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Marxist Criticism Is Always Concerned with the Class Struggle in History.

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The main aim of Marxism is to bring about a classless society. Thus the reason I chose to study George Orwell's Animal Farm is because its characters share (originally) this same ambition. Animal Farm represents the oppressed masses rising up and forming a 'classless' society of their own. While offering a critique of communism in general, the book also serves to act as a mirror of Soviet Russia under Stalin. As reflected throughout the text, it was no secret Orwell considered Russia, and consequently Communism, a counter-revolutionary force that would inevitably become corrupted by greed and power. Indeed, perhaps in order to go further in offering a Marxist reading of the text, it is necessary to pass judgement on the author and the …show more content…

Indeed this illusion of democracy is further emphasized when the animals are asked questions by the pigs; questions to which there can be only one possible reply. In a sense the rhetorical questions act as a tool to reinforce the false class-consciousness:

It is for your sake that we pigs drink that milk and eat those apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed our duty? Jones would come back! Surely comrades... surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back? (p.23)

Althusser calls this Interpellation. A process where by a person is made to feel like they have a choice, when actually the 'choice' does not exist. Peter Barry offers an example: 'You can have any colour you like... as long as it's black'

Animal Farm can also be linked to another theory. The German philosopher Friedrich Hegel offered the notion that contrasting ideas can be bring about new situations, this is known as the dialectic. Thus, a process whereby 'contradictions are inherent to its structure' becomes particularly relevant when discussing Animal Farm.

Hegel's dialectic was constructed around three key concepts: the thesis, the antithesis and the resolution. What Karl Marx did was effectively reinterpret Hegel's work and relate it to his own concepts based on class struggle. Thus, Hegel's thesis becomes Marx's 'the way

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