of 'democratic Socialism' in the l a s t ph ase of
the proponentfe l i t e r a r y c a r e e r , "Animal Farm" i s the
embodiment of a l l the a t t r i b u t e s and endowments communicated
by the, a d j e c t i v e s
' Q r w e l l - l i k e ' and ' O r w e l l i a n ' , According
to Bernard Crick^"'the adjectives a j ^ synonymous with moral
s e r i o u s n e s s expressed with humour, s i m p l i c i t y as well as subtlety
s t l y and gory p o l i t i c a l f u t u r e under Orvelllan,
To Orwell/'Every revolution i s betrayed; the most encouraging
f a c t about r e v o l u t i o n a r y a c t i v i t y i s t h a t , although i t
always f a i l s , i t always c o n t i n u e s " . Orwell continues elsewhe^e^
"All r e v o l u t i o n s are f a i l u r e s but they are not a l l the same
failures",
'Animal Farm' i s the f i r e place in which the
r e v o l u t i o n a r y embers spark, though the f i r e had been put off,
Power p o l i t i c s based on the concepts of 'double t h i n k '
and ' l o a d e r worship', where the leader alone remained uncheated had
Tiade up the dominant p o l i t i c a l ideologies of the T h i r t i e s and
F o r t i e s . The ' r i g i d a b s o l u t i s m ' of the t o t a l i t a r i a n s t a t e ,
i n s p i t e of the promise of ' e a r t h l y p a r a d i s e ' , was a closed
option t o Orwell, Other p o l i t i c a l a l t e r n a t i v e s l i k e anarchism,
../-
-192r e v o l u t i o n and pacif icsm e t c S^.a.£L (xiUo been hcAinobbed with.
To Arthur iCoestlcr, the revolutionary process in i t s e l f is
c o r r u p t i n g ; to Orwell a l l r e v o l u t i o n s bccorae c o r r u p t because
of the iii'possibility of combining power with ' r i g h t e o u s n e s s ' .
According to him " In the minds of a c t i v e r e v o l u t i o n a r i e s . . .
the longing for a j u s t s o c i e t y has always been f a t a l l y mixed
up with ti-io i n t e n t i o n to secure power for t h e m s e l v e s ' .
The self i n t e r e s t of c a p i t a l i s m and the s e l f seeking
by the r e v o l u t i o n a r i e s / t h o u g h resemble, do not i n t e r s e c t .
Napolean might r e p r e s e n t the courage and convictions of Orwell
p a r t l y ^ i n 'Animal Farm'. Orwell's own congenial and comradely
a s s o c i a t e s equated him with Trotsky J
H.G. Wells
called
Orwell the "big-footed T r o t s k y i s t " owing t o " h i s obvious
sympathies for Trotsky who was hounded out and k i l l e d in
K\OT- occo, Trotsky l e f t behind a testament l i k e Andes Nin
( t h e s o c i a l i s t leader of ILP) and Goldstein of "Nineteen,
Eighty-Four", In "Animal Farm",Napolean,the"fictionalised Trotsky
^coorage of ^ne workers in the, c i v i l war. The B a t t l e of
Cowshed i s the h i s t o r i c
moment of Bolshevik Revolution.
In the 70th anniversary of the Russian Revolution when
r e h a b i l i t a t i o n of Trotsky i s ,
. a n approved agenda, 'Animal
Farm' c a r r i e s the most objective testimony to h i s h i s t o r i c a l
r o l e and underserved disgrace at the hands of S t a l i n . The
personal s i g n i f i c a n c e of 'Animal Farm' to Trotsky i s t h a t . i t
Trotslcy
confirms Lenin's opinion about/ as an e x c e s s i v e l y s e l f - a s s u r e d
p o l i t i c i a n who always v a s c i l l a t e c and had got c h e a t e d . Orwell
l a i d i t t h i c k on Trotsky alongwith . S t a l i n , for t h e i r p a r t
in e x c l u s i v e l y reserving milk and apples f o r the pigs at the
expense of other animals.
