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Animal Farm, Revisited and Revised
“In capitalism, man exploits man. In communism, it’s the other way around.”
Many people have read “Animal Farm” at some point in their education. Written by George Orwell (whose real name is Eric Blair, if you didn’t already know that), the relatively short novel takes direct aim at the corruption that was rampant during Stalinist Russia and tells the story of how the Bolshevik revolution and its ideals went awry. Personally, I think George Orwell was spot on in his depiction of the Soviet Union under Stalin, but he hit on so much more.
Let me explain.
The Background
In the novel, a farm is run by a man named “Mr. Jones.” He was an alcoholic and a poor steward of the farm. The farm was largely in a state of disrepair, and Jones was mean to the animals. It was a miserable place to be.
One night a pig named “Old Major” called the animals together for a meeting. The topic was how they would overthrow Mr. Jones and take control of the farm themselves. In other words, they would foment a revolution and make the farm a better place for all animals. They would make…
