Today in 1945, George Orwell published a devastating critique of Communism.
Animal Farm reveals why every communist revolution follows the same tragic pattern: liberation to corruption to oppression.
Here are 10 truths from Animal Farm Orwell warned us never to forget 🧵👇🏼
1. Revolution contains the seeds of its own corruption
The animals overthrow their human farmer Mr. Jones to create an equal society, but the pigs who led the rebellion gradually adopt every human vice.
They sleep in beds, drink alcohol, walk on two legs…until the final scene where neighboring farmers can’t distinguish between the pigs and humans at a dinner party.
2. Power corrupts incrementally through small compromises
After the revolution, the pigs justify keeping the cows’ milk and apples as necessary “brain food” for leadership.
This first small inequality sets a precedent that escalates step by step to mass executions and Napoleon the pig becoming an absolute dictator.
3. Language becomes a weapon to control reality itself
The pigs’ spokesperson Squealer secretly changes the farm’s written commandments at night…“No animal shall drink alcohol” becomes “No animal shall drink alcohol to excess”
This eventually culminates in the absurd contradiction “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
4. Ignorance is manufactured to enable oppression
Napoleon the pig raises puppies in isolation to become his vicious guard dogs while deliberately keeping other animals illiterate, so they cannot read the altered commandments.
5. Historical memory can be erased and rewritten
Snowball, a pig who heroically led the animals in battle and designed the windmill, is later portrayed by Napoleon as having been a traitor “in league with Jones from the beginning.”
The revolutionary anthem “Beasts of England” is also banned and replaced with songs praising Napoleon.
6. Propaganda is more powerful than physical force
Squealer the pig constantly threatens that “Jones will come back” if animals don’t obey, while presenting false statistics showing increased food production even as the animals starve.
They believe their suffering serves the greater good.
7. Scapegoating enables political manipulation
When the windmill collapses in a storm, Napoleon blames the exiled pig Snowball for sabotage.
After that, everything from missing eggs to broken tools is blamed on Snowball, deflecting from Napoleon’s failures.
8. Fear and violence reshape consciousness itself
Napoleon uses his trained attack dogs to force animals to falsely confess to conspiring with the exiled Snowball, then executes them publicly, creating such terror that even questioning orders becomes unthinkable.
9. Mass conformity is engineered, not natural
The sheep are trained to mindlessly chant slogans and drown out any dissent by bleating for minutes on end.
They easily switch from “Four legs good, two legs bad” to “Four legs good, two legs better” when the pigs start walking upright.
10. The working class’s loyalty becomes their exploitation
Boxer, the hardworking cart horse whose mottos are “I will work harder” and “Napoleon is always right,” collapsed from overwork.
Instead of retirement, Napoleon sells him to a glue factory for whiskey money while telling the animals he died in a hospital.
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