According to Lynette Hunter, in the 'Animal Farm' vintage
w r i t i n g s , Orwell concentrated on the P o l i t i c a l s o l u t i o n s offered
by the L e f t . S t a l i n ' s approach
, ' s o c i a l i s m in one country'
with f i n a n c i a l t a r g e t t i n g as the s o l e i n d i c a t o r of economic
growth.was the r u l i n g Left Credo. Today's macro—economic
r e a l i t i e s go beyond the S t a l i n i s t notions and e s t a b l i s h t h a t ,
/_
-193economic growth i s no more confined to increase in GNP^and
GNP-led growth does not r e a l l y make people b e t t e r - o f f , The
r a t i o n a l economic man of Marx i s a l s o found possessed of,
in addition to the r a t i o n a l motives, other drives,such as
sympathy, benevolence, c h a r i t y , envy, malice, p a t r i o t i s m and
d e s i r e for pov/er. Human behaviour i s not confined to economic
compulsions alone, Orwell i n t e r p r e t e d that^both capitalism
and the c o l l e c t i v i s m of Marxism in communist s t a t e s , are
negative p o l i t i c a l systems because they depend on the
r e s t r i c t i o n of the i n d i v i d u a l ' s r i g h t to ' c h o i c e ' and t h e r e by cut i n t o man's m.oral s e n s e . There is no way out of the
'catch 20'
p o l i t i c a l predicament unless a planned economy
can be somehow combined with the freedom of the i n t e l l e c t ,
which can only happen if the concept of r i g h t and wrong i s
r e s t o r e d to p o l i t i c s , Bertrand Russell was another
contemoorary proponent of a j u d i c i o u s mix of planned economiy
and'laissez
faire'economic urges as the macro-economic
base of development.
Orwell's f a i t h in common man as the fixed point in
an ever changing flux of ' i s m s ' , is represented in the
p o s i t i o n a l p a t t e r n of the trioka,. Boxer-Clover-and
Benjamin. He feared t h a t , t h e i n t e l l e c t u a l s were more
t o t a l i t a r i a n in outlook than the common people. In
'Raffles and Miss B l a n d i s h ' , Orv/ell patted the common
people,"who are s t i l l l i v i n g in the world of absolute
good and e v i l from which the i n t e l l e c t u a l s have long
s i n c e escaped". According to Keith A l l d r i t t , Boxer the
l o y a l , hardworking and i n t e l l i g e n t work horse i s
emblematic of the "common people" ( i n c i d e n t a l l y the
emotional climax of 'Animal Farm' i s in taking t h i s
symbol of common man to the knacker). Boxer and Clover
p l a c i n g t h e i r high h e l s g e n t l y on the straw, l e s t some
COUlCL
l e s s e r mortals hidden behind i t ^ g e t crushed, i s expressive
of the humanitari an approach of the common man* The simple,
-194-
deep and the uninhibited feelings of the personified
description of the trioka's excessive tender care makes
the readers weep for the terrible pity of it,like children
who meet injustice for the first time/as Edward f.l. Thomas
says. The animal s' concc-rn for each other is brought out >hen
Boxer and Clover v/ail , very slowly and privately ruminating
over the fate of their fellow anii^ials. A brood of ducklin'-js^
v/hich hrd lost their mother,fly into the barn^chir ping f• ebly
and wandering from side to side to find some place where they
could not be trodden •'n^ei^ urj-eberthed under the paternal care
of Boxer and clover. Moreover,the cat looking for the warmest
place squeezed itself between Boxer and Clover.
The histori-cal perspective offered by the October Revolution
and its 'Animal Farm' textual counterpart of the Battle of
Cowshed, make one view 'democratic Socialism' in the context
of the millenarian sects of the past like the Bolsheviks.
The apocalyptic revolutionary religious movements of the
the kingdom of Che poor at the expense
Middle Ages tried to establish^of the xicn and powenul.
Bolsheviks could be looked upon as the 20th century equivalents
of the primeval revolutionary forces. Both the Bolsheviks and
their medieval predecessors believed that they could produce
a state of total community, a society wholly unanimous
i'n its beliefs and wholly free from inner conflicts, Orwell
was obsessed with the apocalyptic fantasy of the Bolsheviks
and their convictionsaboutinfalliability. The Theology of
15th century, Reason and Enlightenment of 18th and 19th
centuries and Science of 20th century are anagramatic
manifestations of the age old fantsy of heaven upon earth,
In Orwell's view^though the real aim of the Bolshevik was
political power, they pretended, pherhaps, even believed that
they had seized power unv/illingly^ and that tooyfor a short
time and that just round the corner/there laid a prradise.
