In The Black Book of Communism, one topic that remains relevant is violence arises from Communism and how it unjustly kills those opposed to it. Therefore, I see this in relation to the violence shown in Animal Farm and how some animals were unjustly killed and how these acts are swept under the rug. In the foreword and introduction of The Black Book of Communism, there are many comparisons being made between the actions committed Communist Regimes and actions committed by the Nazi Party. The book does make the distinction that the violent acts committed by Communist Regimes are politically influenced whereas violent acts committed by the Nazi Party were racially influenced (the main example being the persecution against the Jewish population in Europe at the time). “It is this syndrome that gives the permanent qualitative advantage to Communism over Nazism in any evaluation of their quantitative atrocities. For the Communist project, in origin, claimed commitment to universalistic and egalitarian goals, whereas the Nazi project offered only unabashed national egoism.” (xvii) But the book also makes it very clear that both projects were crimes against humanity and events we should not easily forget. We look back and never forget the atrocities of World War II, but we rarely ever stop to think about the atrocities committed by Communist Regimes. This has to do in part with communist leaders rewriting narratives to be in their favor. A person may speak out against unjust practices, but they can label them as a traitor and that is what will be written in history. Animal Farm does an excellent job in portraying this unjust violence and rewriting narratives to better suit communism and its leaders.
On page 84 of Animal Farm, multiple animals are killed by Napoleon after not complying with having to sacrifice their resources. But I want to specifically focus on the other pigs on the farm that were killed by Napoleon. So before the pigs were killed, Napoleon spreads the rumor that Snowball (one of the former leaders appointed after the first war but exiled by Napoleon after a disagreement on where to focus resources and work) was deliberately sabotaging the progress of the farm in the middle of the night and conspiring with Mr. Jones, deeming him a traitor. The other pigs on the farm couldn’t believe what they were hearing. They couldn’t fathom Snowball being a traitor this whole time and started to sympathize with him. But this sympathy would be their demise. After news of Snowball’s betrayal had spread, suspicions arose of others that could be conspiring with Snowball. Sympathy was soon twisted into betrayal and the pigs that sympathized with Snowball were executed first. Napoleon labeled them as traitors to make their deaths deserving for his political gain. The pigs sympathizing with Snowball was not really a threat to Animal Farm’s prosperity, but a threat to Napoleon’s rule. You can see how this relates to historical events such as the Great Purge where Stalin violently murdered those who opposed his rule.
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