ill confessed to something that was untrue, which made Napoleon’s “appearance” better to those who had no direct knowledge of the incident. Joseph Stalin had appointed government officials, controlling their income, what they said, and often their death. Soon he made them confess to things that were untrue, such as being spies. Government officials were exiled, thrown in jail, or killed. Soon Stalin was the one, true ruler of Russia. The system of making supporters and then destroying them was also dangerous for the common people, who often died or lived in terror because of their dictator’s unchecked power. This system was guaranteed to make the lower animals in Animal Farm and Soviet citizens hate their single ruler. It also made them so fearful that they were powerless to stop him from ruining their lives. The survival of each person and family depended on appearing to perfectly support this terrible system, not replace it. A second example is by telling nice sounding lies, dictators can become more secure by increasing cruelty. Napoleon’s idea of keeping all the apples and milk for himself and other high-status animals won him the backing of ruthless supporters. This was acceptable because he cleverly said, “Never mind the milk comrades…The harvest is more important,” (44). He then made food hard to get for the lower animals, starving many of them, “…the production of every class of foodstuff had increased by two hundred per cent, three hundred per cent or five hundred per cent, as the case might be,” (99). Stalin had taken over all the farms in his country, reserving much of the wheat and other crops for high government officials. Millions of Soviet citizens died of starvation because of Stalin’s ideas. The pigs of Animal Farm and government officials in the Soviet Union took the food made by those of lower status, increasing their immediate need to appear to s...
