Karl Marx and Old Major
Karl Marx, who was born in Prussia on May 15, 1818, was best known for being a revolutionary socialist and philosopher. Marx invented the basic ideas of utopia, which is essentially “perfect” communism. The development of the socialist movement heavily relied on his ideas of communism.
Karl Marx despised capitalism, and he described it as a way for the rich to “use” the labour class for nothing but their own benefit; that capitalism was extremely corrupt. However, capitalism still rewards the labour class for their work. As the capitalists diminish, socialism takes over, which is a “workers’ democracy”, where a society is governed by the working class. Marx believed that socialism would ultimately lead to communism, where everyone is of equal status (http://www.biography.com/people/karl-marx-9401219).
Before the Animal Farm revolution, the humans were making the animals work hard for the humans’ own benefit, while the animals were rewarded with only basic necessities they needed to survive so that they could continue working, to earn these necessities, and the cycle continued. This is very similar to real life capitalism - workers are essentially “trapped” to perform their difficult jobs for little income, while the capitalists keep getting wealthier, because the workers are too poor to start their own businesses.
Old Major of Animal Farm taught Animalism to his fellow animals early in the story, which is essentially communism in the farm. In a similar way that Karl Marx disliked the idea of capitalism, Old Major compares the humans, the “capitalists”, to parasites and describes how they are forcing all the animals to work very hard just so that they can survive. The animals adopt the Seven Commandments of Animalism, one of them being “all animals are equal”. Similarly, Karl Marx’s idea of communism is a society that strives for equality amongst all individuals.
George Orwell has been successful in drawing the connections between Old Major and Karl Marx, because their ideologies (Animalism vs. communism) are very similar, and they both dislike the inequalities that arise from capitalism. There are also a few other similarities between Old Major and Karl Marx, such as them dying before a major revolution (Animal Farm revolution and Russian Revolution), and both believe in the labour class taking control of their society (animals revolting and workers taking over government).
Karl Marx despised capitalism, and he described it as a way for the rich to “use” the labour class for nothing but their own benefit; that capitalism was extremely corrupt. However, capitalism still rewards the labour class for their work. As the capitalists diminish, socialism takes over, which is a “workers’ democracy”, where a society is governed by the working class. Marx believed that socialism would ultimately lead to communism, where everyone is of equal status (http://www.biography.com/people/karl-marx-9401219).
Before the Animal Farm revolution, the humans were making the animals work hard for the humans’ own benefit, while the animals were rewarded with only basic necessities they needed to survive so that they could continue working, to earn these necessities, and the cycle continued. This is very similar to real life capitalism - workers are essentially “trapped” to perform their difficult jobs for little income, while the capitalists keep getting wealthier, because the workers are too poor to start their own businesses.
Old Major of Animal Farm taught Animalism to his fellow animals early in the story, which is essentially communism in the farm. In a similar way that Karl Marx disliked the idea of capitalism, Old Major compares the humans, the “capitalists”, to parasites and describes how they are forcing all the animals to work very hard just so that they can survive. The animals adopt the Seven Commandments of Animalism, one of them being “all animals are equal”. Similarly, Karl Marx’s idea of communism is a society that strives for equality amongst all individuals.
George Orwell has been successful in drawing the connections between Old Major and Karl Marx, because their ideologies (Animalism vs. communism) are very similar, and they both dislike the inequalities that arise from capitalism. There are also a few other similarities between Old Major and Karl Marx, such as them dying before a major revolution (Animal Farm revolution and Russian Revolution), and both believe in the labour class taking control of their society (animals revolting and workers taking over government).