When the pigs ruJad on behalf of other animals they had actualised
-195
-
Lenin's erronrous view th''t working class was not r u l i n g
but t»arty ruled on t h e i r behalf. The i n t e l l e c t u a l base
of Orwellian socialism is a n t i t h e t i c a l to the pig s ' i n f l a t e d
notion about themselves as 'born to r u l e ' . According to
R.H. Tawney, the Anglo-saxon apostle of O r . e l l - type
S o c i a l i s m , ' h i s t o r y lends l i t t l e support to the theory t h a t ,
c'jrtain people are n a t u r a l l y o u a l i f i e d for success in
economic a r t s , anc others u n f i t t e d for i t . '
Orwell's vision of a p o l i t i c a l l y i n t e g r a t e d community,
as i t e x i s t e d in the ox{gins of c i v i l i z a t i o n on the N i l e ,
the Euphrates or in the Indus Valley, went i n t o the shaping
up of the p o l i t i c a l idea of 'democratic S o c i a l i s m ' . Man
l o s t the c a p a : j i l i t y of emotional i n t e g r a t i o n when the
Tower of Babel .'as c o n s t r u c t e d . Orwell s. emed to subscribe
to the view t h a t the r e a l f a l l of U.an took place not in
Eden but in the attempted c o n s t r u c t i o n of Tower of Babel.
Lingustic impreciseness in the management of the Animal
Kingdom and indecisiveness in the s e l e c t i o n of a development
m o d e l , p r i o r i t i s i n g e i t h e r i n d u s t r y taking precedence over
a g r i c u l t u r e or vice versa^as shov;n in the c o n s t r u c t i o n and
simultaneous d e s t r u c t i o n of the windmill,are the i n d i c a t o r s
of man's i n h e r e n t a b i l i t y to c r e a t e e g o - c e n t r i c difference
of o p i n i o n . Divergent opinions based on p e r c e p t i o n a l
d i f f e r e n c e s are ironed out in democracy*-the scope f o r i t
hardly e x i s t s in t o t a l i t a r i a n i s m . The pre ponderence t o
i n d u s t r y in the economic philosophy of S t a l i n turned o u t to
be q u i x o t i c . The New Economic Policy (NEP) of Lenin, oriented
tov/ards i n d u s t r y based development, had been c a r r i e d to
extremes by Lenin's r e s t l e s s f o l l o w e r s . The imagery of the
windmill brings to one's l i t e r a r y consciousness the personage of
Don Quixote and his charge .' a t the windmill. To both, S t a l i n
and Don Quixote, c u l t u r a l b a r r i e r s c o n s t r i c t e d and constrained
economic growth. The pigs of 'Animal Farm' imposing t h e i r
culture.-based on the s e l f - s e e k i n g t h e o r i e s of economic grovvth
l i k e the i n d u s t r i a l i s e d n a t i o n s , of the p r e s e n t day t h r u s t i n g
t h e i r economic philosophy upon Less Developed"Countries (LDCs)
-195
[<)-
of the world represents one such eco-culture barrier.
The natural life style of other animals was the casuality
the pigs demanded of them for feeding them. Prestige is
one of the six basic needs of mankinci^as Pj>.. James says^ in
'A Tas ce for Death', It is also in tune with Marslow's
hierarchy of needs. The pigs never allowed the luxury of
prestige to their followers'.
Capitalism, owing to its imperialistic base^was at
discount in Orwell's scheme of things. The Bourgeois
Socialism which followed an unconscious*double think*as in
"the Road to Wigan P ier", represented in the British
socialist scholarship by Beatrice and Sydney Webb on the
lines of American liberalism, was clearly not the answer to
the World War situation. History provides the examples of
events becoming instruments for unintented results and
unforeseen casualities. Puritanical ethics indirectly
nurtured capitalism, the French and German Enlightenment also
paved the unsavory way for the emergence of fasclsnu The
Bolshevik Revolution, which could have put She working class
in the saddle, by permutations and combinations, had broughtin the vertical split of Europe into East and West. It went
far afield in ploughing psychological cleavages in humanity
under capitalist and socialist ideologies. Orwell weighed
all systems before embarking upon 'democratic Socialism*.
Democracy, which offers 'choice',is also associated with the
liberty of choice of liberalism. Through the institution of
'choice'^democracy introduces morality in body politics.
