Nicholas Cuevas
Professor Paul Siewers
English Literary Studies 245
10/15/2025
Ambitions of Totalitarianism
Your country has successfully gained freedom from its oppressors and you are now under a hopeful and optimistic form of leadership; a better future for all. However, over time you slowly witness the changes of your leadership and you begin to suffer the consequences of this change, now questioning if things returned to the way they were, or worse. Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, is a novel that offers a reflection of failed totalitarian regimes such as German Nazism and Russian Communism by telling the story of a society of animals rising above its oppressors to slowly reverting back to the world they once lived in, therefore proving Arendt’s point of totalitarian states never becoming fully realized and such a society being too ambitious. This essay will analyze three different eras of Animal Farm’s narrative: Major’s unification, Snowball and Napoleon’s golden age, and Napoleon’s rule; and dive into the evolution of Animal Farm’s leadership and how its ambitions would become the downfall of its society. To support my analysis, I will draw historical references and points made from both The Black of Communism and The Origins of Totalitarianism to create parallels to Animal Farm on how totalitarian societies start but ultimately fail.
In a time of oppression, fear, and unknowing, Major was an animal of great wisdom and gifted his wisdom to others who lived on Mr. Jones’ farm. This gave Major the position of a great unifier amongst the animals, who even after his death his ideologies remained cemented in the minds of all animals. “And remember, comrades, your resolution must never falter, No argument must lead you astray. Never listen when they tell you that Man and the animals have a common interest, that the prosperity of the one is the prosperity of the others. It is all lies. Man serves the interest of no creature except himself. And among us animals let there be perfect unity, perfect comradeship in the struggle. All men are enemies. All animals are comrades.” (Orwell, 10) This is the moment Major reached all the minds and hearts of every animal living on the farm. Having lived on this farm for 14 years and witnessing the struggles of everyday life, he relates to every animal that has lived on there. He understands the oppression these animals witness day to day, the weakness and helplessness imposed on these animals by Mr. Jones. It is this time of desperation that Major spoke to the animals who are looking for a sliver of hope for the future, that maybe, just maybe their lives could change for the better. In The Origins of Totalitarianism, Arendt calls back to Hitler’s massive popularity during his rise to power in Germany, and this is a direct parallel to Major’s rise in influence on the farm. “In the early years of his career, when a restoration of the European status quo was still the most serious threat to the ambitions of the mob, Hitler appealed almost exclusively to these sentiments of the front generation. The peculiar selflessness of the mass man appeared here as yearning for anonymity, for being just a number and functioning only as a cog, for every transformation, in brief, which would wipe out the spurious identifications with specific types or predetermined functions within society.” (Arendt, 431) A little bit of historical background, after the end of World War I, Germany’s defeat left the country powerless. In the eyes of German citizens, the Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to take responsibility for the war resulting in territories being lost and massive amounts of reparations to be made out to other countries. On top of that, Germany was left with a crippled economy thus furthering sentiment against European countries that fought against them. Hitler was able to unify and gain support from the German people who had already existing sentiment from after the war, especially from those who fought on the front lines during the war. Hitler himself was able to relate to these masses because he was also a soldier on the frontlines during World War I. He has a shared experience with the masses which makes him someone people can relate to. Similar to Major who can relate and understand with the masses.
Hitler also envisioned a stronger Germany, one that rivals what the country was during the first world war. A country with not only a strong economy, but a strong military. Major also had a vision for the farm, one that was hopeful and optimistic. “Is it not crystal clear, comrades, that all the evils of this life of ours spring from the tyranny of human beings? Only get rid of Man, and the produce of our labour be our own. Almost overnight we could become rich and free. What then must we do? Why work night and day, body and soul, for the overthrow of the human race!” (Orwell, 9) Using this promise, this vision of a better future furthered Major’s influence on the masses very similar to Hitler. Hope of liberation from what both viewed as oppressors was a shared idea amongst the masses. And the use of ideologies is a very powerful tool when controlling the masses in a totalitarian society. “The device both totalitarian rulers used to transform their respective ideologies into weapons with with each of their subjects could force himself to into step with the terror movement was deceptively simple and inconspicuous; they took them dead seriously, took pride the one in his supreme gift for ‘ice cold reasoning’ (Hitler) and the other in the ‘merciless of his dialectics,’ and proceeded to drive ideological implications into extremes of logical consistency which, to the onlooker, looked preposterously ‘primitive’ and absurd: a ‘dying class’ consisted of people condemned to death; races that are ‘unfit to live’ were to be exterminated.” (Arendt, 619) In a way, Major also weaponsized his ideologies as it did give way to the first battle of Animal Farm (which resulted in the farm animals’ victory). Major was insistent on the unification of all farm animals, proclaiming that each and everyone of them is equal. But he also drove another aspect of his ideology, that man is an evil upon the world and that man will always be the enemy. Major encouraged rebellion amongst the farm animals to take control of the evils of man. This can be seen as a parallel to Hitler’s anti-semetic ideologies during World War II. Similar to Major, Hitler clearly defined a certain race that he viewed as a poison to Nazi Germany which led many of his followers to accept his ideologies, turning them into truth. Both Major and Hitler singled out a particular race as a means of uniting the masses and gaining influence. However, Major’s reasons were more justified as it meant the animals could be liberated from the clear and present evils the humans have put on the farm animals. Hitler’s ideologies were surrounded by false narratives of the Jewish population making them seem unfavorable and a hindrance to Germany’s goal to power. It was strictly a way to justify racial prejudice. The ideologies both serve the same function of unification but the execution and reasoning behind them are very different.
