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Animal Farm (originallyAnimal Farm: A Fairy Story[1]) is asatiricalallegoricaldystopian[2]novella, in the form of abeast fable,[3] byGeorge Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945.[4][5] It follows theanthropomorphicfarm animals of the fictional Manor Farm as they rebel against their human farmer namedJones, hoping to create a society where all animals can be equal, free, and happy away from human interventions.[6] However, by the end of the short novel, the rebellion is betrayed, and under thedictatorship of a pig namedNapoleon, the farm ends up in a far worse state than it was before.[7]
According to Orwell,Animal Farm reflects events leading up to theRussian Revolution of 1917 and then on into theStalinist era of theSoviet Union, a period when Russia lived under theMarxist–Leninist ideology ofJoseph Stalin.[3][8] Orwell, ademocratic socialist,[9] was a critic of Stalin and hostile to Moscow-directedStalinism, an attitude that was critically shaped by his experiences during the BarcelonaMay Days conflicts between thePOUM and Stalinist forces, during theSpanish Civil War.[10][a] In a letter to Yvonne Davet (a French writer), Orwell describedAnimal Farm as a satirical tale against Stalin ("un conte satirique contre Staline"),[11] and in his essay "Why I Write" (1946) wrote: "Animal Farm was the first book in which I tried, with full consciousness of what I was doing, to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole."[12]
The original title of the novel wasAnimal Farm: A Fairy Story.[1] American publishers dropped the subtitle when it was published in 1946, and only one of the translations, during Orwell's lifetime, theTelugu version, kept it. Other title variations include subtitles like "A Satire" and "A Contemporary Satire".[11] Orwell suggested the titleUnion des républiques socialistes animales for the French translation, which abbreviates to URSA, theLatin word for "bear", asymbol of Russia. It also played on the French name of the Soviet Union,Union des républiques socialistes soviétiques.[11]
Orwell wrote the book between November 1943 and February 1944, when the United Kingdom was in itswartime alliance with the Soviet Union againstNazi Germany and the Britishintelligentsia held Stalin in high esteem, which Orwell hated.[13] The manuscript was initially rejected by several British and American publishers,[14] including one of Orwell's own,Victor Gollancz, which delayed its publication.[b] It became a great commercial success when it did appear, as international relations and public opinion were transformed as the wartime alliance gave way to theCold War.[16]
The animal populace of the poorly run Manor Farm near Willingdon, England, is ripened for rebellion by neglect at the hands of the irresponsible and alcoholic farmerMr. Jones. One night, the exalted boarOld Major holds a conference, at which he calls for the overthrow of humans and teaches the animals a revolutionary song called "Beasts of England". When Old Major dies, two young adult boars,Snowball andNapoleon, assume command and stage a revolt, driving out Mr. Jones and renaming the property "Animal Farm". The animals adopt the Seven Commandments ofAnimalism, the most important of which is "All animals are equal". These rules are painted in large letters on one side of the barn. Snowball teaches the animals to read and write, while Napoleon educates young puppies on the principles of Animalism separately from the rest of the farm. To commemorate the start of Animal Farm, Snowball raises a green flag made from Mrs. Jones' tablecloth with a white hoof and horn symbol. Later, Old Major's skull is exhumed and put on display. Food is plentiful, and the farm runs smoothly. The pigs elevate themselves to positions of leadership and set aside special food items, ostensibly for their health. Following an unsuccessful attempt by Mr. Jones and his associates to retake the farm, henceforth referred to by the animals as the "Battle of the Cowshed", Snowball announces his plans to modernise the farm by building awindmill. Napoleon disputes this idea, and matters come to a head, which culminates in Napoleon's dogs chasing Snowball away and Napoleon effectively assuming supreme command.
Napoleon enacts changes to the political structure of the farm, replacing meetings with a committee of governing pigs. Through a diminutive boar namedSquealer, who is a skilledorator, Napoleon claims credit for the idea of building the windmill, claiming that Snowball was only trying to win animals to his side. The animals work harder with the promise of easier lives with the windmill. When the windmill collapses after a violent storm, Napoleon and Squealer persuade the animals that Snowball is trying to sabotage their project, and begin topurge the farm of animals accused by Napoleon of consorting with his old rival. When some animals recall the Battle of the Cowshed, Napoleon, who was not present during the battle, gradually smears Snowball to the point of saying he is a collaborator of Mr. Jones, even dismissing the fact that Snowball was given an award of courage, while falsely representing himself as the main hero of the battle. "Beasts of England" is replaced with "Animal Farm", while an anthem glorifying Napoleon, who is presumably adopting the lifestyle of a man ("Comrade Napoleon"), is composed and sung. Napoleon then conducts a second purge, during which many animals who are alleged to be helping Snowball in plots are executed by Napoleon's dogs, which troubles the rest of the animals. Despite their hardships, the animals are easily pacified by Napoleon's retort that they are better off than they were under Mr. Jones, as well as by the sheep's continual bleating of "four legs good, two legs bad". As Napoleon and Squealer's increasingly humanlike behaviour repeatedly contradicts the Seven Commandments, they secretly rewrite the laws to avoid facing charges.