The materialistic progress offered by Marxism through
collectivisation is anti-thetical to democratic development
ethics. Anarchism and Pacifism, though diametrically
opposite to the trappings of totalitarinism, still
encourage the habit of mind by bullying people into
conformity through a show of self righteousness,
-196-
Totalitarian governments become
bossy and bully,
As Lynette Hunter asks, "having discarded this range of
alternatives, what is Orwell left with"? According to her:"His religious belief in the individual limitation
of humanbeings^generates a sense of the necessary
community humanbeings belong to .... The non-party
communism he desires is a form of humanism, not a
humanism created on the concept of the authority
of manythe private individual but on the consciousness
of the inter active canmunity of humanbeings. The
suggestion for the long term peace a humanism that
integrates ^the private individual and the party so that
such division is replaced by an interaction that
radically alters the idea of the individual and the
Government.
Its insistence on active choice and
participation would provide a fundamentally different
approach to the conformities of party politics,
revolutit>nary politics, anarchism and
_• pacifism."
(Orwell - "In search of Voice". Open University Press 1979 - PP 123-24.)
Pastoral nostalgia is one of the outlets which provide man
vicarious satisfaction by catching a glimpse of the
primeval lost glory. Since the dawn of human civilization,
human m.inds pi ning for what is not^is a much, exploited 'literary*
motif'. In Orwell, memory and history are the repositories
of the uncorrupted pastoral. According to Alan Sandison,
"through the exploitation of the pastoral image^
'Animal Farm' describes that force and poignancy,
the deep desire for unity and the removal of barriers;
but the desire is doomed to disappointment". The
-197-
denou «4.' ment of 'Animal Farm' is^when the animals are
betrayed by t h e i r own kind l i k e the inhumanity of one roan against
anothea; spoke of by Wordsworth, The r e v o l u t i o n a r y
i d e a l i s m of the founding f a t h e r , which i n s p i r e d the
a n i m a l s ' r e b e l l i a n and the subsequent emergence of the
./the
uncorrupted p a s t o r a l world ano^ promise in Major's Song
of the Golden f u t u r e , would never^ could never^ be
f u l f i l l e d . As Alan Sandison s a y s , "by the end of the
F a b l e , the p a s t o r a l world i s as much a n o s t a l g i c dream as
the 'Golden c o u n t r y ' is in "Nineteen Eighty-Four". Both
'Animal Farm' and 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' are continuations
of the themes developed in h i s e a r l i e r w r i t i n g s ; the
d i f f e r e n c e is only in the emotional t o n e . In "The Road t o
Wigan P i e r " , Orwell speaks with f u l l confidence of his
ov/n independent standards of moral judgements applied to the
p o l i t i c a l world - they are also the underlying f a c u l t i e s of
'Animal Farm'. The belief in j u s t i c e and l i b e r t y stands
behind the anger and pathos of 'Animal Farm', as Edward
M. Thomas s a y s . In the e a r l y period oj' the Spanish C i v i l
Wary the working c l a s s was in c o n t r o l : the e a r l y stage of the
r e v o l u t i o n in 'Animal Farm' was not t a i n t e d by the self
i n t e r e s t s of the r e v o l u t i o n a r i e s ,
A s a t i r e pre-supposes a b e t t e r order of things,yeither
e x i s t e d , e x i s t i n g or would have e x i s t e d as an undeclared
i d e a l i s m . The m o r a l i s t Orwell s e l e c t e d the ' g e n r e ' of the
animal f a b l e t o s t r u c t u r e his s a t i r e because of obvious
a d v a n t a g e s . The c r i t i c a l enlistments of an Aesopean f a b l e
providing vantage observation posts t o the w r i t e r are
animals can be equated with s i n g l e q u a l i t i e s : they present
a convenient s i m p l i f i c a t i o n of the human world^because a
moral v i s i o n i s a s i m p l i f i c a t i o n of happiness of life^which
i s a complex e n t i t y . Animal f a b l e a l s o s u i t s Orwell^because
he i s able to w r i t e by h i s higher s t a n d a r d of moral i n t e g r i t y .
