*the page numbers throughout this article refer to my copy of The Complete Works of George Orwell*
In The Journal of Aesthetic Education, Sheryl Tuttle Ross defines propaganda as ‘an epistemically defective message used with the intention to persuade a socially significant group of people on behalf of a political institution, organisation or cause’. Propaganda can persuade the masses despite imperfect communication and in 1945’s Animal Farm George Orwell, conveys the extensive manipulative control that originates from propaganda. Similarly, to Ross, Harold D. Lasswell defines propaganda as ‘the management of collective attitudes’, this time through ‘the manipulation of significant symbols’. The ‘symbols’ Lasswell refers to include slogans, appealing to violence, appealing to fear, stories and scapegoating, all complicit in propagating messages. In Animal Farm, after a revolt against their farmer, the pigs usurp control over their fellow animals through the propagandic tokens Lasswell refers to. The pigs are led by Napoleon, a ‘large, fierce-looking Berkshire boar with a reputation for getting his own way’. However, it’s his second-in-command Squealer who ministers the propaganda in the novella, being a ‘brilliant talker’ (p.10). The pigs are responsible for the manipulation of the farm’s slogans, effectively capitalising on the animals lacking in literary abilities, eliciting fear and threatening violence throughout.
Orwell forebodes the pigs’ totalitarian running of the farm within the second chapter of Animal Farm, for the animals have an undying admiration for Squealer. In the novella, which Orwell writes as a political allegory for the Russian Revolution, Squealer works as a mouthpiece for Napoleon. Armel Mbon and Benjamin Evayoulou, in the International Journey, write that Squealer ‘symbolically represents the Soviet media, especially the well-known newspaper Pravda, which functioned as a pro-communist tool of propaganda during (Joseph) Stalin’s reign’, implying the pig worked as a minister of propaganda on the farm. His ability to sway the masses, similar to the Soviet media, is evident early on; whilst Napoleon is described as ‘large’ and ‘fierce-looking’ (p.9), adjectives that convey a vastness the ‘other male pigs on the farm’ would lack, Squealer is the ‘best known’ (p.10) amongst the porkers on the farm. His bodily likeness to the porkers makes it easier for them to trust him. Whilst he is the same to them in size, and has ‘very round cheeks, twinkling eyes, nimble movements’, qualities that convey a jovial and welcoming creature, this is juxtaposed by his ‘shrill voice’ (p.10), Orwell foreboding Squealer’s later authoritarianism. Squealer’s persuasiveness, which both Ross and Lasswell outline as what propaganda entails, is commented on; Orwell writes ‘when (Squealer) was arguing some difficult point he had a way of skipping from side to side and whisking his tail which was somehow very persuasive’ (p.10). Orwell’s use of the adverb ‘somehow’ implies the animals can’t specify why exactly Squealer is so persuasive, putting it down to a physical habit. Squealer is accountable for the manipulation Lasswell describes; he is the forefront of Napoleon’s regime.
Slogans are simple, indelible phrases which frequently serve as mottos to represent a party or group. Adolf Hitler, who established the Nazi party, claimed that ‘the intelligence of masses is small. Their forgetfulness is great. They must be told the same thing a thousand times’. Hiter’s remarks explain why slogans are used amongst propagandists, they believe in repeating ideas to the point where they’re interpreted as truth. Orwell displays this reinforcement of messages through Squealer, whose exclamative repetition of ‘tactics, comrades, tactics!’ is deemed ‘so persuasive’ by the animals despite them being ‘not certain what the word meant’ (p.31).
