Skip to contentWillowOne's PositionsTagsWhat’s newMediaStatisticsSearch
WillowOne's Positions

Animal Farm

Overview

The animals of Manor Farm drive out the farmer and set up a commonwealth under seven commandments, the last of which is that all animals are equal. The pigs, who can read, take charge; Napoleon drives out Snowball; the commandments are quietly edited one by one; and by the end the pigs are walking on two legs and drinking with the neighbouring farmers, and the remaining commandment reads that all animals are equal but some are more equal than others. It is a fable of the Russian Revolution and of Stalin's betrayal of it, written by a socialist.

Notes

The shortest and clearest account I know of how a revolution in the name of equality produces a new ruling class, and of the role that rewriting the rules plays in the process. It is the book behind my view that Communism is a critique rather than a programme: the critique in chapter one is correct, and everything after it is what happens when you try to run a society on it. Orwell's own politics are a useful corrective to anyone who reads it as a defence of the farmer.

Also see