In this world-famous satire upon dictatorship, George Orwell makes use of the technique perfected by Swift in 'A Tale of a Tub'. It is the history of a revolution that went wrong - and of the excellent excuses that were forthcoming at every step for each perversion of the original doctrine (the 'Seven Commandments'). The animals on a farm drive out their master and take over and administer the farm for themselves. The experiment is entirely successful, except for the unfortunate fact that someone has to take the deposed farmer's place. Leadership devolves almost automatically upon the pigs, who are on a higher intellectual level than the rest of the animals. Unhappily their character is not equal to their intelligence and they rapidly adopt all the worst practices and customs of their human predecessor.