Now that your country has been liberated, a new form of leadership now governs over you and the future looks promising.This new leadership brings in an abundance of food and materials, but only time will tell if this golden age can last.. This is what the animals on Animal Farm experienced after the first battle and went under the leadership of Snowball and Napoleon. Following in the footsteps of Major (who passed away before the first battle of Animal Farm) Snowball and Napoleon were able to lead a great totalitarian state, and to further this goal meant to bring forth the vision of Major, all animals are equal. When Snowball and Napoleon took over leadership of Animal Far, they created 7 commandments. These commandments are as follows: “1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy, 2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend, 3. No animal shall wear clothes, 4. No animal shall sleep in a bed, 5. No animal shall drink alcohol, 6. No animal shall kill another animal, 7. All animals are equal.” (Orwell, 24) There is a huge emphasis on creating equality amongst the various animals on the farm, and this means that the distinction between animals is to be dismantled. This relates to Arendt’s points about a classless society, this being a key part in forming a totalitarian / communist state. “The breakdown of the class system meant automatically the breakdown of the party system, chiefly because these parties, being interest parties, could no longer represent class interests. Their continuance was of some importance to the members of former classes who hoped against hope to regain their old social status and who stuck together not because they had common interests any longer but because they hoped to restore them.” (Arendt, 412) This is in direct relation to the Bolshevik revolution in Russia which sought to bring an end to the ruling class system. “In regions held by the Bolsheviks it was the “class struggle” against the “aristocrats”, the bourgeoisie, and socially undesirable elements, the hunt for all non-Bolshevik militants from opposing parties, and the putting down of workers’ strikes, of mutinies in the less secure elements of the Red Army, and of peasant revolts.” (Werth, 82) After the first World War (and very similar to Germany), many people living in Russia lived in poverty while the current monarchy led by Tzar Nicholas II along with other aristocrats still lived their lives in luxury. Seeing this system of classes as not being in favor of the large population of Russians living in poverty, Vladimir Lenin led the Bolshevik Revolution against the monarchy and the ruling elite to destroy this system of classes. The Bolshevik’s slogan “Peace, Land, and Bread” resonated with the masses leading them to be in favor of the destruction of the class system. This breaking down of the class systems in both Animal Farm and the Bolshevik revolution is in essence what Communist stands for, equality amongst the masses. And similar to Napoleon and Snowball with Lenin, they all served as the forerunners for their totalitarian movements. “Totalitarian movements are mass organizations of atomized, isolated individuals. Compared with all other parties, and movements, their most conspicuous external characteristic is their demand for total, unrestricted, unconditional, and unalterable loyalty of the individual member.” (Arendt, 423) Napoleon and Snowball have already successfully gathered support from the farm animals due to their isolation prior to the first battle. Each individual animal was alone and really helpless to the situation they were in making them susceptible to Major’s idea of rebellion. After his death, Snowball and Napoleon took it upon themselves to control the animals as they were already isolated and fearful. After the victory of the first battle, there was a huge relief for the first time as liberation is now reality. Now rules were set in place despite this new freedom, but they acted more as the foundations to an equal society amongst the animals. The system of classes is destroyed and equality is widespread not only amongst the animals but stretches to leadership as well. However, this drive for equality would ultimately lead to the downfall of Animal Farm’s original ambitions of being a totalitarian state. Keeping equality sounds beneficial to all in theory, but personal and ulterior motives get in the way of this. As we see transition into this next era of Animal Farm, disagreements amongst the leaders take a drastic turn as Napoleon seizes control over Animal Farm, exiling Snowball in the process. With nothing in his way to stop his vision of Animal Farm, Napoleon now stands as an authoritative figure. Whatever he demands gets done. You do not question Napoleon’s leadership. Your duty to him is also extended to your duty to Animal Farm.