Additionally, slogans allow the academically superior to ostracise and exploit the less intelligent. After Squealer, Napoleon and Snowball use Old Major’s teachings to create ‘animalism’ (p.10), Squealer creates a set of Commandments. These include ‘no animal shall drink alcohol’, ‘no animal shall kill any other animal’ and ‘all animals are equal’ (p.14). Squealer ‘read (the Commandments) aloud for the benefit of the others’ (p.14) as only ‘the cleverer ones’ (p.15) could begin to learn it by heart. Orwell surreptitiously creates a divide between the animals here; some of them lack the literary capabilities to read and remember the Commandments and thus fail to notice when they are modified. Characters like Boxer ‘would even come out at nights and work for an hour or two on (their) own’ (p.37), Napoleon and Squealer having propagated his low intelligence. Some, like Benjamin, notice, but due to Napoleon’s appeal to violence and fear, ‘refuse to meddle in such matters’ (p.47). Those that do are dealt with brutally and swiftly. After Napoleon has his protesters murdered by dogs, ‘some of the animals remembered – or thought they remembered’ (p.47) how the Sixth Commandment had outlawed killing. Muriel reads the Commandment out for Clover, which has now been altered to ‘no animal shall kill any other animal without cause’ (p.47), Orwell’s use of italics emphasising the change to readers but also conveying how easily exploited the animals are. The final two words ‘somehow slipped out of the animals’ memory’ (p.47), Orwell again repeating the adverb he used when writing of Squealer’s persuasiveness. The animals believe they’d forgotten the additional words and do not question what a breach of the set conduct is clearly.
An additional slogan change which conveys to the greatest extent the manipulation the animals undergo at the hands of propaganda is the alteration of all the animals being equivalent to each other. By the final chapter, the Commandment now reads ‘all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others’ (p.69). The slogan is a paradox; ‘equality’ connotes fairness, implying that ‘all’ the rights and opportunities amongst the animals are spread evenly. However, the pigs are a part of the advantaged ‘some’ and are entitled to more rights. Orwell sombrely describes how ‘it did not seem strange when the next day the pigs who were supervising the work of the farm all carried whips in their trotters’ (p.69). The animals no longer question the ‘somehow’, they are aware of the ideological manipulation they have undergone and the totalitarian-like state the pigs have turned the farm into.
Scapegoating is a propaganda technique that entails assigning the blame for one’s hardships on another individual or group. Orwell investigates the practice of avoiding responsibility and placing unmerited accountability on others throughout Animal Farm. Prior to the revolt, Old Major blames Mr Jones and the human race for the animal's hardships; ‘nearly the whole of the produce of our labour is stolen from us by human beings’ (p.5). The animals’ subsequent chanting wakes the farmer, who barbarically ‘seized (his) gun and let fly a charge of number 6 shot into the darkness’ (p.5). Their scapegoating of Mr Jones seems plausible; his drunken reaction to the noise is uncivilized and reckless and the neglect Old Major claims the animals undergo is fathomable. Whilst Napoleon later establishes leadership over the farm and places unmerited blame upon an ostracised Snowball, the animals initially share an enemy prior to this. The transition of all the animals experiencing exploitation from humans to some animals experiencing exploitation at the hands of the pigs is to be studied.
Noted critic Jean Armstrong writes of Napoleon later in the novella, stating ‘he needs a scapegoat for anything that goes wrong so that his leadership will not be called into question’. The scapegoat Armstrong writes of is Snowball, who in the fifth chapter, advocates for a windmill to reduce labour. Despite how Snowball ‘often won over the majority by his brilliant speeches’ ‘it was noticed that (the sheep) were especially liable to break into “Four legs good, two legs bad” at the crucial moments in Snowball’s speeches’ (p.26). Napoleon strategically ensures Snowball’s speeches are interrupted when the latter makes his most principal points, then cunningly uses the ostracised pig’s ideas as his own. The sheep are exploited also, Napoleon takes advantage of their lack of intellect. Snowball is honest, he ‘did not deny that to build (the windmill) would be a difficult business’ (p.27), his sincerity distinguishing him from Napoleon and Squealer. After Snowball’s expulsion, he is blamed for the ruined windmill ‘to divert criticism from Napoleon and his policies, just as (Leon) Trotsky was by Stalin’. Napoleon ‘suddenly roared’ as he claims ‘Snowball has done this thing! In sheer malignity to avenge himself for his ignominious expulsion’ (p.37). His accusation is unexpected and thunderous; he insinuates to his comrades that Snowball is responsible for the windmill’s destruction despite the obvious ‘raging south-west winds’ (p.37) and his appeal to violence when banning Snowball. Instead of taking responsibility for failing to prepare for the weather conditions, Napoleon uses the setback and his scapegoating of Snowball to his advantage. He tells the animals, ‘no more delays, comrades!’ (p.38), the rhyming of his exclamative enticing the animals; the musicality in his remark uniting the animals to work harder. Both Napoleon and Squealer use propaganda to deflect culpability and consolidate power.