Mr. Frederick, a neighbouring farmer, attacks the farm, usingblasting powder to blow up the restored windmill. Although the animals win the battle, they do soat great cost, as many, includingBoxer the workhorse, are wounded. Although he recovers from this, Boxer eventually collapses while working on the windmill due to his age. He is taken away in aknacker's van, and a donkey calledBenjamin alerts the animals of this, but Squealer quickly waves off their alarm by persuading the animals that the van had been purchased from the knacker by an animal hospital and that the previous owner's signboard had not been repainted. Squealer subsequently reports Boxer's death and honours him with a festival the following day, while, in truth, Napoleon had engineered the sale of Boxer to the knacker, allowing him and his inner circle to acquire money to buywhisky for themselves, which they used to celebrate the following night.
Years pass, the windmill is rebuilt, and a second windmill is constructed, which makes the farm a good amount of income. However, the ideals that Snowball discussed—including stalls with electric lighting, heating, and running water, along with a three-day work week for all animals—are forgotten, with Napoleon now advocating that the happiest animals live simple lives. Snowball has been forgotten, while Boxer is remembered by only few. Many of the animals who participated in the rebellion are dead or old. Mr. Jones is known to have died in an inebriates' home. The pigs now resemble humans: they walk bipedally, carry whips, drink alcohol, and wear clothes. The Seven Commandments are abridged to just one phrase: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others". The maxim "Four legs good, two legs bad" is similarly changed to "Four legs good, two legs better". The Hoof and Horn flag is replaced with a plain green banner, and Old Major's skull is reburied.
Napoleon holds a dinner party for the pigs and newly allied human farmers. The other farm animals, who have not been invited, gather at the window to watch. He abolishes the practice of the revolutionary traditions and restores the name "The Manor Farm". He explains to the guests that, contrary to what has been told the animals of the farm, the "lesser" animals are working more hours and receiving less food; a practice the other farmers commend and plan to institute with their own farms. The men and pigs start playing cards, flattering and praising each other. When the animals outside look at the pigs and men, they find they have become indistinguishable from one another.
Old Major – An aged prizeMiddle White boar who provides the inspiration that fuels the rebellion. He is also called Willingdon Beauty whenshowing. He is anallegorical combination ofKarl Marx, one of the creators of communism, andVladimir Lenin, the communist leader of theRussian Revolution and the early Soviet nation, in that he draws up the principles of the revolution. His skull being put on revered public display recalls Lenin, whose embalmed body was left in indefinite repose atLenin's Mausoleum.[22] By the end of the book, the skull is reburied.
Napoleon – An intimidating, manipulativeBerkshire boar who becomes the leader of Animal Farm after driving out Snowball and gradually starts living like a human.[23] He is an allegory ofJoseph Stalin.[22]
Snowball – A boar and Napoleon's rival, who initially leads the farm after Jones's overthrow. His life parallels that ofLeon Trotsky;[22] although there is no reference to Snowball having been murdered (as Trotsky was), he is exiled from the farm and subsequently becomes an image of evil. He may also combine some elements from Lenin.[24][c]
Squealer – A small, stout boar who serves as Napoleon's second-in-command and minister of propaganda, is a collective portrait of the Sovietnomenklatura and journalists, such as of the national dailyPravda (The Truth), able to justify every twist and turn in Stalin's policy.[22]
Minimus – A poetic pig who writes the second national anthem of Animal Farm after the singing of "Beasts of England" is banned; later he composes a poem "Comrade Napoleon". Literary theorist John Rodden compares him to the poetVladimir Mayakovsky,[25] whoeulogised Lenin and the Soviet Union, although Mayakovsky neither wrote anthems nor praised Stalin in his poems.
The piglets – Hinted to be the children of Napoleon and are the first generation of animals subjugated to his idea of animal inequality.
The young pigs – Four pigs who complain about Napoleon's takeover of the farm but are quickly silenced and later executed, the first kind of animals killed in Napoleon's farm purge. Probably based on theGreat Purge ofGrigory Zinoviev,Lev Kamenev,Nikolai Bukharin, andAlexei Rykov.
Pinkeye – A pig who is mentioned only when he was given the task oftasting Napoleon's food to make sure it is not poisoned.
Mr. Jones – A heavy drinker who is the original owner of Manor Farm, a farm in disrepair with farmhands who often loaf on the job. He is an allegory of RussianTsar Nicholas II,[26] who was forced to abdicate following theFebruary Revolution of 1917 and was executed, along with the rest of his family, by theBolsheviks on 17 July 1918. The animals revolt after Jones goes on a drinking binge, returns hungover the following day and neglects them completely. Jones is married, but his wife plays no active role in the book. She seems to live with her husband's drunkenness, going to bed while he stays up drinking until late into the night. In her only other appearance, she hastily throws a few things into a travel bag and flees when she sees that the animals are revolting. Towards the end of the book, Napoleon's "favourite sow" wears her old Sunday dress.
