Alcocer 1

Patsy Alcocer
Mrs. Housepian/Mr. Conner
English 2H; Period 5
20 May 2016
Power Attracts All
Power can be manipulated in many different ways, but it is up to the person who
possesses that power to decide how it will be used for their advantage. Like some real life
dictators, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin both used their ideology to corrupt the citizens.
Examples of effective power were also integrated into fables and novels where leaders, like
Napoleon, the pig, was in charge of all of the animals, and chose to take advantage of his
followers. Every leader has different methods to slowly blind and gain the trust of the citizens.
Power is mainly used effectively by the leaders when they implement modernization, use
propaganda, and perform brutal acts upon the citizens, creating a suffering among the people.
Leaders secure their power by choosing to implement modernization upon the lives of the
ruled. As a result of the Russian Revolution, Stalin wished to transform the Soviet Union into
something better than what the Allied powers were capable of owning. Joseph Stalin thought of
different proposals that could impact the industries and productivity in the country and the
various ways it would benefit himself. As a result of Stalins method of collectivization the
Peasants were urged to work in brigades, as in industry, to increase productivity (Voron). The
people lacked suffrage on the law of working that was forced upon them. The citizens showed
their best potential in order to avoid the feeling of suffering that the leaders would provoke upon
them if they were not performing the task instructed by the commander. In addition to collective

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farming
in the Soviet Union, the fable Animal Farm introduces Snowball, one of the pig leaders,
who proposed the building of a windmill that would keep the animals and especially the farm
modernized: The animals had never heard of anything of this kind [windmill] before (for the
farm was an old-fashioned one and had only the most primitive machinery)... (Orwell 64). The
animals were astounded that the advanced machine would soon become part of the farm. What
the animals were not able to realize is that they went through laborious work full of effort in
order to obtain the desired windmill and satisfy Napoleon. Even if the citizens or animals do
accept the act of modernization, they are the only ones who will work to reconstruct their
country without being aware of the injustice of forced work that is being committed against
them.
Furthermore, the citizens tend to lack accurate knowledge and information when a leader
abuses the use of propaganda. Adolf Hitler was the leader of Germany who discriminated many
social groups, but was mainly known for eliminating the Jews. He wanted to have the perfect
society in Germany and also wanted to restore the country from the destruction that WWI had
caused. Since Hitler had many propositions that would help Germany, he was also seen as a
heroic icon, saving the non-Jews from all threats and dangers: Nuremberg, Germany, Hitler
standing in his car and touching hands with SA members, 1993 (Nuremberg 1933).
Everybody of the non-Jew race admired Hitler and his way of ruling, which is why they went to
him and respected him, like if he was the Savior that they longed for. The citizens of Germany
trusted and relied on Hitler because he conveyed the idea of a friendly and helpful human that
was illustrated on the posters, but only the Jews knew how much grief and misfortune they
suffered because of Hitlers ideal of the Final Solution. Likewise, in the novel, The Nightingale

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by Kristin Hannah, when the Germans invade France, there are multiple biased posters that are
intended to influence the French, It was just propaganda, after all, the enemys heavy-handed
attempt to blame the Jewish people for the ills of the world, and this war (Hannah 93). Most
Jews of France were accustomed to witnessing the different posters being distributed throughout
the country, blaming them for the economic and social struggles that Germany was going
through. The Jews in France always suffered from guilt thinking and believing that they were the
only cause for Germanys downfall. The citizens were, in many ways, fooled by the leader and
blindly led to believe what the leader proclaimed.
Simultaneously, leaders do not just find the easiest ways to manipulate the people, they
also take advantage by enforcing severe actions upon them. Joseph Stalin was known as one of
the most ruthless leaders in power during World War II. Stalin only believed in a communist
government, taking the independence that a human being once possessed. Which is why during
Joseph Stalins reign in the Soviet Union, he negatively impacted others viewpoints about him:
Stalin, on the other hand, used extreme methods and mass repressions at a time when the
revolution was already victorious (Khrushchev). Joseph Stalin always used the most abusive
and supreme actions against the innocent even though there was no need for them. He caused the
people, mainly the innocent, to suffer from torture and even death. Moreover, in the memoir
Night, by Elie Wiesel the prisoners were forcefully deported to other camps and had to bear with
the merciless treatment against them, Elie sorrowfully narrates his own experience, We received
no food. We lived on snow; it took the place of bread. The days resembled nights, and the nights
left in our souls the dregs of their darkness (Wiesel 100). Elie and the rest of the prisoners were
in desperate situations which generated them to resort towards freezing unsanitary snow in order

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to consume the closest thing possible to food. They no longer had bright sunny days, but endless
nights that scarred their souls forever. The prisoners were forced to suffer from starvation during
these mournful times, when, unfortunately, they were at the hands of the Nazis. The brutal
actions implemented by a leader only cause unnecessary suffering for the powerless.
Effective power by leaders is used through modernization, propaganda, and brutal acts
which allows the leaders to manipulate the citizens with the prodigious power they take hold of.
With modernization the citizens suffer from grueling work, propaganda creates tormentation of
self-condemnation, and brutal acts causes hardships of pain that will leave scars on the humans
for the rest of their lives. All in all, there is nothing pleasant that the civilians can take away from
being dominated by a leader who holds dangerous power.

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Works Cited
Hannah, Kristin. The Nightingale. St. Martin's, 2015. Print.
Khrushchev, Nikita. Secret Speech. Twentieth Party Congress of the Communist Party of
the Soviet Union. n.d. Speech.
Nuremberg, Germany. 1933. Hitler Standing in his car touching hands with SA members.
11 May 2016. http://collections.yadvashem.org/photosarchive/en-us/67457.html
Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1945. Print.
Voron, Maria. Shock-brigade Reaping for a Bolshevik Harvest (1934). Persuasive
Images: Posters of War and Revolution from the Hoover Institution Archives.
Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press. 1992. Print.
Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. Night. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, a Division of Farrar,
Straus and Giroux, 1988. Print.