Rad and Yelena (chapters 1-10 only)

Chapter 3

"Let's play ball some time, Rad," alok ni Paul bago bumalik sa upuan nito.

Kumuha ng marker ang teacher nila at isinulat ang Animal Farm sa whiteboard. She stared hard at their teacher's short curly hair and tried her best to forget about the terrorist sitting behind her.

"Everyone has read the book, yes?" Humarap si Miss Cruz sa klase.

Nagtaas ng kamay si Jason.

"Yes, Jason?" tawag dito ng teacher.

"We have a new classmate, Ma'am."

"Oh, yes." Hinagilap ng tingin nito ang lalaki, at sumilay ang ngiti sa maamo nitong mukha. "Rad Javier, yes?"

"Yes, Ma'am," narinig niyang sagot ni Rad.

"You haven't read the book yet, I supposed. That's alright–"

"I've read the book, Ma'am."

Bumakas ang gulat sa mukha ng may-edad nilang guro pero tumango ito. "That's good. Well, now, does anyone want to share his or her opinion about the book?"

Nagtaas si Yelena ng kamay. Literature was one of her favorite subjects. She would take Business Administration in college. Naturally, nasa Accounting, Business and Management strand siya ng senior class nila. But even so, she still planned to take higher literature classes in college just to enjoy herself in.

Ngumiti sa kanya si Miss Cruz. "Yelena, what can you tell us about the book?"

"I find it very interesting. The book is obviously a symbolic representation of a totalitarian system, particularly, Joseph Stalin's regime after the Russian Revolution of 1917."

Tumango ulit ang kanilang guro. "What made you say so?"

"In the beginning of the book, the animals were disgruntled by the treatment of the men. They complain about the hard work and the injustice of being worked to the bone. It reflects the woes of pre-Russian revolution. The peasants were increasingly getting dissatisfied by the hard labor forced upon them and burgeoiose lifestyle of the elite ruling class. It's one of the main reasons of the revolution. After the revolution, Stalin imposed a socialist system that was meant to make everyone equal. The same is true in the book. Pig made rules that were supposed to make everyone equal. But just like how the socialist system failed to impose equality, the rules in the farm failed to equalize everyone."

Tumango ang teacher nila at binalingan ang ibang kaklase. "Why do you think is that so? Why did the system fail?"

Nagtaas ng kamay si Luigi, ang currently third rank ng section nila. "The people in power are the problem, Ma'am. Just like Stalin, Pig became power-hungry and wanted to control everyone. The same can be argued about North Korea. The people in power abuse the system and the people. They keep the power centralized in order to remain more powerful. Ideally, communism should start with dictatorship, much like a totalitarian system. But the end goal is an egalitarian society. It doesn't happen. Dictatorship just goes on and on because people in power want to remain in power."

Nagtaas ulit si Yelena ng kamay at tinawag ulit siya ni Miss Cruz. "I agree with Luigi, Ma'am. The people in power are the problem, but I think the system itself is problematic. Socialism, or Communism for that matter, rests on the principle that people are inherently good. Marx visualized Communism partly due to the influence of the scientific enlightenment period. He wanted to apply the same rules used in hard sciences in social sciences. He failed to realize that people are not as predictable as the elements in nature."

"Is Communism impossible, then? Is Capitalism our only choice?" tanong ng guro sa klase.

Muli siyang nagtaas ng kamay. At dahil walang ibang gustong sumagot, nakangiting tinawag na lang ulit siya ng teacher nila.