"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"

I have just finished reading George Orwell's Animal Farm. It's a great book and I highly recommend it but, like many political works of fiction, it isn't a pleasant nor fun read, but then it doesn't need to be and nor should it be.

The story tells of how the animals of Manor Farm rise up, overthrow their human masters and begin to run the farm themselves. However as time goes by what was originally a paradise were all animals are free soon turns into a nightmarish place were "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

The book is an allegorical tale of the Russian revolution and criticises soviet communism, and as such is full of characters, places and events that represent historical figures, peoples, places and events to do with the Russian revolution.

All in all, in regard to communism, the book seems to point out the same conclusion I came to after reading The Communist Manifesto, which is that although the basic ideas of equality and people working for the benefit of everyone are sound and overall positive ideas, in my opinion,  the system that communism puts in place, where the state owns everything and everyone owns the state, is very open to corruption. It's easy for someone in power to abuse that power, a tale the world is all too familiar with, resulting in a society where some people suffer so others can benefit, which is exactly what communism seeks to destroy.

I found this a great read and a very helpful criticism of communism.  Below are some links to some web pages where people explain/explore exactly what represented what in animal farm.


Animal Farm - Comparison of characters to the Russian Revolution

George Orwell - Animal Farm - Interpretation of characters and symbols