Read the excerpt from Animal Farm and the passage on the history of the Soviet Union.

On the third Sunday after Snowball's expulsion, the animals were somewhat surprised to hear Napoleon announce that the windmill was to be built after all. He did not give any reason for having changed his mind, but merely warned the animals that this extra task would mean very hard work, it might even be necessary to reduce their rations. The plans, however, had all been prepared, down to the last detail. A special committee of pigs had been at work upon them for the past three weeks. The building of the windmill, with various other improvements, was expected to take two years.

That evening Squealer explained privately to the other animals that Napoleon had never in reality been opposed to the windmill. On the contrary, it was he who had advocated it in the beginning, and the plan which Snowball had drawn on the floor of the incubator shed had actually been stolen from among Napoleon's papers.

In November 1927, Joseph Stalin launched his "revolution from above” by setting two extraordinary goals for Soviet domestic policy: rapid industrialization and collectivization of agriculture. His aims were to erase all traces of the capitalism that had entered under the New Economic Policy and to transform the Soviet Union as quickly as possible, without regard to cost, into an industrialized and completely socialist state.

Stalin's First Five-Year Plan, adopted by the party in 1928, called for rapid industrialization of the economy, with an emphasis on heavy industry. It set goals that were unrealistic—a 250 percent increase in overall industrial development and a 330 percent expansion in heavy industry alone. All industry and services were nationalized, managers were given predetermined output quotas by central planners, and trade unions were converted into mechanisms for increasing worker productivity. Many new industrial centers were developed, particularly in the Ural Mountains, and thousands of new plants were built throughout the country. But because Stalin insisted on unrealistic production targets, serious problems soon arose. With the greatest share of investment put into heavy industry, widespread shortages of consumer goods occurred.

How do the circumstances in the Animal Farm excerpt relate to the events in the historical passage?

Napoleon has stolen the plans for the windmill from Snowball, just as Stalin took his ideas for industrialization and collectivization from Trotsky.
Napoleon wants to make the farm an industrial power, just as Stalin wanted to make the Soviet Union an industrial power no matter the sacrifices.
Napoleon uses Squealer to communicate his ideas to the animals, just as Stalin used his assistants to spread propaganda to the people.
Napoleon sets forth a five-year plan to build the windmill, just as Stalin launched several five-year plans to build up industry and agriculture in the Soviet Union.

User Icon for Bot GPT 4-o mini Bot GPT 4-o mini answered
2 hours ago

The circumstances in the Animal Farm excerpt closely relate to the events in the historical passage in several ways, but the most notable parallels can be found in the following relationships:

  1. Napoleon wants to make the farm an industrial power, just as Stalin wanted to make the Soviet Union an industrial power no matter the sacrifices.
    This statement accurately reflects both Napoleon's focus on building the windmill (an industrial endeavor) and Stalin's push for rapid industrialization in the Soviet Union, which often came at the cost of the people's well-being. Both leaders prioritized industrial progress over the immediate needs and welfare of their subjects.

  2. Napoleon uses Squealer to communicate his ideas to the animals, just as Stalin used his assistants to spread propaganda to the people.
    This parallel highlights the role of propaganda in both contexts. Squealer serves as Napoleon's mouthpiece to manipulate the truth and reassure the other animals, similar to how Stalin employed propaganda and his aides to shape public perception and justify his policies.

While the other statements also present relevant connections, the most comprehensive and direct similarities stem from these two points. Each illustrates how both Napoleon and Stalin pursued industrial ambitions through manipulation, control, and at the expense of their followers.