Animals are c l o s e to human p a t t e r n f o r easy r e c o g n i t i o n ;
s t i l l maintaining a e s t h e t i c d i s t a n c e by the w r i t e r and the
r e a d e r s . The a l l e g o r i c a l s i g n i f i c a n c e and the moral p a t t e r n
of events^when the h i s t o r i c a l models pass out of common
-198k'nowledge^stand by t h e m s e l v e s , as Edward M. Thomas s a y s ,
O r w e l l ' s love of animals was n e i t h e r a f e t i s h n o r a f a d ,
Before t h e e s t a b l i s h m e n t of t h e S o c i e t y f o r t h e P r e v e n t i o n
of C r u e l t y t o Animals ( S P C A ) , which c o n s c i e n t i s e s man t o t h e
b i o l o g i c a l and e c o l o g i c a l i n e v i t a b i l i t y of animals f o r h i s
own s u r v i v a l , t h e r e b y p o p u l a r i s i n g t h e message of man-animal
c o - e x i s t e n c e , l i t e r a r y w r i t e r s of t h e v i n t a g e of Aesop
i n i t i a t e d t h e theme of e c o l o g i c a l b a l a n c e t h r o u g h t h e animal
fables,
Orwell was one of t h e n a t u r a l i s t i c a l l y c o n s c i e n t i s e d
e n v i r o n m e n t a l w r i t e r s « N a t u r e i s t h e * b e - a l l and e n d - a l l ' o f
m a n ' s knov,/ledge and wisdom; she does n o t c l a i m any i n t e l l e c t u a l
p r o p e r t y r i g h t f o r what man t a k e s from h e r : an a t t i t u d e t h e
Developed C o u n t r i e s s h o u l d adopt in t h e i r i n s i s t e n c e on S.t.s
i n c l u s i o n i n t h e U . N , e n f o r c e d G e n e r a l Agreement on Trade and
T r a f f i c (GATT), I t s inciu*J.on w i l l be a g a i n s t t h e economic
i n t e r e s t of t h e p o o r c o u n t r i e s *
Households
a n i m a l s -*nd P e t ^ - a d o r n e d
Orwell's
r e s i d e n c e where e v e r
he s t a y e d . His o b s e r v a t i o n of animals in c l o s e q u a r t e r s made
him
e x p l o i t t h e animal t r a i t s l i k e g r e e d of p i g s ,
f i c k l e n e s s of s h e e p , cunning of f o x , memory of snakes
etc.
which'
had been e q u a t e d w i t h human t r a i t s .
Elephants
t e a c h man t h e v a l u e of c h a s t i t y , dog t h e need f o r f a i t h f u l n e s s ,
a n t s , t h e need of h a r d work, d i l i g e n c e and s a v i n g . When
n a t i o n s s p e n t h a l f of t h e i r Gross Demostic P r o d u c t (GDP) under
p u b l i c s p e n d i n g w i t h o u t m a i n t a i n i n g c o m f o r t a b l e domestic
s a v i n g r a t i o s , which make t h e c u r r e n t a c c o u n t s u r p l u s
of a
n a t i o n h e a l t h y , t h e B i b l i c a l a n t p r o v i d e s them t h e motto f o r
s a v i n g . The r e l i g i o u s s u s c e p t i b i l i t i e s a s s o c i a t e d with p i g s
and h o r s e a r e c r a f t i l y outmanoeuvred, w h i l e t h e d e e p e r
p o l i t i c a l meaning of t h e p i g s as r u l i n g c l a s s i s d e f t l y
p r o j e c t e d i n t h e a p p r e c i a t i o n of t h e F a b l e , In 'Animal F a r m ' ,
s e n t i m e n t a l i t y , a c o n s p i c u o u s b l u r in t h e d e l i n e a t i o n of t h e
I t a l i a n m i l i t i a man and t h e m i n e r s of Wigan, i s a b s e n t . The
F a b l e i s a l s o f r e e of O r w e l l ' s own d r a m a t i s e d p e r s o n a l i t y t h a t
s n e a k s o u t from t h e pagjs of h i s e a r l i e r w r i t i n g s . Each
O r w e l l book r e p r e s e n t s only one a s p e c t of h i s t h i n k i n g and
h i s h o n e s t y always makes him i n c l u d e t h e c r i t i c i s m of t h a t
a s p e c t tooo
-199The moral anchoraqe of 'democratic S o c i a l i s m ' is
in the Graeco roots of C h r i s t i a n i t y as d i s t i n c t from i t s
Judaej h e r i t a g e s . The C h r i s t i a n r e l i g i o n becomes superbly
e t h i c a l through i t s Graeco t r a d i t i o n s and supremely s p i r i t u a l
Over i t s Judaeo r o o t s . The r a t i o n a l e o f the m o r a l i t y of
C h r i s t i a n i t y and 'democratic s o c i a l i s m , i s in the vigorous
and c r e a t i v e empiricism which gives both e t h i c a l impetus
and s p i r i t u a l vibrancy. I n c i d e n t a l l y , C h r i s t i a n r e l i g i o n
c
does not s u b s r i b e to the enervative individualism of
Renaissance and Laisse ss-f a i r e . I t is s a i d of Martin Luther that^he put Christ back where He should belong t o : in each
man's h e a r t ; in each man's r e s t l e s s ^ d i s s a t i s f i e d conscience.