Mr. Frederick – The tough owner of Pinchfield Farm, a small but well-kept neighbouring farm, who briefly allies with Napoleon.[27][28][29][30] Animal Farm shares land boundaries with Pinchfield on one side and Foxwood on another, making Animal Farm a "buffer zone" between the two bickering farmers. The animals of Animal Farm are terrified of Frederick, as rumours abound of him abusing his animals and entertaining himself withcockfighting. Napoleon allies with Frederick to sell surplus timber that Pilkington also sought, but is enraged to learn Frederick paid him in counterfeit money. Shortly after the swindling, Frederick and his men invade Animal Farm, killing many animals and destroying the windmill. The brief alliance and subsequent invasion may allude to theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact andOperation Barbarossa.[29][31][32]
Mr. Pilkington – The easy-going but crafty and well-to-do owner of Foxwood Farm, a large neighbouring farm overgrown with weeds. Pilkington is wealthier than Frederick and owns more land, but his farm needs care as opposed to Frederick's smaller but more efficiently run farm. Although on bad terms with Frederick, Pilkington is also concerned about the animal revolution that deposed Jones and is worried that this could also happen to him.
Mr. Whymper – A man hired by Napoleon to act as the liaison between Animal Farm and human society. At first, he acquires necessities that cannot be produced on the farm, such as dog biscuits andparaffin wax, but later he procures luxuries like alcohol for the pigs.
Boxer – A loyal, kind, dedicated, powerful, hard-working, and respectable cart-shire horse, although quite naive and gullible.[33] Boxer does a large share of the physical labour on the farm. He is shown to believe that "Napoleon is always right." At one point, he questions Squealer's statement that Snowball was always against the welfare of the farm, causing him to be attacked by Napoleon's dogs; however, Boxer's immense strength repels the attack, worrying the pigs that their authority can be challenged. Boxer has been compared toAlexey Stakhanov, a diligent and enthusiastic role model of theStakhanovite movement.[34] He has been described as "faithful and strong";[35] he believes any problem can be solved if he works harder.[36] When Boxer is injured, Napoleon sells him to a localknacker to buy himself whisky, and Squealer gives a moving account, falsifying the circumstances of Boxer's death.
Mollie – A self-centred, self-indulgent, and vain young white mare who quickly leaves for another farm after the revolution, like those who left Russia after the fall of the Tsar.[37] She is only once mentioned again, and has an affinity for hair ribbons and sugar cubes.
Clover – A gentle, caring mare who shows concern, especially for Boxer, who often pushes himself too hard. Clover can read all the letters of the alphabet, but cannot form words with them.
Benjamin – A donkey, one of the oldest, wisest animals on the farm, and one of the few who can read properly. He is sceptical, temperamental and cynical: his most frequent remark is, "Life will go on as it has always gone on – that is, badly". AcademicMorris Dickstein has suggested there is "a touch of Orwell himself in this creature's timeless scepticism"[38] and indeed, friends called Orwell "Donkey George", "after his grumbling donkey Benjamin, inAnimal Farm ".[39] Benjamin evades the purges and survives despite the threat he potentially poses given his knowledge, his age, and his equivocal, albeit apolitical, positions.
Muriel – A goat who is another of the oldest, wisest animals on the farm and friends with all of the animals on the farm. Similar to Benjamin, Muriel is one of the few animals on the farm who is not a pig but can read. She survives, as does Benjamin, by eschewing politics.
The puppies – Offspring of Jessie and Bluebell, the puppies were taken away at birth by Napoleon and raised by him to serve as his powerful security force.
Moses – A charismatic raven and personal pet of Mr. Jones with a natural talent for storytelling.[40] Initially following Mrs. Jones into exile, he reappears several years later and resumes his role of talking but not working. He regales Animal Farm's denizens with tales of a wondrous place beyond the clouds called "Sugarcandy Mountain, that happy country where we poor animals shall rest forever from our labours!" Orwell portraysinstitutionalised religion as "the black raven of priestcraft – promising pie in the sky when you die, and faithfully serving whoever happens to be in power". His preaching to the animals heartens them, and Napoleon allows Moses to reside at the farm "with an allowance of a gill of beer daily", akin to how Stalin brought back theRussian Orthodox Church during the Second World War.[38]
The sheep – They are not given individual names or personalities. They show limited understanding of Animalism and the political atmosphere of the farm, yet nonetheless, they are the voice ofblind conformity[38] as they bleat their support of Napoleon's ideals with jingles during his speeches and meetings with Snowball. Their constant bleating of "Four legs good, two legs bad!" is used as a device to drown out any opposition or alternative views from Snowball, much as Stalin used hysterical crowds to drown out Trotsky.[41] Towards the end of the book, Squealer, thepropagandist, trains the sheep to alter their slogan to "Four legs good, two legs better!", which they dutifully do.
The hens – The hens are promised following the rebellion that they will get to keep their eggs, which are stolen from them under Mr. Jones; however, their eggs are soon taken from them under the premise of buying goods from outside the farm. The hens are among the first to rebel, albeit unsuccessfully, against Napoleon, being brutally suppressed through starvation. They represent the Ukrainian victims of theHolodomor.[42][43]
The cows – Unnamed. The cows are enticed into the revolution by promises that their milk will not be stolen but can be used to raise their calves. Their milk is then stolen by the pigs, who learn to milk them. The milk is stirred into the pigs' mash every day, while the other animals are denied such luxuries.
