Animal Farm

[Getback]

Has anyone read the book Animal Farm? It's pretty stunning. I must confess I haven't read it entirely but I have read the skinny version with the analysis. It seems it pretty much parallels Stalins rise. A couple of statements in the analysis are what really caught my eye. Marx said, "Communism is socialism with electricity". The other being is communism doesn't work unless all the countries are under communistic rule". Having said that don't you think that many of our politicians are subscribing to that theory? How many times do you see our politicians pointing towards socialist countries as the ideal?

[Elfie]

I read Animal Farm a long time ago in school.

[RipChord929]

Yes, I have read it...
But that was a LONG time ago. It was required reading for my sons in Freshman
English class... I remember talking with their teacher about, "why THIS book is
required reading?"... Never did get a reasonable answer. It was more like, "This is MY
CLASS, and I will set the lesson plan.".... Go figure huh!!!

When I was in school, we had a selection of books for end term reports. Romeo & Juliet,
Old man and the sea, Moby dick, Homers Iliad, etc, etc... Books of genuine literary importance...
I still feel that my kids were victims of a mild form of indoctrination, by a school system
that was overrun by fugitives from the 60s university Socialist movement, (bowel).... Or,
it was at least a veiled form of socialization...

What surprised me was that many ppl with kids in that class, didn't recognize it as a corollary
of the Bolshevik revolution... To them, it was just a silly book about the animals running the
farm...   Who knows, maybe they just didn't care anyway...

Both my sons, in turn, received D's on their reports, from the same teacher...
I guess they didn't care either, LOL!!!

I didn't mind tho, because they were both busy at football practice ...

RC

I think they made an animated movie of it too, didn't they???

[Angus]

Hehe, when you have completed "animal farm" with the brilliant quote "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others", Orwell's "1984" is the next stop
In one year, in both English and German literary analyzis, I had to go through "Moby Dick", "1984", "Christiane F" and "Die Verlorene ehre von Katarina Blum".
It was a tad depressive 

[CptTrips]

When I was in school, we had a selection of books for end term reports. Romeo & Juliet,
Old man and the sea, Moby dick, Homers Iliad, etc, etc... Books of genuine literary importance...
I still feel that my kids were victims of a mild form of indoctrination, by a school system
that was overrun by fugitives from the 60s university Socialist movement, (bowel).... Or,

I'm not sure of the logic of your argument.  If I was conservative leaning, "Animal Farm" is one of the top ten books I'd want my kid to read!  Reading "Animal Farm" and "1984" should instill in your kid a deep, life long distrust of group-think Totalitarianism, either from the left or the right. 

$0.02,
Wab

[FrodeMk3]

I'm not sure of the logic of your argument.  If I was conservative leaning, "Animal Farm" is one of the top ten books I'd want my kid to read!  Reading "Animal Farm" and "1984" should instill in your kid a deep, life long distrust of group-think Totalitarianism, either from the left or the right. 

$0.02,
Wab

If kids' that read it actually bother to really try to understand the message that books like "Animal Farm" and "1984" get across...Orwell wrote them as a kind of warning against communist/marxist ideals, and to lay out how those systems' could come into power.

[RTHolmes]

Reading "Animal Farm" and "1984" should instill in your kid a deep, life long distrust of group-think Totalitarianism, either from the left or the right.

very well said, both essential reading for any child

[442w30]

As others have said, your next stop is "1984".  Read the whole thing though, not just the cliff notes.

To answer your question, yes, there are plenty of politicians that lean toward a socialist slant both in Europe and in the U.S.  Europe is further along the path of socialism than the U.S. and can be used for examples of what socialism does- both good and bad.

[Thruster]

Marx said, "Communism is socialism with electricity".

Really? I thought he died in the latter part of the 19th century. It doesn't sound like a Marxist statement. More like Trotsky or Lenin.

Whatever.

I tend to agree with Wabbit. Orwell came from a period where the ideals of Marx, Engals, and other 19th century economic reformists were being co-opted in the name of "classless brotherhood". He tended to lampoon the hypocrisy of the then recent emergence of Soviet communism and to some degree drew parallels that showed how demagoguery and apathy can create a frightening social construct. They do serve as an enlightening warning to those inclined to embrace conformity over conscience. But then, so does "Fear and Loathing".

[mensa180]

"Kids" do read 1984.  We were required to read it in the 9th grade, unfortunately not everyone got the point or understood the message.  What is worse is that some didn't even care.

[RATTFINK]

FALSE ADVERTISEMENT!!...

I thought this was about sheep 

[moot]

"Kids" do read 1984.  We were required to read it in the 9th grade, unfortunately not everyone got the point or understood the message.  What is worse is that some didn't even care.

Yep.. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that attitude as a student in US high school.

[Getback]

I may have attributed the quote "Communism is Socialism only with electricity" to the wrong individual. Maybe it was Lenin.

[CptTrips]

I may have attributed the quote "Communism is Socialism only with electricity" to the wrong individual. Maybe it was Lenin.

Seems that quote is backwards to me.

$0.02,
Wab

[Thruster]

Seems like it's completely inaccurate. As was most early Soviet propaganda. What Lenin/Trotsky/Stalin established was really a form of Socialist Collectivism. Not entirely unlike Israel. They latched onto the communist association only to appeal to their particular target constituency.

Just my $.02