The leaders of the coup, the pigs Snowball and Napoleon, begin to convince the other animals that the pigs are more intelligent and should be listened to and followed. Initially, things go well and the animals have a productive harvest, but things do not stay this way for long.
Soon we see that Napoleon is power hungry and does not want to share the leadership. Secretly, he has been building an army of ferocious dogs that he uses to run off Snowball. For the rest of the book, everything that goes wrong is blamed on Snowball so that Napoleon is never seen as responsible for any wrongdoing.
Without spoiling the plot, the book spends considerable time exploring the inner thoughts, needs, and desires of the animals. Napoleon uses different types of propaganda to keep the animals obedient. Throughout the book, he writes and rewrites the rules for the animals while convincing them that the rules have never changed. At the end, we see a surprising turn of events that only Orwell could write.
Orwell was staunchly against Great Britain, his home country, forming an alliance with Russia not because of the need to end the war, but because of how the British viewed Stalin. He was considered a hero, but Orwell considered him just another replacement for a dictator who claimed to be “for the people” but was not.
As an interesting aside, the CIA used Orwell’s book as political ammunition and had it translated and dropped by balloon over the countries of Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia.
It’s important for students to read this book, not just for the historical aspects, but because of the very real and very current trends in politics and world leaders. Power hungry leaders will always exist. The average person will forever be lied to and used for political and monetary gain. None of this is new and it often repeats itself. Being aware of the politics of Animal Farm can help students become critical thinkers and not so easily swayed by a pretty word.