The cat – Unnamed and never seen to carry out any work. The cat is absent for long periods and is forgiven because her excuses are so convincing and she is naturally charming and affectionate.[44] She has no interest in the politics of the farm, and the only time she is recorded as having participated in an election, she is found to have actually voted both ways.[45]
The ducks – Unnamed. A brood of ducklings is said to have lost their mother. They are protected by Clover.
The roosters – One arranges to wake Boxer early, and a black one acts as a trumpeter for Napoleon from the time he is a young cockerel.
The geese – Unnamed. One gander commits suicide by eating nightshade berries.
The pigeons — Unnamed. They attend Major's speech, report the appearance of Mollie on another farm, and partake in the Battle of the Cowshed, and are later used to convey messages between the pigs and humans under Napoleon's watch.
The rats – Unnamed. Classed among the wild animals, unsuccessful attempts are made to civilise them and teach them the principles of Animalism.
The rabbits – Like the rats, unsuccessful attempts are made to civilise them. At one point, Jones's former farmhands hunt and kill them.
George Orwell'sAnimal Farm is an example of a political satire and an allegory that was intended to have a "wider application", according to Orwell himself, in terms of its relevance.[46] Stylistically, the work shares many similarities with some of Orwell's other works, most notablyNineteen Eighty-Four, as both have been considered works ofSwiftian satire.[47] Furthermore, these two prominent works seem to suggest Orwell's bleak view of the future for humanity; he seems to stress the potential/current threat of dystopias similar to those inAnimal Farm andNineteen Eighty-Four.[48] In these kinds of works, Orwell distinctly references the disarray and traumatic conditions of Europe following the Second World War.[49] Orwell's style and writing philosophy as a whole were very concerned with the pursuit of truth in writing.[50]
Orwell was committed to communicating straightforwardly, given the way that he felt words were commonly used in politics to deceive and confuse. For this reason, he is careful, inAnimal Farm, to make sure the narrator speaks in an unbiased and uncomplicated fashion making the words easier to understand.[50] The difference is seen in the way that the animals speak and interact, as the general moral animals seem to speak their minds clearly, while the wicked animals on the farm, such as Napoleon, twist language in such a way that it meets their insidious desires. This style reflects Orwell's proximity to the issues facing Europe at the time and his determination to comment critically on Stalin's Soviet Russia.[50]
Just asNineteen Eighty-Four would be inspired byYevgeny Zamyatin'sWe,Animal Farm also had its influences: "In 1937, the year in which Orwell said he first thought ofAnimal Farm, Gollancz's Left Book Club published bothThe Road to Wigan Pier and a left-wing children's book,The Adventures of the Little Pig and Other Stories by F. Le Gros and Ida Clark."[51]
George Orwell wrote the manuscript between November 1943 and February 1944[52] after his experiences during theSpanish Civil War, which he described inHomage to Catalonia (1938). In the preface of a 1947 Ukrainian edition ofAnimal Farm, he explained how escaping the communist purges in Spain taught him "how easily totalitarian propaganda can control the opinion of enlightened people in democratic countries".[53] This motivated Orwell to expose and strongly condemn what he saw as theStalinist corruption of the original socialist ideals.[54]Homage to Catalonia sold poorly; after seeingArthur Koestler's best-sellingDarkness at Noon about theMoscow Trials, Orwell decided that fiction would be the best way to describe totalitarianism.[55]
Immediately before writing the book, Orwell quit theBBC. He was also upset about a booklet for propagandists the Ministry of Information had put out. The booklet included instructions on how to quell ideological fears of the Soviet Union, such as directions to claim that the Red Terror was a figment of Nazi imagination.[56]
In the preface, Orwell described the source of the idea of setting the book on a farm:[54]
I saw a little boy, perhaps ten years old, driving a huge carthorse along a narrow path, whipping it whenever it tried to turn. It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in much the same way as the rich exploit the proletariat.
In a 2025 article inThe Guardian, Orwell's adopted sonRichard Blair stated that his adoptive motherEileen Blair, Orwell's first wife, helped to planAnimal Farm and described the book as "my parents' teamwork".[57]
In June 1944, the manuscript was almost lost when a GermanV-1 flying bomb destroyed his London flat in Mortimer Crescent,Kilburn. Orwell spent hours sifting through the rubble to find the pages intact.[58] Writing toT. S. Eliot at his publisher, Orwell noted that the enclosed manuscript had been "blitzed" and was in "slightly crumpled condition, but it is not damaged in any way."[59]
Orwell initially encountered difficulty getting the manuscript published, largely due to fears that the book might upset the western wartime alliance with the Soviet Union.[60] Four publishers refused to publishAnimal Farm, yet one had initially accepted the work but declined it after consulting theMinistry of Information.[61][d] Eventually,Secker & Warburg in London published the first edition on 17 August 1945.[60]
DuringWorld War II, it became clear to Orwell that anti-Soviet literature was not something which most major publishing houses in Britain and America would touch – including his regular publisherGollancz.[62] He also submitted the manuscript toFaber and Faber, where the poet T. S. Eliot (who was a director of the firm) rejected it; Eliot wrote back to Orwell praising the book's "good writing" and "fundamental integrity", but declared that they would only accept it for publication if they had some sympathy for the viewpoint "which I take to be generallyTrotskyite". Eliot said he found the view "not convincing", and contended that the pigs were made out to be the best to run the farm; he posited that someone might argue "what was needed ... was not more communism but more public-spirited pigs".[63] Orwell letAndré Deutsch, who was working for Nicholson & Watson in 1944, read the typescript, and Deutsch was convinced that Nicholson & Watson would want to publish it; however, they did not, and "lectured Orwell on what they perceived to be errors inAnimal Farm".[64] In hisLondon Letter on 17 April 1944 forPartisan Review, Orwell wrote that it was "now next door to impossible to get anything overtly anti-Russian printed. Anti-Russian books do appear, but mostly from Catholic publishing firms and always from a religious or frankly reactionary angle". In 2025, Orwell's sonRichard Blair wrote:[60]
There was a deep-rooted institutional reluctance to allow any criticism of Soviet Russia while it was a British ally leading the destruction of Nazi Germany. This attitude was compounded by relentless Soviet government lobbying and the comprehensive infiltration of British institutions by Soviet agents.Peter Smollett (AKA Smolka, Soviet agent codename ABO) was head of Soviet relations at the Ministry of Information and the now notorious Cambridge spyGuy Burgess was aBBC producer.
