Animal farm is one of those things that exists so firmly in the culture that I never really felt like I had to read it. I’d absorbed the broad strokes through osmosis (parable of Stalinism, “all animals are equal but some are more equal than others” etc), but when I saw that they were making an animated movie version in a move that felt vaguely dystopian, I was finally convinced to read the book to understand it on its own terms.

As it goes, it is a short and simple tale, but as I understand it that was purposeful, as Orwell’s ambition was for it to be accessible to children and easily translatable. What has most struck me is not the contents of the book but the preface. I am a journalist working in Britain, so I have much more skin in the game, but his condemnation of the British press spoke to me in ways that are depressingly prevalent now: his frustration with the elites disinterest in printing certain ideas, that it simply “wouldn’t do”, particularly within those organisations that consider themselves left wing… well let’s just say not much has changed. The british press’ complete orthodoxy (across the political spectrum) when it comes to denigrating and demonising trans people comes to mind.

I also now understand that Animal Farm is not anti-communist, but anti-USSR, and that distinction is important. The introduction of the book reflects briefly on the right’s co-opting of the book as a blanket condemnation of any form of collectivism, for which I can only imagine Orwell’s reaction, having fought in the Spanish Civil War against the Fascists. His preface, again, is a call to criticise what you see as unjust even within your own political ideologies. There is a long standing criticism of left wing politics, that it so often devolves into infighting, a criticism that is not unearned, but I do appreciate Orwell’s commitment to true intellectual diversity. Arguments and criticisms are good, debating is good. Again, the current establishment left across the UK and US, and their willingness to throw trans people under the bus in an attempt to appease certain factions feels like something worth calling out.

Usually my reviews are much shorter, and much more pithy, but I guess this hit me where I live. Read the book, read the preface… just read.