Karl Marx’s perfect society described in his Communist Manifesto is in direct conflict with the implementation of Soviet Communism, which was scathingly criticized by George Orwell’s book Animal Farm. Karl Marx believed that in order to form a just and equal society, the working class, called the proletariat, would have to overthrow those who owned the means of production, who were known as the bourgeoisie. This was to be known as the Proletariat Revolution where the oppressed laborers in capitalist societies, such as England, would unite under a common cause to overthrow the oppressive bourgeoisie, and establish a communist society. This would be a society where all were equal, each performing to his ability, and each receiving according to his needs. A dictatorship would be necessary at first to get the ball rolling, but would eventually voluntarily give up power, as it would no longer be needed. However, this was never destined to be. The rise of the Soviet Union was a testament to this, brilliantly depicted and condemned by George Orwell.

Marx ended the Communist Manifesto with the fighting words “WORKING MEN OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!” (Marxism, 44). This was to be the inspiration for the proletariat to band together and realize that they were being oppressed by the bourgeoisie. After they realize this, they would rebel, in which a revolution would take place where the proletariat would be victorious over the bourgeoisie. Old Major, the eldest pig in Animal Farm was the animal recreation of Karl Marx. He professed, “Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend” (Orwell, 31). In this case, man is the bourgeoisie and the animals are the proletariat. Both Karl Marx and Old Major incited an overthrow of their respective oppressors. By the time of the revolution, Old Major was dead, much like Karl Marx was dead during the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Fortunately for them, they never got to see their systems go amiss, as they did on Animal Farm and in the Soviet Union.

In Animal Farm, and in the Soviet Union, both regimes after the revolution stuck pretty closely with the ideals of Communism (Animalism as it was called to the inhabitants of Animal Farm). Unfortunately, things quickly collapsed. In the beginning, the animals worked together and they lived a life they had never before lived. None of the animals went to the slaughterhouse, and each got adequate amounts of food. Napoleon and Snowball represented the Soviet Union’s Lenin and Trotsky, respectively. Napoleon was “leader” of the revolution, but was still a comrade like all the other animals. Snowball was enthusiastic about Animalism and stuck to the ideals. After a while, Napoleon had a change of heart, and did not seem to like Snowball’s enthusiasm. He was convicted of being a traitor and driven off the farm by Napoleon’s guard dogs. This is the same thing that happened to Trotsky in the Soviet Union. After Stalin came to power, Trotsky was no longer wanted, was declared a traitor, and lived the remainder of his life in exile. The Soviet Union erased all records of Trotsky’s affiliation with the Communist Party. The same thing happened to Snowball. His heroics at the Battle of Cowshed were played down and eventually reversed, and he was the scapegoat of all things that went wrong on the farm.

Both Animal Farm and the Soviet Union were becoming secretive regimes ruled by terror and fueled by propaganda. However, Marx stated that, “Communists should openly, in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the spectre of communism with a manifesto of the party itself” (Marxism, 13). This shows that Marx had envisioned the communist state as being an open society. In contrast, the Soviet Union became one of the most closed an oppressive states of the modern era. It became the most murderous regime in the history of the world, and fed lies to its populace about anything and everything. This is portrayed in Animal Farm when Napoleon starts ordering his dogs to kill those that committed even the smallest crimes, such as urinating in the drinking pool or admitting to feeling some sympathy for Snowball. When Boxer, the horse whose motto was “I will work harder,” became old and of no use, Napoleon had him shipped off to the glue factory in return for money. When the animals saw the sign on the side of the van that Boxer was hauled away in, which said “Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler” on the side, there was an enormous outcry. But Squealer let them know that “the van had previously been the property of the knacker, and had been bought by the veterinary surgeon, who had not yet painted the old name out” (Orwell, 125). The animals believed this shallow lie and felt better, especially after Squealer gave them a manufactured story about being at Boxer’s side on his deathbed.

Old Major had warned of situations like these when he said “no animal must ever live in a house, or sleep in a bed, or wear clothes, or drink alcohol, or smoke tobacco, or touch money, or engage in trade” (Orwell, 31). As time went on, the pigs broke more and more of these rules laid out by Old Major. Eventually, they were living in the farmhouse, wearing clothes, sleeping in beds, getting drunk, and they even began walking on two legs. The Soviet Union did much the same thing. Marx said that under communism, there would be “an association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all” (Marxism, 33). Meaning, that in a classless society, each is free become what he or she wants, which in turn makes possible the freedom for everyone in the society. Unfortunately, in the Soviet Union, this was not the case. The government became its own class, and the nation’s people became another. The members of the Soviet government enjoyed benefits while the rest of the country was in despair, starving, and afraid. Many were sent to work camps that were of horrendous conditions. Certainly, not everyone was equal in the Soviet Union. While Stalin was eating caviar, smoking cigars and tossing back vodka, his people were waiting in bread lines facing starvation.

Ultimately, Communism was a fine idea at the time. Karl Marx made many valid points, but failed to take into account human nature. It has been said that absolute power corrupts absolutely, which is demonstrated by both the Soviet Union and George Orwell’s book Animal Farm. Orwell’s critique of the deception of a population, mass murder, and bastardization of communism by those in charge is a compelling one. By the end of the book, the pigs were breaking every rule that they themselves had put forth in accordance with Old Major’s revolutionary vision. Animal Farm was a mirror image of communism gone awry in the Soviet Union. It also shows Marx’s naivety of the fact that there will always be the clever that take advantage of the ignorant. By keeping the population ignorant, the clever gain even more power, which is was happened in the Soviet Union and Animal Farm. The ones that took part in the revolutions would never realize that they were holding the short end of the stick, just as they were in their previous state of affairs. They were cold, miserable, and starving. In their brainwashed state they still believed that the dismal state they were in was better than their situation before the revolution. George Orwell finished his book on a somber note, the state in which Joseph Stalin left the Soviet Union.