The publisherJonathan Cape, who had initially acceptedAnimal Farm, subsequently rejected the book after an official at the British Ministry of Information warned him off[65] – although the civil servant who it is assumed gave the order was later found to be aSoviet spy.[66] Writing toLeonard Moore, a partner in the literary agency of Christy & Moore, publisher Jonathan Cape explained that the decision had been taken on the advice of a senior official in the Ministry of Information. Such flagrant anti-Soviet bias was unacceptable, and the choice of pigs as the dominant class was thought to be especially offensive. It may reasonably be assumed that the "important official" was an Austrian-born man namedPeter Smollett (born Hans Peter Smolka), who was later unmasked as a Soviet agent.[67] Orwell was suspicious of Smollett/Smolka, who had come to Britain in 1933 as anNKVD agent codenamed "ABO", and he would be one of the names Orwellincluded in his list of Crypto-Communists and Fellow-Travellers sent to theInformation Research Department in 1949. The publisher wrote to Orwell, saying:[65]
If the fable were addressed generally to dictators and dictatorships at large then publication would be all right, but the fable does follow, as I see now, so completely the progress of the Russian Soviets and their two dictators [Lenin and Stalin], that it can apply only to Russia, to the exclusion of the other dictatorships.
Another thing: it would be less offensive if the predominant caste in the fable were not pigs. I think the choice of pigs as the ruling caste will no doubt give offence to many people, and particularly to anyone who is a bit touchy, as undoubtedly the Russians are.
Fredric Warburg also faced pressures against publication, even from people in his own office and from his wife Pamela, who felt that it was not the moment for ingratitude towards Stalin and theRed Army,[68] which hadplayed a major part in defeatingAdolf Hitler. A Russian translation was printed in the paperPosev, and in permitting a Russian translation ofAnimal Farm, Orwell refused in advance all royalties. A translation in Ukrainian, which was produced in Germany, was confiscated in large part by the American wartime authorities and handed over to the Soviet repatriation commission.[e]
WhenAnimal Farm was eventually first published in England in August 1945 (Fredric Warburg of Secker & Warburg had agreed to take it on in July 1944, but paper shortages and ongoing reluctance to offend the wartime ally meant it was not published until then) the views towards the Russians were beginning to change, with Orwell's son Richard Blair writing inThe Guardian, "relations with Russia were by then rapidly cooling and, as my father said, people were "fed up with all [this] Russian nonsense".[60]
In October 1945, Orwell wrote to Frederic Warburg expressing interest in pursuing the possibility that the political cartoonistDavid Low might illustrateAnimal Farm. Low had written a letter saying that he had had "a good time withAnimal Farm – an excellent bit of satire – it would illustrate perfectly". Nothing came of this, and a trial issue produced by Secker & Warburg in 1956 illustrated by John Driver was abandoned. TheFolio Society published an edition in 1984 illustrated byQuentin Blake and an edition illustrated by the cartoonistRalph Steadman was published by Secker & Warburg in 1995 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the first edition ofAnimal Farm.[69][70]
Despite its enormous commercial success in the UK,Animal Farm had a hard time finding a publisher in the US. Some of the rejections were straightforward, made on the grounds that the book was "too short for adequate marketing." Orwell was aware that, as in the UK, some American publishers had rejectedAnimal Farm on political grounds.Partisan Review editorPhilip Rahv warned Orwell in January 1946 that a lot of left-wing opinion in the US was "almost solidly Stalinist."[71][page needed] Historian and polemicistPeter Viereck said that Orwell's book suffered because of "the brilliantly successful infiltration of Stalinoid sympathizers in the book world."[71][page needed] HistorianArthur Schlesinger Jr. recalls returning from wartime service in Europe with copies of the book, and he attempted to interest his American publisher, but the firm turned it down because, according to Schlesinger, the editor-in-chief was "a defender of Stalinism."[71][page needed]
The book was eventually published in the US by Harcourt, Brace afterFrank Morley, an editor who had worked for Faber and Faber before the war, visited England in late 1945 to scout the book trade. He encountered customers at a Cambridge bookshop seeking to purchase the sold-outAnimal Farm. He managed to get a copy, and he made a deal in January 1946 to publish the book in the US.[71][page needed]
Orwell originally wrote apreface complaining about Britishself-censorship and how the British people were suppressing criticism of the USSR, their World War II ally:
The sinister fact about literary censorship in England is that it is largely voluntary ... Things are kept right out of the British press, not because the Government intervenes but because of a general tacit agreement that "it wouldn't do" to mention that particular fact.