A new form of leadership has taken over and you are told that everything that has been accomplished in the past is built on lies and deception and that you must only look forward and do your duty to animal farm. You begin to notice changes and life is slowly reverting back to how you once lived when humans were around, but you remain hopeful but also cannot ignore to question if things will really get better. At this point in Animal Farm, Napoleon has taken full control. He leads with an iron fist and the animals are confused, scared, and unsure. What they knew and hoped about this new society has now been flipped upside down. All they are told to do now is work for the benefit of Animal Farm when in reality it meant for the benefit of Napoleon. The animals are being worked long hours with food shortages happening more often than they used to. On top of all this uncertainty, Napoleon raises concerns about feelings of dissent towards his authority. This would result in Animal Farm’s horrific mass executions. “They were all slain on the spot. And so the tale of confessions and executions went on until there was a pile of corpses lying before Napoleon’s feet and the air was heavy with the smell of blood, which had been unknown there since the expulsion of Jones.” (Orwell, 84) This is a direct parallel to the approaches taken by Communist regimes in Russia. “The nature of these crimes was defined by Article 6 of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal, which identified three major offenses: crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. An examination of all the crimes committed by Leninist / Stalinist regime, and in the Communist world as a whole, reveals crimes that fit into each of these three categories.” (Courtois, 5) To be more specific about these crimes and especially the crimes against humanity, the revolutions led by Lenin and by Stalin carried out mass arrests and mass executions amongst not only those who they were originally fighting against, but also against the very people they gathered support from. There have been reports of mass executions being carried out by these regimes and this is a very similar picture to Napoleon’s mass execution on Animal Farm. And an interesting detail about these executions carried out by Napoleon is that it is a sight that the animals have not seen since Mr. Jones was in charge of the farm. “In the old days there had often been scenes of bloodshed equally terrible, but it seemed to all of them that it was far worse now that it was happening to themselves. Since Jones had left the farm, until today, no animal had killed another animal. Not even a rat had been killed.” (Orwell, 85) This is really significant because the animals are starting to recognize that the society they once fought to get rid of is slowly coming back. They are reinstating the system of classes that was once destroyed after the revolution, but Napoleon has brought it back. And this brings up a point Arendt has made about this kind of reversion and how a totalitarian state is too ambitious for a country. “The point is that in all these smaller European countries nontotalitarian dictatorships were preceded by totalitarian movements, so that it appeared totalitarianism was too ambitious an aim, that although it had served well enough to organize the masses until the movement seized power, the absolute size of the country then forced the would-be totalitarian ruler of masses into the more familiar patterns of class or party dictatorship.” (Arendt, 405) This perfectly describes Animal Farm’s beginnings of being a totalitarian movement to ultimately reverting back to the society they once were. Major was a great unifier and using his wisdom, Napoleon and Snowball organized the masses and took control, but Napoleon seized total control and reinstated a system of classes that the animals were already too familiar with during the time of Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones along with the other humans who worked on the farm were the ruling and oppressing class. Now Napoleon has taken the place of Mr. Jones and on top of that, the other pigs on the farm are taking their place alongside Napoleon in the ruling class. “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” (Orwell, 141) Animal Farm has come full circle from humble beginnings about being liberated from the tyranny of man, only to find themselves in the same position they were only this time, the condition seems much worse. And to top it all off, this is a betrayal done by Napoleon who drove the distinction between humans and animals, only to become like his human oppressors in the end.
Throughout history, we have seen many totalitarian movements play out with methods of unifying the masses and sharing ideologies that become truth over time. However, unification can only go so far as slowly but surely, the old form of government begins to resurface under a new face, just like Napoleon. He fought for the liberation of Animal Farm only for him to become its oppressor. Even in today’s world, there are world leaders that can be classified as oppressors. Whether it be through religious oppression, racial oppression, political oppression, etc., it is there. And countries intertwine these oppressions with their totalitarian movements, but a true totalitarian state has never been fully reached. Arendt has given us the recipe for true totalitarianism, but the recipe only goes so far. At some point, the creation of the totalitarian state fully rests upon the ruling Party, and the ruling Party always fails to reach it. And so this begs the question, “Is human nature the biggest obstacle to totalitarianism?” Because like Alexandr Solzhenitsyn in his address at Harvard, we always want more and want to consume more.
Works Cited
- Orwell, George. Animal Farm. Signet Classic, 1946
- Arendt, Hannah. The Origins of Totalitarianism. Penguin Classics, 2017
- Courtois, Stéphane, and Mark Kramer. The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression. Harvard University Press, 2004.
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