Both Napoleon and Stalin ruled using fear tactics. They used events to show that they will not tolerate rebellion and they killed all the people or animals that stood in their way of having absolute power. This shows how they keep their power, by scaring others so much that they would not dare do anything to displease the ruler. This cannot be what Marx or Old Major had in mind for their utopia society. As well as ruling through fear, the two rulers used deception.
Stalin and Napoleon both manipulated their people so that they could stay in power. They used propaganda to gain popularity among their people. Such as Napoleon, he used Squealer to tell the animals all the bad news to make Napoleon look good. Also, Napoleon had Squealer lie to the others of how the conditions that they now lived in was better than when they lived under Jones. One example of this is how Squealer told the animals that they were eating more food when they were actually eating less than what Jones gave them. Stalin also manipulated his people by having others deliver the bad news to the people of Russia just as Napoleon did with Squealer. In the video that we saw of Stalin in class, there was an old lady who told Stalin's wife to tell her husband of how bad the conditions were in that town. This old lady thinks that Stalin is a man who loves his people and does not know about the conditions there, when he actually does. Another event in that would show the two rulers manipulating the people would be how they got rid of religion. Napoleon did this by trying to keep the raven named Moses, who preached about the Great Beyond, away from the manor. Stalin fought religion by banning the Orthodox Church so that people would believe in Stalin as their god. Also, Stalin has his people thinking that only he can help Russia in this difficult time. But in reality he was the one who was destroying it. Stalin twisted events to make himself look good in the eyes of his people, as did Napoleon.
