Written By: Elif Yuşen Şahbudak

Date: 10 March 2020

“All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.” This quote from Benito Mussolini describes the foundation of any dictatorship where the state is the one and only power source that rules anything within its borders. In the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, Napoleon is depicted as a typical tyrant whose craving for ultimate power ignites a leadership full of absolute horror within the Animal Farm. As a similar but real-life example of Napoleon, Benito Mussolini used fatal and radical methods to pressure Italy to obey his fascist ideology. Although Mussolini and Napoleon are both similar in that they both use police force to maintain their power, they have differences when it comes to their political orthodoxies.

Firstly, Mussolini’s usage of his armed squads for political repression is similar in intent to that of Napoleon’s operation of his attack group. Before and during Benito Mussolini’s reign of Italy, he killed several thousand, injured tens of thousands, and forced thousands of people to leave the country with the help of his extremist fascist group. From assassinations to breaking riots, Blackshirts were Mussolini’s key element in gaining and maintaining power. Mussolini’s Blackshirts were a success in which he could effectively display terror in order to rule the people of Italy. For almost two decades, Mussolini used radical methods and left an everlasting scar in the people of Italy to force his people into obeying his corrupt dictatorship. Likewise, Napoleon has a pack of fierce attack dogs that he uses to dictate the animals on the farm. For example, in Animal Farm’s chapter 7, Napoleon gathers all the animals of the farm in the yard and forces several of them to confess their conspiracy with Snowball. Then, he orders his attack dogs to brutally seize the unruly animals for execution. The author narrates, “Napoleon stood sternly surveying his audience; then he uttered a high-pitched whimper. Immediately the dogs bounded forward, seized four of the pigs by the ear and dragged them, squealing with pain and terror, to Napoleon’s feet.” (Orwell, 82). This quote clearly shows how Napoleon uses a group of ruthless followers of his regime to create ultimate control over the animals on the farm. The fear of these giant dogs forces the animals of the barn to obey Napoleon without hesitation. The relentless dictator could’ve simply improvised and assassinated those unruly animals silently. However, he specifically chose to arrange a public execution since he knew that the cruelty and the seriousness of the execution would compel the animals to believe that he and his followers will show no mercy to traitors. Hence, both Napoleon and Mussolini use a brutal and public influence to enforce his ideology and power over their people.

Secondly, Mussolini and Napoleon’s dictatorships differ when their political beliefs are considered. From the beginning of his political life, Mussolini has been a fascist individual. He embraced fascism as the solution to every problem and even called it a religion. Before his dictatorship-era, he used this fascist ideology to transform the worsening post-war economy for the greater good of Italy. His fascist beliefs fooled the people of Italy into believing that fascism could save the economy. After his initial actions boosted the economy, the cunning leader took advantage of the support he received and initiated an era full of hostile politics. On the contrary, Napoleon takes a Communist political stand throughout the election process. In chapter 5 of Animal Farm, after Napoleon’s dogs chase his political opposition Snowball out of the barn, his acquaintance Squealer justifies his actions by saying, “No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?” (Orwell, 55). As Squealer mentions the equality of all animals which is also one of Napoleon’s most important promises, it’s evident that Napoleon is a communist leader. His uniting commandments gave hope to the animals that peace between them will be achieved, and not knowing that Napoleon is a utilitarian, the animals gave him all the support. Ruthless dictator took advantage of this situation to enforce his selfish rules to all the animals. It is clear that Napoleon took a communist stance in order to deceive the fellow animals into accepting a totalitarian leader. Thus, Mussolini and Napoleon possess separate ideologies during their election process.

In conclusion, Napoleon resembles Benito Mussolini in which they both operate with a group of extremist followers whilst they contrast each other in terms of their political stands. With his nine attack dogs, Napoleon aimed to control the Animal Farm, and Mussolini corresponded to him in real life with his usage of the horrifying aspects of the Blackshirts in order to tyrannize Italy. In addition, Napoleon and Mussolini separated their ways when it came to their political beliefs; Mussolini was a hardcore fascist who loathed communism while Napoleon committed himself to the ideology of communism throughout his dictatorship. Both Napoleon and Mussolini are characters from our complicated past, but did humanity learn anything from these horrifying experiences?