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Animal Farm is a novel by George Orwell, and is regarded in the literary field as one of the most famous satirical allegories of Soviet totalitarianism. Orwell based major events in the book on novels from the meat cove during the Stalin era. Orwell, a democratic socialist, and a member of the Independent Labour Party for a few hours, was a critic of Stalin, and was suspicious of Moscow-directed Stalinism after his experiences in the Spanish Civil War.

Significance

The allegory that the book employs allows it to be read on a variety of different levels.

Orwell wrote the book following his experiences during the Spanish Civil War, which are described in another of his books, Homage to Catalonia. He intended it to be a strong condemnation of what he saw as the Stalinist corruption of the original socialist ideals. For the preface of a Ukrainian edition he prepared in 1947, Orwell described what gave him the idea of setting the book on a farm.

..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.

This Ukrainian edition was an early propaganda use of the book. It was printed to be distributed among the Soviet citizens of Ukraine who were just some of the many millions of displaced persons throughout Europe at the end of the Second World War. The American occupation forces considered the edition to be propaganda printed on illegal presses, and handed 1,500 confiscated copies of Animal Farm over to the Soviet authorities. The politics in the book also affected Britain, with Orwell reporting that Ernest Bevin was "terrified" that it may cause embarrassment if published before the 1945 general election.

In recent years the book has been used to compare new movements that overthrow heads of a corrupt and undemocratic government or organization, only to eventually become corrupt and oppressive themselves as they succumb to the trappings of power and begin using violent and dictatorial methods to keep it. Such analogies have been used for many former African colonies such as Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose succeeding African-born rulers were accused of being as corrupt as, or worse than, the European colonists they supplanted.

The book also clearly ponders whether a focus of power in one person is healthy for a society. The book leaves the ending slightly ambiguous in this regard.

British censorship and suppressed preface

During World War II it became apparent to Orwell that anti-Russian literature was not something which most major publishing houses would touch — including his regular publisher Gollancz. One publisher he sought to sell his book to rejected it on the grounds of government advice — although the assumed civil servant who gave the order was later found to be a Soviet spy.

Orwell originally prepared a preface which complains about British government suppression of his book, self-imposed British self-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. ... kept right out of the British press, not because the Government intervened but because of a general tacit agreement that ‘it wouldn’t do’ to mention that particular fact." Somewhat ironically, the preface itself was censored and is not published with most copies of the book.

Cultural references

References to the novella are frequent in other works of popular culture, particularly in popular music and television series.

Adaptations

• 1954 animated film — The book was the basis of an animated feature film in 1954 (Britain's first full-length animated movie), directed by John Halas and Joy Batchelor and quietly commissioned by the American CIA. This version softened the theme of the story slightly by reducing the role of Moses, the character representing religion. It also added an epilogue where the other animals successfully revolt against the pigs immediately after the novel's iconic concluding imagery is depicted.

• 1999 live-action film — A live action film directed by John Stephenson, with voices by Kelsey Grammer as Snowball, Patrick Stewart as Napoleon, and Ian Holm as Squealer. Despite a few differences (such as completely different songs), the plot generally resembles that of the book, although once again the role of Moses is somewhat softened (Sugarcandy Mountain is never mentioned). The film diverges from the book with an additional epilogue in which Jesse the dog and several animals escape and return years later to a post-Napoleon era Animal Farm. This is an update which could be seen as an analogy to the fall of the Soviet Union. In the film, Jesse, one of the female dogs, is now the main character, protagonist, and narrator.

Editions

• ISBN 0-582-02173-1 (paper text, 1989)
• ISBN 0-15-107255-8 (hardcover, 1990)
• ISBN 0-582-06010-9 (paper text, 1991)
• ISBN 0-679-42039-8 (hardcover, 1993)
• ISBN 0-606-00102-6 (prebound, 1996)
• ISBN 0-15-100217-7 (hardcover, 1996, Anniversary Edition)
• ISBN 0-452-27750-7 (paperback, 1996, Anniversary Edition)
• ISBN 0-451-52634-1 (mass market paperback, 1996, Anniversary Edition)
• ISBN 0-582-53008-3 (1996)
• ISBN 1-56000-520-3 (cloth text, 1998, Large Type Edition)
• ISBN 0-7910-4774-1 (hardcover, 1999)
• ISBN 0-451-52536-1 (paperback, 1999)
• ISBN 0-7641-0819-0 (paperback, 1999)
• ISBN 0-8220-7009-X (e-book, 1999)
• ISBN 0-7587-7843-0 (hardcover, 2002)
• ISBN 0-15-101026-9 (hardcover, 2003, with Nineteen Eighty-Four)
• ISBN 0-452-28424-4 (paperback, 2003, Centennial Edition)
• ISBN 0-8488-0120-2 (hardcover)
• ISBN 0-03-055434-9 (hardcover) Animal Farm with Connections
• ISBN 0-395-79677-6 (hardcover) Animal Farm & Related Readings, 1997

References

1. Preface to the Ukrainian Edition of Animal Farm
2. Letter to Herbert Read, 18 August, 1945.
3. Taylor, D.J. (2003). Orwell: The Life. ISBN 0-8050-7473-2. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) p. 337 Writing to Leonard 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. The `important official' was, or so it may reasonably be assumed, a man named Peter Smollett, later unmasked as a Soviet agent."
4. Orwell, George (1995). "Triumph of the Herd Instinct; Animal Farm, the savage satire against Stalin, became a worldwide best-seller but publication was delayed by sensitivity to Britain's Russian ally". The Guardian: 28. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
5. Orwell, George (1995). "The freedom of the press, rediscovered preface to 'Animal Farm'". New Statesman & Society. 8 (366): 11. ISSN 0954-2361. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
6. "George Orwell: The Freedom of the Press". Archive.org. Retrieved May 12, 2006.
7. CIA, Movie Producer

External links

• Lua error in Module:Gutenberg at line 74: Parameter id is missing. See Template:Gutenberg Australia documentation.
• Extensive summary of Animal Farm and list of important quotes (author biography included)
• Animal Farm Summary and Analysis
• Excerpts from Orwell's letters to his agent concerning Animal Farm

• 1945 novels
• Animal Farm
• English novels
• Fictional farms
• Books by George Orwell
• Novellas
• Satirical novels
• Literature featuring anthropomorphic characters
• Books critical of communism and communists