In Animal Farm by George Orwell, the two main characters, Napoleon and Snowball, after setting up a democratic revolution based on the principles of Animalism, “explained that by their studies of the past three months [they] had succeeded in reducing the principles of Animalism to Seven Commandments. These Seven Commandments would now be inscribed on the wall; they would form an unalterable law by which all the animals on Animal Farm must live for ever after. With some difficulty… Snowball climbed up and set to work, with Squealer a few rungs below him holding the paint-pot. The Commandments were written on the tarred wall in great white letters that could be read thirty yards away. They run thus:<
THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS [before]
1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal.
… Snowball read it aloud for the benefit of the others. All the animals nodded in complete agreement, and the cleverer ones at once began to learn the Commandments by heart”.
Time passing, the Seven Commandments were rapidly changed and completely distorted. What was forbidden before is permitted now:
THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS (after)
Four legs good, two legs better.
No animal shall sleep in bed with sheets.
No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.
No animal shall kill any other animal without a cause.
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
This demonstrates that all revolutions are destined to fail and that the ideals that inspired them are softened by the ruling class which concentrates power in its own hands.
