In Animal Farm, why did Napoleon win the power struggle between himself and Snowball?
Firstly Napoleon is a political animal as well as a literal animal. By using his political skills, IE manipulative skills he is able to turn the majority of the animals against Snowball and therefor undermine everything that snowball stands for even though snowballs policies are for the greater good. Through the manipulation or spin of the social policies that Snowball has put forward Napoleon preys on the uncertainty and selfishness inherent in all creatures and turns one for all into free for all. Distrust of change and implication that everyman is out to further his own needs albeit disguised as socialism is used as a major weapon against the genuine cause of the greater good is played to it’s full extent. Therefore although Snowballs path is clear and true it does not fit in with Napoleons agenda of self promotion and must therefore be destroyed in order to further the rise of the more self centred entity.
Don’t forget that Napoleon also had a number of dogs he had been training from pups (KGB) in order to do his bidding and as the book is an allegory for the Russian socio-political system of the 1940s Napoleon (Stalin) forces out Snowball (Trotsky) because the later is far too much of a Socialist, therefore weaker
