ucbesvax.turner@ucbcad.UUCP (12/11/83)
#R:kobold:-21500:ucbesvax:8400004:000:1230 ucbesvax!turner Dec 10 11:54:00 1983 Actually, "Animal Farm" is even more specific: it's clear to anyone with some knowledge of the Russian Revolution that "Animal Farm" is a precise allegory--to the point where one of the pigs just has to be Leon Trotsky! (Hey, I'll go along with him there...) The other farms, to which the free animals first attempt to export their revolution, later have their revolutions subverted by the "leaders" (the pigs) of Animal Farm, who decide that their interests are better served if outlying farms have human masters. This an allegory for Stalin's policy in Republican Spain--that a capitalist European ally was preferable to one with a non-Russian-controlled revolutionary government. Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia" makes this connection unmistakable. Orwell's point was *not* that communism and/or socialism degenerate into totalitarianism. "Animal Farm" is an indictment of Stalinism, with a quizzical eye on Lenin, as well. For a clearer exposition of his real feelings about radical politics, read his nonfiction books. Only then (I think) can his science fiction/fantasy/allegory novels be read with some depth of understanding. (Not that they can't be enjoyed otherwise...) --- Michael Turner (ucbvax!ucbesvax.turner)