Orwell proposed and p r a c t i c e d personal P r o t e s t a n t i s m as his
moral .guide. The e t h i c a l base of 'democratic Socialism' i s
not a l t o g e t h e r d i f f e r e n t from the p r e s c r i p t i o n s p r a c t i c e d by
Jesus of Nazerath, Lord Buddha and a t s e c u l a r l e v e l s by
Gandhiji and Chiang kai-zhak. The l a t t e r s p a t r o n i s i n g c«J-l
t o reward violence with v i r t u le saved l o t of l i v e s of the
defeated ^Japanese s o l d i e r s in the Far E a s t , The trancendental
idealism to promote happiness througn a Popular Front of
Democratic S o c i a l i s t s against the power s t r u g g l e betv/een
the East and West, as Orwell proposes in "Toward European Unity ^
i s exemplication of his fundamental c r e d a l ideology,
Orwell believed t h a t man's moral s a l v a t i o n l i e s in his
freedom of personal contact with nature^as i l l u s t r a t e d
in Bowling's a p p r a i s a l of himself and in the f i s h i n g scenes*
i t i s accentuated in the p a s t o r a l scenes of "Animal Farm" also*
Bowling's d e s i r e for a f a i r and decent s o c i e t y i s
conceptuaiiaeSlon the l i n e s of Orwell's p o l i t i c a l and s o c i a l
p r e - o c c u p a t i o n s , The stream f o r the a c t u a l i s a t i o n of such
a s o c i e t y i s in the t r a d i t i o n a l , n o s t a l g i c and p a t r i o t i c
stream'which connects
human beings to concrete o b j e c t s ,
The a l t e r n a t i v e stream is in the r e v o l u t i o n a r y and visionary
r o u t e s which,off and on,give p a s s i o n a t e moments and force
of i d e a s . Both the streams flow p a s t the w r i t i n g s of Orwell
surging and surfing both the s h o r e s .
,... /
-200-
'Animal Farm' was both a l i t e r a r y breakthrough and a
p o l i t i c a l scoop in Orwell's c a r e e r . His socialism i s
u n d o c t r i n a l . The p o s i t i v e contents of his socialism
come from the demolition of Russian myth in Spain.
As Raymond William s s a y s : ti
Socialism as such was always secondary in t h i s
mind, to the s t r u g g l e against fascism and
imperialism and i n e q u a l i t y . Socialism was a
general i d e a , a general name a g a i n s t a l l these e v i l s
...
( ' O r w e l l ' - Raymond williams - Fontana/l971 P:55)
The e s s e n t i a l f e a t u r e s of the s a t i r e are summarised
by J . R . Hammond, He says:—
"The e s s e n t i a l t h e s i s of the book, t h e n , is t h a t a l l
human r e v o l u t i o n s f a i l to achieve the l o f t y expectations
of t h e i r originators; t h a t with the passage of time, the
i d e a l s and percepts which i n s p i i ^ d the revolution become
more and more d i l u t e d , t h a t r e v o l u t i o n s , w h i l s t professing
democracy and e q u a l i t y tend t o produce a r u l i n g e l i t e which
c o n c e n t r a t e s power in i t s ovm hands; t h a t the blame for the
f a i l u r e of p o l i c i e s i s placed firmly on e x t e r n a l f a c t o r s and
not on i n t e r n a l l e a d e r s h i p ; t h a t the r u l i n g e l i t e becomes
corrupted by the growth of i t s own power u n t i l at l a s t i t i s
r e s p o n s i b l e t o no one^but i t s e l f and r u t h l e s s l y destroys
o p p o s i t i o n , ('A George Orwell Companion: Macmillan 1977 P:168),
The Marxian promise of 'each according t o his n e e d ' ,
c r i t i c i s e d by Proudhon on i t s assumptions of needs and
a b i l i t i e s , is c a r r i e d t o the promise's i l l o g i c a l abuse by the
r u l i n g p i g s . The Marxian dream of 'development of a l l as the
p r e - c o n d i t i o n f o r the development of e a c h ' was p l a j ^ i s e d
by the r u l i n g c l i q u e in cornering b e n e f i t s and ' e n t i t l e m e n t s ' .
