Napoleon's Dogs
Just as Mussolini had his "Black Shirts" to carry out his atrocious acts of terrorism, Napoleon had his group of specialized dogs that were vicious, cruel, and brainwashed enough to do the bidding of Napoleon. The dogs served as the main symbol of state terrorism throughout Animal Farm, most notably during the purge of the animals. One day, Napoleon calls out four pigs who had been planning to commit treason and orders their immediate, violent, and public execution in front of the rest of the animals. More and more animals then come forth and are executed in a similar manner by the dogs. Much like Stalin's "Great Purges" of his party and the Soviet Union, Napoleon conducts a purge of Animal Farm and eliminates his enemies through the use of state terrorism which is carried out by his ruthless dogs. Similarly, Napoleon uses the dogs to expel Snowball from Animal Farm, thus eliminating the final threat at his position of absolute power on the farm. Stalin used state-sponsored terrorism to do the same to Leon Trotsky, a Bolshevik civil war hero who infringed upon Stalin's position of power. Through threats and actual persecution, Trotsky was forced to flee from Russia due to Stalin's powerful terrorist organizations that he controlled.
Revolution and Extreme Measures
The animals of Animal Farm first used state terrorism to overthrow the Manor Farm and Mr. Jones. Led by Snowball, the animals attacked the people that ran the farm, including Mr. and Mrs. Jones, and used any means necessary to finally secure the farm and rid it off all humans, thus taking it over and changing the name to Animal Farm. The October Revolution in Russia is a comparable event that used terrorism to accomplish the ultimate goal of revolution. Much like how the animals imposed a serious threat to the humans but never truly hurt any of them, Lenin and his troop of revolutionaries executed an armed insurrection at the Winter Palace in Petrograde, which was a fairly easy and peaceful revolution that occurred in just one night. However, just like how the animals defended themselves and used violence in the "Battle of the Cowshed", the Bolsheviks were then launched into a two-year civil war that caused violence to spread throughout all of Russia and led to many deaths.