Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky was born on November 8th, 1879 in Elisavetgrad, Russia and died on August 21st 1940 in Mexico City. He was also known as Lev Davidovich Bronstein for his real name. Trotsky was a principal leader in the founding of the Soviet Union. [1] At the age of 7, Trotsky was sent to a private religious school in a nearby town of Gromokla. However, he was unhappy, sooner or later, he learned to read and write Russian. At the age of 17, Trotsky was introduced to Marxism and began to skip school to talk with political exiles and to read illegal pamphlets and books. It was not long for them to plan of a revolution. Trotsky helped found the South Russian Worker’s Union and was arrested in January 1898 for his activities in the union. [2] After two years in prison, he was then transfer to another prison in Siberia. In 1902, he decide to escape Siberia and went out of town with a fake passport, given with the name of Leon Trotsky. He has managed his way to London and met up Lenin for the revolution. Trotsky wrote multiple articles in 1905 for pamphlets and newspapers for the purpose to help inspire, encourage, and mold the protests and uprisings that challenged the tsar’s power during the 1905 Russian Revolution. [2] In 1940, Trotsky wrote a document “Trotsky’s Testament” to express his thoughts and feelings towards posterity.
Trotsky VS Snowball
In the novel Animal Farm, George Orwell has described Trotsky as Snowball. At the beginning of the novel, Snowball may be seen as Lenin as animals are highly respected to his wisdom. However, throughout the novel, it is clearly seen that Snowball is link to Leon Trotsky who is second in command during the revolution. Trotsky as the People’s Commissar of Foreign Affairs, played an important role in the Russian Civil war. [3] In the novel, Snowball is a also a vital character to lead the the Battle of Cowshed. Snowball and Trotsky are both great leaders as Trotsky had lead the relatively backward Red Army to victory and Snowball also bought victory to the farm. Although they are excellent leaders, the idealism of both Snowball and Trotsky had lead them to downhill. The five years plan in the Soviet Union that Trotsky was involved in in 1920 was designed to strengthen the country’s economy between 1928- 1932. [4] A debate went on between Bukharin, Tomsky and Rykov on one hand and Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev on the other, considering whether the state should control the economy and the sufficient rapid development in 1920. In 1920, Stalin had used police force to kick Trotsky out of the union. Snowball came up with the idea of building a windmill. A debate went on with Napoleon about building it. Immediately after the debate, Napoleon had sent dogs to chase Snowball away from the farm. Both characters were exiled and was never seen after their kick out.
Was George Orwell Successful in representing Snowball as Trotsky?
George Orwell used Snowball as a political metaphor in Animal Farm. It is clearly seen that Snowball represents the political character Leon Trotsky. Same as Lenin, Orwell used pig to represent Trotsky because he is also idealism. He cares about the life of people in the society, therefore he created the five years plan. In the novel, it also showed that Snowball wish to maintain a peaceful environment in the farm, therefore he value the seven commands very much. The sign of pig is also to keep peace between the surrounding people. Orwell described Snowball as a good leader through the conversation of the animals. “ Snowball was a more vivacious pig than Napoleon, quicker in speech and more inventive.” (Chapter 2) This has showed that Orwell is highlighting that Trotsky is a great leader. Orwell is successful in representing Snowball as Trotsky, because he has portrayed many characteristics of Trotsky in comparison to Snowball. He also put the disagreement Trotsky often have with Stalin into an event in the novel which clearly bring out the personality of Snowball that he is good in speech and hope to create a comfortable environment for the animals, this is very similar to Trotsky. Through the speech and motions of Snowball that Orwell illustrates throughout the novel, readers can clearly understand the characteristics and thinkings of Trotsky.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Intext Reference
[1] General Logon Page. (n.d.). Gale Error Page. Retrieved April 7, 2013, from http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/suic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOver&query=&prodId=SUIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&action=e&catId=&activity&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CK1631006567
[2] Category. (n.d.). Leon Trotsky - A Biography of Leon Trotsky. 20th Century History. Retrieved April 7, 2013, from http://history1900s.about.com/od/people/p/trotsky.htm
[3] Snowball (a pig) in Animal Farm. (n.d.).Shmoop: Homework Help, Teacher Resources, Test Prep. Retrieved April 8, 2013, from http://www.shmoop.com/animal-farm/snowball-pig.html
[4] First Five-Year Plan (Soviet Union) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.).Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 8, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Five-Year_Plan_(Soviet_Union
Was George Orwell Successful in representing Snowball as Trotsky?
George Orwell used Snowball as a political metaphor in Animal Farm. It is clearly seen that Snowball represents the political character Leon Trotsky. Same as Lenin, Orwell used pig to represent Trotsky because he is also idealism. He cares about the life of people in the society, therefore he created the five years plan. In the novel, it also showed that Snowball wish to maintain a peaceful environment in the farm, therefore he value the seven commands very much. The sign of pig is also to keep peace between the surrounding people. Orwell described Snowball as a good leader through the conversation of the animals. “ Snowball was a more vivacious pig than Napoleon, quicker in speech and more inventive.” (Chapter 2) This has showed that Orwell is highlighting that Trotsky is a great leader. Orwell is successful in representing Snowball as Trotsky, because he has portrayed many characteristics of Trotsky in comparison to Snowball. He also put the disagreement Trotsky often have with Stalin into an event in the novel which clearly bring out the personality of Snowball that he is good in speech and hope to create a comfortable environment for the animals, this is very similar to Trotsky. Through the speech and motions of Snowball that Orwell illustrates throughout the novel, readers can clearly understand the characteristics and thinkings of Trotsky.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Intext Reference
[1] General Logon Page. (n.d.). Gale Error Page. Retrieved April 7, 2013, from http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/suic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOver&query=&prodId=SUIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&action=e&catId=&activity&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CK1631006567
[2] Category. (n.d.). Leon Trotsky - A Biography of Leon Trotsky. 20th Century History. Retrieved April 7, 2013, from http://history1900s.about.com/od/people/p/trotsky.htm
[3] Snowball (a pig) in Animal Farm. (n.d.).Shmoop: Homework Help, Teacher Resources, Test Prep. Retrieved April 8, 2013, from http://www.shmoop.com/animal-farm/snowball-pig.html
[4] First Five-Year Plan (Soviet Union) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.).Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 8, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Five-Year_Plan_(Soviet_Union