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Nguyen, Henry
Mrs. Housepian/Mr. Conner
English 2H; Period 1
20 May 2016
Chess
A game of chess. Played by powerful figures throughout history, followers often serve as
pawns in their leaders endeavors to accumulate power. Throughout history, the ability to govern
others has been a commodity, sold to those whom are able to utilize it effectively through
comprehension of how to not only acquire it, but also preserve it. Leaders use power effectively
through the utilizing of the populaces fears, the manipulation of nationalism, and the use of the
citizens ignorance in order to secure absolute control.
By playing with the populations greatest fears, leaders are able to subjugate the citizens
to their will. In the years 1929 to 1953, the USSR, or present day Russia, was ruled by a ruthless
dictator by the name of Joseph Stalin. During a conference with his commissioners, the issue of
wide scale famine, due to collectivization, was brought up. As an officer read off the numbers of
death tolls, Stalin coldly remarked that while One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic
(Stalin). Though one death is mourned, mass death tolls merely result in desensitization, due to
the fact that feelings are rarely associated with cold, hard numbers. As his cold ruthlessness and
blatant disregard for his citizens lives became evident, the fear invoked in his followers resulted
in them prioritizing survival, seeing as how harboring any ideas of a revolt was a preposterous
luxury that simply could not be afforded during such a dire time period. Thus, by worrying his
citizens, Stalin served as an example of a leader who used fear to preserve his power. Also
utilizing fear, Old Major, a swine in the literary novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, plays the

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role of a prophet who preaches about the necessity of overthrowing their human masters.
Ominously warning the animals that ...every one of you will scream your lives out at the block
within a year (Orwell 4), he hints at their impending doom. Employing the common fear of a
painful death, Old Major is able to effectively convince the animals to follow Animalism, the
novels interpretation of Communism, in order to escape their painful, preordained fate. A clear
display of the overwhelming power of fear, it can be seen that this intangible force is capable of
persuading a populace to unquestionably follow their leaders, helping the leaders further
consolidate their power.
As the conductor of the symphonic masses of followers, dictators employ the
commoners sense of pride and nationalism in order to gather support for their actions. Once
again, in Animal Farm, the animals are faced with the task of managing the farm after
overthrowing Farmer Jones. Despite the laborious work, they foolishly believed every mouthful
of food was an acute positive pleasure, now that it was truly their own food...not doled out to
them by a grudging master (Orwell 28). Satisfied with the fact that they have no true overseer,
filled with pride by the fact that only they will be able to reap the rewards of their hard labor, the
animals are content with their current conditions under their new democratically elected
leaders, believing that impalpable values hold precedence over the reality of their situation.
Serving as a veil that masks the true horrors of ones predicament, one sees how pride can help
manifest the illusion that all is well. Similarly, in an address to his USSR citizens, Stalin
attempts to convert civilians into supporters by stating his belief ... in one thing only, the power
of human will (Stalin). As he placed ambition and determination over other characteristics,
Stalin instilled an unnecessarily overwhelming sense of egotistical pride within the population.
Blinded by foolish faith in themselves, the citizens continued to support Stalin as he continued to

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embark on his malevolent path, displaying how corruptly dangerous pride can be. Knowing full
well the lethality of inflating and exploiting egos, leaders are able to take advantage of this and
effectively rule.
Making efficient use of the citizens ignorance, leaders are able to secure complete
dominance. Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi Party and dictator of Nazi Germany from the
years 1934-1345, is infamous for masterminding the Jewish genocide known as the Holocaust. In
order for such a mass atrocity to occur, ample support must be provided from followers. Through
empty promises and visions of a false utopia, Hitler planted the notion that his actions were
justifiable in the minds of Germans. As he reflected on how lucky [for those in power] that
people dont think (Adolf Hitler), his comments reveal the general populaces lack of
cognizance regarding political and societal affairs. Because of their ignorance, these citizens are
reduced to nothing more than mere marionettes, dancing to the rhythm of their masters articulate
manipulations. Written about an event in the same time period, Yaffa Eliachs The BerlinBucharest Express retells the tale of German heroine who handed out foreign passports to Jews,
in order to help facilitate their emigration from not only their current countries, but also from the
unrelenting grip of a harsh death. However, there were multiple instances where she ran into
skeptics, who reprimanded her to not scare the people with unnecessary tales of horror (Eliach
134) because it will not happen (134). Clearly seen is the unwillingness to accept the atrocities
that will soon befall on them, due to a mixture of ignorance and stubbornness. As the sheep-like
citizens are mindlessly grazing on the notion that theyre safe and secure, wolfish leaders are
able to ruthlessly exert their power over the citizens, with the public only becoming cognizant
after it is too late.

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In the game of chess, one must make sacrifices in order to win; likewise, tributes must
also be paid to win the game of power struggles, often at the expenses of the citizens. In order to
consolidate absolute control, leaders manipulate the fears of the citizens, fuel the already
flamboyant flames of egotism, and take advantage of the populations lack of cognizance. As the
pieces in the game are mindless and subjective to the moves already preordained by the players,
the proletariats throughout history are nothing more than mere pawns, open to manipulation by
their leaders.

Works Cited
Adolf Hitler. Xplore Inc, 2016. 11 May 2016.
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/adolfhitle109950.html

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Eliach, Yaffa. The Berlin-Bucharest Express. Connections. Night . New York, NY: Hill and
Wang, a Division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. 134-137. Print.
"Quote Investigator." Quote Investigator. Web. 20 May 2016.
Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1945. Print.