The pigs going f o r the warmth of s o f t beds, savouring l i q u o r ,
indulging in t r a d e and t r a n s i t with Pilkington are the abused
e x t e r n a l m a n i f e s t a t i o n s of the economic
ideology of Marxist
s o c i a l i s m . The baser elements of man got the b e t t e r off^even^
in l o f t y executive h i s t o r i c a l personage l i k e P e r i c l e s .
-201Socialists rulers are also not far behind. The ideology
of Socialism was compartmentalised and piecemealed by i t s
frenzied adherants in the sam?' way in which the Christian
mystery of "Love one another", given by Jesus Christ, had
been used by His avid followers for creating nearly 25,000Christiai
: s t a t i s t i c s of
denominations according "Co tfH/ the 'mystical year'^
1984,
The industry oriented socialism of Russia, anti-thetical to
the agrarian socialism of China, when contrasted with the
religion rooted Socialist ideals of Europe^bring to one's mind
the mischievous comment of the cynic that,^Socialism is
for birds',
'Animal Farm' is given out of context i n t e r pretations by c r i t i c s to hint at possible^-' retraction of
e a r l i e r s o c i a l i s t posture on the part of Orwell owing to the
expression of pessimistic view of revolution. This attempt
to make him a socio- path since unrelieved social despair is
given vent to in the s a t i r e indicative of Orwell's lose
of faith in the p o s s i b i l i t i e s of English s o c i a l i s m , s t i l l continues.
Kubal and Bernard Crick sweep off such off-the mark i n t e r preations.
They say^such a viev; is the result of selective reading;
Or 'Animal.Farm* b y
discriminatory c r i t i c s . David Kubal
asserts that Orwell's politics j^as'^°^ substantially changed
since 1941. The disintegration of animal society is owing
to the absence of an established p o l i t i c a l t r a d i t i o n . Kubal
says : —
"When moral direction fails to come frorr^ the people,
authority becomes absolute power, which corrupts absolutely.
This situation on the Farm allows Snow- ball and Napolean to
change the comandments and regulations v/hen i t suits them.
The animals do not have "racial" memory, nor the idea of
j u s t i c e and equality to f a l l back on. Consequently, when at
l a s t the "single commandment": 'All animals are equal' but
some animals are more equal than o t h e r s ' , goes up on the barn,
only .Benjamin - appears unsettled . . .
The other animals
accept the new rule as a matter of course . . . ( - 'CXatside the
Whale' P:39)
Manipulation of truth and elimination of the'«myths,
accumulated and verbally transferred from generation to
generation from the 'collective consciousness
of man had
been attempted by the confessional t o t a l i t a r i a n systems both p o l i t i c a l and e c c l e c i a s t i c a l . Short lived memory of
-202the ruled is the strength of the rulers, as illustrated by
the jjig s"* temerity in the alter ation of the Constitution
of the Animal Kingdom and the muted acceptance by the ruledo
When democracy protects the basic structure of the Constitution
of representative governments through checks and balances,
totalitarian governments alter them according to convenience
without much ado. The theme gets developed in its 'fullbloodednoss ' in "Nineteen Eighty-Four".
