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Jordan Waterworth
Mrs. House and Mrs. Howell
English 2H; Period 5
20 May 2016
Gaining Effective Power
Niccolo Machiavelli once stated, He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to
command. People in power have learned certain strategies that can be used effectively
to achieve immense power. The two literary texts Animal Farm by George Orwell and
Poisonous Mushrooms expresses the definite techniques while the quotes from Hitler,
Zedong, and the Russian propaganda poster show effective the techniques are. Power
can be used effectively through visual propaganda, terror and appeal to ignorance and
these unfortunately force citizens to maintain loyalty.
In order to keep people faithful, leaders use visual propaganda. For example,
Stalin used propaganda to help support the Five-Year Plan, which was created to catch
up Russia, Giving first priority to gathering the Soviet Harvest (Voron). Stalin uses this
propaganda to cover up the fact that Russia is in a famine by getting people to only
focus on the Five-Year Plan. If people found out there was a food shortage, they would
stop listening to their leaders and stir up a rebellion. Furthermore, In a childrens book,
Poisonous Mushrooms the Jews are portrayed in a negative way by the Germans. This
image shows five poisonous mushrooms with Jews characteristics such as a beard, a
big nose and the Jewish Star. This propaganda causes people to believe that Jews are
evil and dangerous making HItlers idea much more popular. Also because this negative
opinion is in a childrens book this will effect the younger generation more creating an

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everlasting idea about Jews. The use of visual propaganda can keep citizens loyal to
their Rulers.
Leaders also use terror to maintain control over people. Mao Zedong formed the
Peoples Republic of China which is a Communist Party. He states, All political power
comes from a barrel of a gun. The Communist Party must command all the guns, that
way, no guns can ever be used to command the party (Zedong). Zedong explains if the
government takes all the power away from the people then the government can control
them better. This means that if the defenseless people of China didnt agree with one of
Zedongs ideas there would be no way to overthrow him. In addition, when Napoleon
announces to the animals Animal Farm will start engaging in trade with other farms,
some of the pigs are ansty toward the idea: The four young pigs who had protested
when Napoleon abolished the meetings raised their voice timidly, but they were
promptly silenced by a tremendous growling from the dogs (Orwell 76). The pigs are
trying to protest against Napoleon, but are unable to due to the sheer horror the dogs
howls possess. Napoleon uses this technique throughout the story because if the
animals are so fearful of the dogs, they will have no time to question Napoleons ideas.
The idea of terrorism helps leaders control their people effectively.
The use of appeal to ignorance is another way leaders keep their citizens
faithful. Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party, stated, How lucky for those in power that people
dont think (Hitler). Hitler is saying that people in power can say or do anything they
want and people don't question it because they would rather ignore the problem and try
to focus on the positives. Due to people disregarding the leaders actions means they
wont rebel against their rulers allowing them to stay in power. Similarly, In Animal Farm

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Boxer, a hard working loyal citizen is sold to the knacker, but Squealer tells the animals:
The van had been bought by the veterinary surgeon, who had not yet painted the old
name out (125 Orwell). Squealer is using appeal to ignorance to make the animals feel
better about Boxers absence. The animals were not concerned with Boxers death after
Squealer explains what had happened meaning the animals will believe anything that
seems to show some side of positivity keeping the animals loyal to Napoleon. Being
able to use appeal to ignorance, leaders are able to keep citizen truthful.
Terror, visual propaganda and appeal to ignorance are ways leaders maintain
power and control their citizens. Although using these techniques creates dishonesty
and pure manipulation, it also a great way to stay in power. It's important to know that
even though these strategies were immoral they were extremely effective.

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Napoleons vicious dogs resemble the KGB, his nine huge dogs frisking round him and
uttering growls that sent shivers down the animals spines (91 Orwell).
Works Cited
Adolf Hitler. Xplore Inc, 2016. 11 May 2016.
http://mobile.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/n/niccolomac144982.html?src=t_power

Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1945. Print.
Poisonous Mushrooms Nazi Propaganda.
Voron, Maria. Shock-brigade Reaping for a Bolshevik Harvest. Digital image. Peter
Paret, Beth Irwin Lewis, Paul, 1992. Web.
Zedong, Mao. Problems of War and Strategy. Peking: Foreign Languages, 1966.
224. Print