What is disquieting is that where the USSR and its policies are concerned one cannot expect intelligent criticism or even, in many cases, plain honesty from Liberal writers and journalists who are under no direct pressure to falsify their opinions. Stalin is sacrosanct and certain aspects of his policy must not be seriously discussed.
Although the first edition allowed space for the preface in the author's proof, it was not included, and the page numbers had to be renumbered at the last minute.[61]In 1972,Ian Angus found the original typescript titled "The Freedom of the Press", andBernard Crick published it, together with his introduction, inThe Times Literary Supplement on 15 September 1972 as "How the essay came to be written".[61] Orwell's essay criticised British self-censorship by the press, specifically the suppression of unflattering descriptions of Stalin and the Soviet government, and believed that this was a symptom of the weakening of the western liberal tradition.[61]
Contemporary reviews of the work were not universally positive. Writing in the AmericanNew Republic magazine, George Soule expressed his disappointment in the book, writing that it "puzzled and saddened me. It seemed on the whole dull. The allegory turned out to be a creaking machine for saying in a clumsy way things that have been said better directly." Soule believed that the animals were not consistent enough with their real-world inspirations, and said, "It seems to me that the failure of this book (commercially it is already assured of tremendous success) arises from the fact that the satire deals not with something the author has experienced, but rather with stereotyped ideas about a country which he probably does not know very well."[72]
The Guardian on 24 August 1945 calledAnimal Farm "a delightfully humorous and caustic satire on the rule of the many by the few".[73]Tosco Fyvel, writing inTribune on the same day, called the book "a gentle satire on a certain State and on the illusions of an age which may already be behind us".Julian Symons responded, on 7 September, "Should we not expect, inTribune at least, acknowledgement of the fact that it is a satire not at all gentle upon a particular State – Soviet Russia? It seems to me that a reviewer should have the courage to identify Napoleon with Stalin, and Snowball with Trotsky, and express an opinion favourable or unfavourable to the author, upon a political ground. In a hundred years perhaps,Animal Farm may be simply a fairy story; today it is a political satire with a good deal of point".Animal Farm has been subject to much comment in the decades since these early remarks.[74]
Between 1952 and 1957, theCIA, in an operation codenamed Aedinosaur, sent millions of balloons carrying copies of the novel intoPoland,Hungary, andCzechoslovakia, whose air forces tried to shoot the balloons down.[55] TheInformation Research Department, a secret Cold War propaganda agency of the British government, translated the book into various languages such as Arabic.[75]
Popular reading in schools,Animal Farm was ranked theUK's favourite book from school in a 2016 poll.[76]
Animal Farm has also faced an array of challenges in school settings around theUS.[77] The following are examples of this controversy that has existed around Orwell's work:
New York State English Council's Committee on Defense Against Censorship found that in 1968,Animal Farm had been widely deemed a "problem book".[77]
A censorship survey conducted inDeKalb County, Georgia, relating to the years 1979–1982, revealed that many schools had attempted to limit access toAnimal Farm due to its "political theories".[77]
A superintendent inBay County, Florida, bannedAnimal Farm at the middle school and high school levels in 1987.[77]
The Board quickly brought back the book, however, after receiving complaints of the ban as "unconstitutional".[77]
Animal Farm has also faced similar forms of resistance in other countries.[77]ALA also mentions the way that the book was prevented from being featured at the International Book Fair inMoscow, Russia, in 1977 and banned from schools in theUnited Arab Emirates for references to practices or actions that defyArab orIslamic beliefs, such as pigs or alcohol.[77]
In the same manner,Animal Farm has also faced relatively recent issues inChina. In 2018, the Chinese government decided to censor all online posts about or referring toAnimal Farm.[80] Despite this move, as of 2019, the book remains sold in stores. Amy Hawkins and Jeffrey Wasserstrom ofThe Atlantic stated in 2019 that the book is widely available in mainland China for several reasons: because censors believe the general public is unlikely to read a highbrow book, because the elites who do read books feel connected to the ruling party anyway, and because the Communist Party sees being too aggressive in blocking cultural products as a liability. The authors stated: "It was – and remains – as easy to buy1984 andAnimal Farm inShenzhen orShanghai as it is in London orLos Angeles".[81] An enhanced version of the book, launched in India in 2017, was widely praised for capturing the author's intent, by republishing the proposed preface of the First Edition and the preface he wrote for theUkrainian edition.[82]
After the revolution, Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer adapt Old Major's ideas into "a complete system of thought", which they formally name Animalism, an allegoric reference toCommunism, not to be confused withthe philosophy of Animalism. Soon after, Napoleon and Squealer partake in activities associated with humans that the Seven Commandments had explicitly prohibited. They also engage in trade, one of Old Major's proposed forbidden activities not directly included in the commandments (the other two being living in houses and smoking tobacco). Squealer is employed to alter the commandments to account for this humanisation, anallusion to the Soviet government's revising of history to exercise control of the people's beliefs about themselves and their society.[83]
Squealer sprawls at the foot of the end wall of the big barn where the Seven Commandments were written (ch. viii) – preliminary artwork for a 1950 strip cartoon byNorman Pett and Donald Freeman
The original commandments are:
Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
No animal shall wear clothes.
