animal farm revisited

"All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others."

The first time I read Animal Farm by George Orwell was some 8 years ago. Now that I am a qualified voter, the second visit seemed to feel different.

Orwell was a socialist, but the socialism he saw in Soviet Union wasn't quite the same as the ideal model by Karl Marx. So in a lively approach he wrote this book describing what was really happening in the communist state.

First there was the power struggle between Snowball and Napoleon, then the expulsion of Snowball, followed by dictatorship, state propaganda and white terror in the form of secret police and public execution. Plus failed 5-year plans and fake output statistics, I think it was as good as the real thing.

Lesson learned: if you don't have knowledge, you will be manipulated by those cleverer than you. Purely using brute strength will lead you to nowhere other than working to death. Other than the pigs, the only clever animal in the farm was actually Benjamin the donkey. Right from the beginning he knew what was going on, but he was too smart to let it be known. Surely one donkey isn't a match against a gang of pigs plus their bodyguards of fierce dogs? Wisdom also means knowing what you can do and what you can't do.