Appealing to fear is a propaganda technique that Squealer adapts; the alternative to not working for the farm, he tells the animals, is that they will be exploited by humans once again. In the Journal of Modern Literature, V. C. Letemendia identifies how the pigs appeal to fear in their propaganda, writing that ‘a revolution in which violence and conspiracy become the tools most resorted to, one which is led by a consciously or unconsciously power-hungry group, will inevitably betray its own principles’. In accordance with the propaganda created by Squealer, the animals are forced to work or face ‘either the return of Farmer Jones or unquestioning the obedience to the rule of pigs’. The dilemma Letemendia writes of is evidenced; Squealer tells the animals ‘Jones would come back! Yes, Jones would come back’ (p.20) if they fail to complete their duties, his repetition a result of propaganda needing to be constantly reinforced despite most messages being reiterations. Despite claiming that all the animals are equal, Squealer has no trouble scaremongering the comrades with the possible reappearance of Farmer Jones, their first scapegoat. The prospect of the farmer who exploited them initially returning is enough to force the animals to work harder, animals like Boxer in particular in turn repeating to themselves ‘I will work harder’ (p.30) and being admired amongst other animals for his stamina. Furthermore, after Snowball’s expulsion, Squealer informs the animals that ‘Snowball was in league with Jones from the very start! He was Jones’s secret agent all the time’ (p.42). There are several nonsensicalities behind this apparent betrayal. For instance, Snowball too suffered under Farmer Jones’ regime and ‘fought bravely at the Battle of the Cowshed’ (p.30) when the humans attempted to retake the farm. The humans wanting to form an alliance with Snowball is unlikely, as is his apparent return to the farm after his narrow escape. In addition to his emphasis on repetition, Hitler also claimed that the purpose of propaganda ‘is not continually to produce interesting changes’, like Snowball going from an ally to an enemy so quickly. Instead, the purpose ‘is to convince the masses’. Squealer lies and tells them Snowball’s bravery in the Battle was merely a ‘plot’ to ‘leave the field to the enemy’ (p.42). Orwell’s use of the noun ‘plot’ suggests to the animals that Snowball was conspiring against them throughout his companionship, the bravery they admired him for in actuality a scheme against them.
The variations of propaganda in Animal Farm, slogans, scapegoating, appealing to violence and appealing to terror, work in tandem with each other. The scapegoating of Snowball explains Napoleon’s appeal to violence; he addresses a need to remove traitors to the farm, hence his dogs and the brutal killing of the hens. The repetition of slogans ensures the propagated messages become interpreted as truth over time, their simplicity ensuring manipulation goes unnoticed amongst the masses. By the end of the novel, Napoleon restores the name ‘The Manor Farm’ (p.72) and holds a dinner party with Mr Pilkington. The pigs are now a part of a privileged ‘some’, sharing a likeness to the humans that initially exploited them, as a result of the propaganda Squealer has produced.
Hi everyone - I hope you're all well. I wanted to write a piece on Orwell and the gloomy month of January seemed the best time to release it. Novels like Animal Farm and 1984 have aged terrifyingly well, though I question what Orwell believed to be the solution to live in a completely harmonious society. Perhaps he believed it to be impossible - that would make sense.
I'll see you next week! Karisma xxx