Napoleon in George Orwell's Animal Farm represents Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator who ruled the USSR from 1924 to 1953. Like Stalin, Napoleon rises to power by outmaneuvering his rival (Snowball, who represents Leon Trotsky), uses fear and violence to maintain control, and becomes a ruthless, totalitarian leader who exploits the other animals on the farm

. Key parallels include:

• Seizing power through force and political manipulation, including using trained attack dogs as secret police

• Engaging in public executions and purges to eliminate opposition, echoing Stalin's Great Purge

• Betraying the original revolutionary ideals by living in luxury and exploiting the working animals, similar to Stalin's regime

• Using propaganda and rewriting history to glorify himself and vilify his enemies, such as blaming Snowball for failures and taking credit for achievements

• Making deals with other powers that are later broken, analogous to Stalin's pact with Nazi Germany

Thus, Napoleon is a symbolic figure of Stalin's dictatorship and the corruption of revolutionary ideals into oppressive tyranny