Communism or Nah?

At this moment, you are living in a communist country, where there is no social class and there is an equal distribution of necessities. However, you realize you are different than the rest of the people, in which you are more intelligent, considerate and ambitious than the rest of the population. Now, are you willing to become a citizen who share everything equally with others, or are you willing to become a leader and utilize your intelligence to create a change in the society?

       
        On October 24, 1917, Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Bolsheviks, and other launched a successful coup against the Russian provisional government, known as the October Revolution. Later, they established a new government based on the ideals of communism, which emphasized equality in the public life. 

It was not until 1945 that George Orwell, a British novelist, published Animal Farm to criticize Russian Communism by highlighting the ineffectiveness of the political institution to evoke a change within the audience. Furthermore, Orwell reflects the complexity of humanity in his work. Through the incorporation of exaggeration and irony, Orwell accentuates that men serves the interest of no creature except himself. 

Everyone is a different entity. Some are smarter than others while some are stronger than the rest. Orwell exaggerates the various level of education within the animals in his work to emphasize the complexity of humanity. Clover, a horse, learned the whole alphabet, but could not put words together. Similarly, Boxer, another horse, could not get beyond the letter D. However, the pigs can read and write perfectly. Although the animals live in a society that promote equality, the animals are not synchronized in their educational level. This difference in education eventually enables the pigs, who are smarter than the rest, to dominate the leadership positions, which further enlarge the social and political gap between the pigs and the rest of the animals. Thus, true communism cannot be achieved.  Moreover, the pigs utilize the advantages of their leadership role to procure beer, apple and soft beds, luxuries to the rest of the population. The selfish acts of the pigs display how they can neglect the ideals of communism in exchange for their benefits solely.

On the other hand, Orwell incorporates an irony to highlight the different between expectations and the consequences in a communist society. In the beginning of the book, the old Major, a pig with high reputation, states, “ Men  serves in the interest of no creature except himself.” (10) Although Major has once warned the animals, they neglect this warning. The animals allow Napoleon, the leader of the farm, to inhabit a separate apartments from others, to drink beer and to have the gun fired every year on his birthday. Napoleon no longer embraces the ideals of communism, in which he establishes his privileges and rules above all animals. The expectation of communism is fulfilled by inequality. Thus, the idea of equality might appear to be a triumph for all animals in the farm, however, it is just a beginning of another dictatorship that concentrate on the benefits of the leaders. 

By presenting the negative aspects of communism, the audience would be exposed to the flaws. Through recognition, there would be a change in audience, whether the change is to alter their opinions about communism or/ and to act upon inequality in other communist countries.   

After reading this novel, I no longer believe equality can be achieved in every areas under communism, instead, I believe communism is simply another way for men to serve their own interest though a political institution. What about you?