No animal shall sleep in a bed.
No animal shall drink alcohol.
No animal shall kill any other animal.
All animals are equal.
These commandments are also distilled into the maxim "Four legs good, two legs bad!" which is primarily used by the sheep on the farm, often to disrupt discussions and disagreements between animals on the nature of Animalism.
Later, Napoleon and his pigs secretly revise some commandments to clear themselves of accusations of law-breaking. The changed commandments are as follows, with the changes bolded:
No animal shall sleep in a bedwith sheets.
No animal shall drink alcoholto excess.
No animal shall kill any other animalwithout cause.
All animals are equalbut some animals are more equal than others.
Eventually, only the seventh commandment remains, and the "legs" maxim is replaced by "Four legs good, two legs better!", as the pigs become moreanthropomorphic. This is anironic twist to the original purpose of the Seven Commandments, which was supposed to keep order within Animal Farm by uniting the animals together against the humans and preventing animals from following the humans' evil habits. Through the revision of the commandments, Orwell demonstrates how simply politicaldogma can be turned into malleablepropaganda.[84]
The Hoof and Horn flag described in the book as "an old green tablecloth of Mrs. Jones's [which has] painted on it a hoof and a horn in white" appears to be based on thehammer and sickle, the Communist symbol. By the end of the book when Napoleon takes full control, the Hoof and Horn is removed from the flag.
Orwell biographer Jeffrey Meyers has written, "virtually every detail has political significance in this allegory".[85] Orwell himself wrote in 1946, "Of course I intended it primarily as a satire on the Russian revolution ... [and]that kind of revolution (violent conspiratorial revolution, led by unconsciously power-hungry people) can only lead to a change of masters [–] revolutions only effect a radical improvement when the masses are alert".[86] In a preface for a 1947 Ukrainian edition, he stated, "for the past ten years I have been convinced that the destruction of the Soviet myth was essential if we wanted a revival of the socialist movement. On my return from Spain [in 1937] I thought of exposing the Soviet myth in a story that could be easily understood by almost anyone and which could be easily translated into other languages".[87]
The revolt of the animals against Farmer Jones is Orwell's analogy with theOctober 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. TheBattle of the Cowshed has been said to represent theallied invasion ofSoviet Russia in 1918,[32] and the defeat of theWhite Russians in theRussian Civil War.[31] The pigs' rise to preeminence mirrors the rise of a Stalinist bureaucracy in the USSR, just as Napoleon's emergence as the farm's sole leader reflects Stalin's emergence.[33] The pigs' appropriation of milk and apples for their own use, "the turning point of the story" as Orwell termed it in a letter toDwight Macdonald,[86] stands as an analogy for the crushing of the left-wing 1921Kronstadt revolt against the Bolsheviks,[86] and the difficult efforts of the animals to build the windmill suggest the variousfive-year plans. The puppies controlled by Napoleon parallel the nurture of the secret police in the Stalinist structure, and the pigs' treatment of the other animals on the farm recalls the internal terror faced by the populace in the 1930s.[88] In chapter seven, when the animals confess their non-existent crimes and are killed, Orwell directly alludes to the purges, confessions andshow trials of the late 1930s. These contributed to Orwell's conviction that the Bolshevik revolution had been corrupted and the Soviet system become rotten.[89]
Peter Edgerly Firchow andPeter Davison contend that theBattle of the Windmill, specifically referencing theBattle of Stalingrad and theBattle of Moscow, representsWorld War II.[31][32] During the battle, Orwell first wrote, "All the animals, including Napoleon," took cover. Orwell had the publisher alter this to "All the animals except Napoleon" in recognition of Stalin's decision to remain in Moscow during the German advance.[90] Orwell requested the change after he metJózef Czapski in Paris in March 1945. Czapski, a survivor of theKatyn Massacre and an opponent of the Soviet regime, told Orwell, as Orwell wrote toArthur Koestler, that it had been "the character [and] greatness of Stalin" that saved Russia from the German invasion.[f]
Front row (left to right):Rykov,Skrypnyk, andStalin – 'When Snowball comes to the crucial points in his speeches he is drowned out by the sheep (Ch. V), just as in theparty Congress in 1927 [above], at Stalin's instigation 'pleas for the opposition were drowned in the continual, hysterically intolerant uproar from the floor'. (Isaac Deutscher[91])
Other connections that writers have suggested illustrate Orwell's telescoping of Russian history from 1917 to 1943,[92][g] including the wave of rebelliousness that ran through the countryside after the Rebellion, which stands for the abortive revolutionsin Hungary andGermany (Ch. IV); the conflict between Napoleon and Snowball (Ch. V), parallelling "the two rival and quasi-Messianic beliefs that seemed pitted against one another:Trotskyism, with its faith in therevolutionary vocation of the proletariat of the West; and Stalinism with its glorification ofRussia's socialist destiny";[93] Napoleon's dealings with Whymper and the Willingdon markets (Ch. VI), paralleling theTreaty of Rapallo; and Frederick's forged bank notes, parallelling theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, after which Frederick attacksAnimal Farm without warning and destroys the windmill.[29]
