The Pigmen of the Deep State
The final dramatic scene of Animal Farm has been playing in my brain for some time now. And daily, it seems, new events appear that show how prescient was George Orwell’s 1946 “fairy tale” — particularly as it relates to the ongoing convergence of the ruling elites of the communist/socialist world and their counterparts from the crony-capitalist world. For those who may have forgotten (or may have never read) this classic parable, it is about the animals on Manor Farm rising up and overthrowing the tyranny of Farmer Jones to establish Animal Farm, where “All men are enemies. All animals are comrades.”
At first, all is hunky-dory. The cardinal rule of the socialist Republic of Animals was that “ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL.” However, since the pigs were more intelligent, they, naturally, assumed the running of day-to-day affairs. But the other animals noted that the pigs gradually accrued new privileges and powers. Pretty soon, Animal Farm’s original Seven Commandments were reduced to one: “ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL — BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.”
The pigs, being more intelligent and ruthless (and “more equal”), ultimately usurp total dictatorial power and unleash a reign of terror on the rest of the animals. It is not difficult to see that Orwell’s pig characters — Old Major, Napoleon, Snowball, and Squealer — represent, respectively, Russian Bolshevik leaders Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, and Molotov. Besides oppressing their fellow beasts, the pigs Napoleon and Squealer also begin fraternizing with the enemy — men — and begin adopting human habits, such as living in the farmer’s home, drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco, and enjoying other luxuries, while the other animals toil in misery and privation.
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