The Marxian view,that material proppority would make people
better off, has not been borne out by quantitative economic
studies. The concepts of self rated happiness and economic
aspirations conditioned by socialisation process are contrary
to the Marxian concept of need fulfilment. Centralised planning
of socialism pre-supposes interventionist state. The non-economic
dimensions of social welfare are kept by Marxis .m in the backwaters
of the state policy. Capitalism, which created 'hard core'
urban poor, degraded and stunted grov>/th^ as Alfred Marshall
rhapsodically points out irv" "Principles of Economies", was to
be replaced by a better functional system in the War period,
'democratic Socialism' was Orwell's immediajte throw—off to the
IVartime Social Scientists, He did not want the individual
to be subsumed by the collectives^as had happened under Marxism,
Collectivist influence also wilted the intellectual growth of
democracy during the iiar time period both in Britain and in the
Continent: the debilitating disease is still sapping the
vitality of intelligentia everywhere,
The question, whether the state of Orwell in 'democratic
Socialism',is interventionist or Smithian Free Enterprise
allocating resources according to market conditions on the
economic front, still remains with a ques tion mark. The
frame work of social welfare based on personal relationship,
on the lines of the weird synthesis of •laissez-faire*
individualism and collective competitiveness of capitalist
ideology, is of'democratic Socialism's too* The institution
-203-
of p o l i t i c a l ' c h o i c e ' , l i k e t h e options a v a i l a b l e t o Algernon of 'The
Impoirtance of Being E a r n e s t ' , i s the moral t r a d e mark of Orwell's
s o c i a l i s m . The non-economic aspects of welfare s t r e s s e d by a l l r e l i g i o n s
of the world and s p i r i t u a l rewards of a n t i - m e n t a l i s t approach t o
material comforts as emphasised by C h r i s t i a n i t y are the d i s t i n g u i s h i n g
marks of Orwell's 'democratic S o c i a l i s m ' .
Orwell was a man of e q u i l i b r i u m . The old order of farmer Jones
had t o go; the new order promised by the pigs a l s o got c o r r u p t e d . In
the World War c o n t e x t , c a p i t a l i s m appeared as a spent foxrce a g a i n s t
socialism which had been on the ascend a n t . The predicament of man
caught up between the dying m a t e r i a l c i v i l i z a t i o n and s t i l l - b o r n
s p i r i t u a l i s m , having a p a r a l l e l t o the s e n i l e Capitalism and ewbryonic
Socialism, has been one of t h e f a v o u r i t e 'theirxi-sets* of t h e w r i t e r s
jinxed between t h e two World Wars, The market economies of Capitalism,
p o l i t i c a l values of democracy and the s o c i a l e t h i c s of socialism were
dear t o t h e h e a r t of Orwell; they are t o ever^-body's h e a r t . A Sociop o l i t i c a l idea which embraces the h e a r t of o t h e r systems has been
evolved through the politico-economic p e r c e p t i o n s of Orwell. I t s name i s
the e q u i l i b r i u m - c e n t r e d 'democratic S o c i a l i s m ' . It had ephemeral
e x i s t e n c e during t h e t r a n s i t i o n between the outs ing of Jones and
emergence of the p i g s . Since the s e t t i n g - i n of the p o l i t i c a l c o r r u p t i o n ,
the b l i s s f u l s t a t e e x i s t e d only in the memory bank of t h e p r o g e n i t o r s
of r e v o l u t i o n - t h e animals of 'Animal Farm*. As a p o l i t i c a l i d e a ,
•democratic S o c i a l i s m ' has been s i d e l i n e d by t h e b r a c k e t a b l e idea of
s o c i a l democracy s u r v i v i n g with connotative diffeirences
i n a l l 24 CBCD
(Organization for Economic Cooperation on Development) c o u n t r i e s , A
r e f i n e d S o c i a l Democracy becomes'democratic Socialisml The p o l i t i c a l
c l i m a t e of the globe i s s u i t e d for the conscious adoption of 'democratic
Socialism*; i t s emergence i s the triumph of h\iman s p i r i t a g a i n s t the
weoJcly human f l e s h .
'democratic Socialism* p r o t e c t s s o c i a l
e q u i l i b r i u m by advocating s o c i e t a l s y n t h e s i s of c o n f l i c t i n g c l a s s
i n t e r e s t s , economic eqilibrlvun by s y n t h e s i s i n g Democracy and
Socialism and s p i r i t u a l equilibrium through p o s i t i v e responses in
i n t e r p e r s o n a l r e l a t i o n s h i p . The f e r t i l e s o i l of i n d i v i d u a l s fxree
development offered by Marxism i s f u r t h e r n u t r i t i o n e d by 'democratic
Socialism* t o make i n d i v i d u a l s t o s o a r a l o f t t o t h e blue emphyrean
without c o n s t r i c t i n g stumbling b l o c k s . Does a p o l i t i c a l idea requiire
anything e l s e for i t s adoption?