The book's close, with the pigs and men in a kind ofrapprochement, reflected Orwell's view of the 1943Tehran Conference[h] that seemed to display the establishment of "the best possible relations between the USSR and the West" – but in reality were destined, as Orwell presciently predicted, to continue to unravel.[94] The disagreement between the allies and the start of theCold War is suggested when Napoleon and Pilkington, both suspicious, each "played an ace of spades simultaneously".[90]
Similarly, the music in the novel, starting with "Beasts of England" and the later anthems, parallels "The Internationale" and its adoption and repudiation by the Soviet authorities as the anthem of the USSR in the 1920s and 1930s.[95]
According toMasha Gessen, the metamorphosis of the seventh commandment ("some animals are more equal") was likely inspired by similar change of a party line which declared all Soviet people equal: the Russian nation and language suddenly became "first among equals" in official CPSU publications in 1936–1937.[96]
A solo version, adapted and performed byGuy Masterson, premiered at theTraverse Theatre Edinburgh in January 1995 and has toured worldwide since.[98][99]
In 2021, during pandemic restrictions, theNational Youth Theatre toured a stage version ofAnimal Farm; this run included outdoor performances on a farm atSoulton Hall.[100]
Animal Farm (1954) is an animated film, in which Napoleon is eventually overthrown in a second revolution. In 1974,E. Howard Hunt revealed that he had been sent by theCIA'sPsychological Warfare department to obtain the film rights from Orwell's widow, and the resulting 1954 animation was funded by the agency.[103][104]
Animal Farm (1999) is a live-action TV version that shows Napoleon's regime collapsing in on itself, with the farm having new human owners, reflecting the collapse of Soviet communism.[105]
Animal Farm (2025) is an animated film, directed byAndy Serkis, with an alternative plot serving as an allegory for business corruption in the 21st century and features new characters such as a piglet named Lucky, who serves as theaudience surrogate. It also depicts Snowball as female.[106]
A BBC radio version, produced byRayner Heppenstall, was broadcast in January 1947. Orwell listened to the production at his home in Canonbury Square, London, withHugh Gordon Porteous, amongst others. Orwell later wrote to Heppenstall that Porteous, "who had not read the book, grasped what was happening after a few minutes".[107]
In January 2013, a second radio production was broadcast onBBC Radio 4, using Orwell's own dramatisation of his book, directed by Alison Hindell and narrated byTamsin Greig. The cast includedNicky Henson as Napoleon,Toby Jones as the propagandist Squealer, Patrick Brennan as Snowball,Liza Sadovy as Clover, andRalph Ineson as Boxer.[108]
AForeign Office copy of the first instalment of Pett and Freeman'sAnimal Farm comic strip
In 1950,Norman Pett and his writing partnerDon Freeman were secretly hired by theInformation Research Department, a secret department of theForeign Office, to adaptAnimal Farm into a comic strip. This comic was not published in the United Kingdom but ran in Brazilian and Burmese newspapers.[109]
Developers Nerial and The Dairymen released a game based on the book in December 2020, entitledOrwell's Animal Farm, forWindows,macOS,iOS andAndroid in coordination with the Orwell Estate.
Gulliver's Travels was a favourite book of Orwell's.Swift reverses the role of horses and human beings in the fourth book. Orwell brought toAnimal Farm "a dose of Swiftian misanthropy, looking ahead to a time 'when the human race had finally been overthrown."[89]
The Farm Animals' Revolt (Скотской бунт), published in 1917 by Russian historianNikolai Kostomarov, has a similar premise toAnimal Farm.
^According to Orwell, Gollancz refused to publish the book due to the fear of spoiling relations with a fundamental ally in the war against Nazism: "I must tell you that it is I think completely unacceptable politically from your point of view (it is anti-Stalin)." Gollancz became very angry at this insinuation; however, on 4 April 1944, he recognised his error of judgment: "You were right and I was wrong. I am so sorry. I have returned the manuscript."[15]
^According toChristopher Hitchens, "the persons of Lenin and Trotsky are combined into one [i.e., Snowball], or, it might even be ... to say, there is no Lenin at all."[24]
^Struve, Gleb.Telling the Russians, written for the Russian journalNew Russian Wind, reprinted in Remembering Orwell
^A Note on the Text, Peter Davison,Animal Farm, Penguin edition 1989
^ In the Preface toAnimal Farm Orwell noted, however, "although various episodes are taken from the actual history of the Russian Revolution, they are dealt with schematically and their chronological order is changed."
^Preface to the Ukrainian edition ofAnimal Farm, reprinted in Orwell:Collected Works,It Is What I Think
^Oppenheim, Maya (1 March 2018). "China bans George Orwell's Animal Farm and letter 'N' from online posts as censors bolster Xi Jinping's plan to keep power".The Independent.ProQuest2055087191.
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