Animal Farm: George Orwell’s Fable of a Revolution Betrayed
Animal Farm is considered one of the most important novels of the twentieth century. Published by George Orwell in 1945, it is a satirical fable about the Russian Revolution, set on a farm where the animals, tired of constant ill-treatment by their owner, rise up and create their own system of government.
Author: George Orwell (1903–1950)
Title: Animal Farm: A Fairy Story (1945)
Format: English paperback (Penguin Modern Classics), 144 pages
Scope: Satirical allegory of the Russian Revolution and Stalinism
Amazon: www.amazon.es/dp/0141182709 (ASIN 0141182709)
Animalism
The spiritual leader of the revolution is Old Major, who dies after making his message clear: equality for all. Two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, put their leader’s ideas into practice as the principles of Animalism. For the first weeks everything works well: everyone works because their effort is recognised, and they feel free. But as time passes, things get worse. The pigs declare themselves leaders, placing themselves above the other animals.
Some Are More Equal
A power struggle begins between Napoleon and Snowball; Snowball is driven out, because the dogs are loyal to Napoleon. From then on the new regime starts changing its rules. The pigs acquire privileges and the principles of the revolution are rewritten. Years pass and the animals’ quality of life falls sharply, except for the pigs, who begin to behave like humans. Only one written law remains: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
Who’s Who on the Farm
Every animal stands for something. Old Major, the prize boar whose dream inspires the rebellion, recalls Marx and Lenin. Napoleon, the pig who takes power with the help of a pack of dogs, is Stalin; Snowball, the clever rival he drives out and blames for every misfortune, is Trotsky. Squealer, who can "turn black into white", is the propaganda machine. And Boxer, the loyal cart-horse whose answer to every problem is "I will work harder", represents the workers whose faith is betrayed.
A Book Nobody Wanted to Publish
Orwell finished Animal Farm in 1944, when Britain and the Soviet Union were wartime allies, and several publishers turned it down as politically inconvenient; T. S. Eliot, then at Faber, was among those who declined. It finally appeared in August 1945 and became an immediate success. Orwell’s hostility to Stalinism came from experience: in the Spanish Civil War, which he described in Homage to Catalonia (1938), he had seen Soviet-backed communists turn on their own allies.
More Than an Allegory
Readers need not know Russian history to feel its force. The slow rewriting of the Seven Commandments on the barn wall, ending with "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others", shows how language can be bent to justify power anywhere. That is why the book is still read in schools around the world.
Where to Go Next
The natural companion is Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), Orwell’s full-length vision of a totalitarian state. For his thinking on honest writing, his essay "Politics and the English Language" explains why he wrote so plainly.
A Fairy Story for Adults
Orwell subtitled the book "A Fairy Story", and its simplicity is deliberate: short chapters, clear language, animals instead of politicians. That is what makes it accessible to young readers and devastating for adults, who recognise the pattern of revolutions that devour their own ideals. Benjamin, the cynical donkey who sees everything and says little, may be the character closest to Orwell himself.
Why Read It Now
It is a critique of the corruption of Soviet socialism and of the abuse of power, and its target is wider than any one regime: it shows how slogans are bent, history rewritten and ideals turned into propaganda. Short, funny and chilling, it is the ideal companion to Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.
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