Seven Commandments In George Orwell's Animal Farm

Most leaders will have a vision for the growth, development, and quality of life in their societies. In Animal Farm by George Orwell, the leading pig of the farm, Old Major, created an ideal vision, called Animalism, that is designed to allow all animals to live freely and equally. No matter who was in control of the farm, Old Major’s vision would fail under any circumstances. Animal Farm would not be able to support the ideals of Animalism because in order for the farm to succeed, the commandments must be broken; any possible leaders would be corrupt; and a majority of the working class could not be educated properly.
In the early stages of Animalism, The Seven Commandments were created to keep order on the farm and establish Animalism in
its truest form. One of the Seven Commandments forbid any human contact which left the animals without various resources that were only attainable through a human source. Which left Napoleon with no choice but to break one of the Seven Commandments. Orwell writes, “One Sunday morning, when the animals assembled to receive their orders, Napoleon announced that he decided upon a new policy. From now onwards Animal Farm would engage in trade with the neighbouring farms; not, of course, for any commercial purpose, but simply in order to obtain certain materials which were urgently necessary” (62-63). Even though this new policy was necessary for the success of the farm, it went against one of the original commandments of Animal Farm. Had it been Snowball or Old Major in charge of the farm instead of Napoleon, this commandment had to broken. With the necessary contradiction of the commandments, the likelihood of Animalism existing in its purest form is impossible.
Although Napoleon broke the seven commandments on multiple occasions and was becoming more and more greedy as the novel progressed, Snowball and Napoleon showed the characteristics of a corrupt leader from the start.
When the animals noticed that the milk and apples were missing, which were now in the pigs’ possession, it was brought to the Snowball and Napoleon’s attention. Snowball and Napoleon had their minion, Squealer, sent out to speak with the others to explain. Squealer states, “You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples…Our sole object in taking these things is to preserve our health…We pigs are the brainworkers. The whole management and organization of this farm depends on us…It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples” (35-36). The idea of Animalism was to establish equality between the animals of the farm and a large part of that was rationing the food. The pigs took the luxurious food and kept it all for themselves. Napoleon and Snowball both sent Squealer to spread this propaganda to the animals which shows that they believe that they are of higher ranking than the rest of the farm. Which means that a corrupt leader would have been in charge of Animal Farm, whether it be Napoleon or
Snowball.
Opposite from the leadership is the working class on Animal Farm. The pigs were easily educated from the beginning versus the rest of the animals who struggled to learn the alphabet. Snowball tries to educate the working class but his attempts were unsuccessful. Orwell writes, “As for the pigs, they could read and write perfectly…None of the other animals on the farm could get further than the letter A. It was also found that the stupider animals, such as the sheep, hens, and ducks, were unable to learn the Seven Commandments by heart” (32-33). There is a large gap between the intelligence of the pigs and the rest of the farm which is extremely unfair. When the leadership of the farm is significantly smarter than its population, this gives the leaders an opportunity to manipulate their citizens and take advantage of their power. Which is exactly what Napoleon did. If Snowball or Old Major were to be leading the farm, the possibility of this happening remains because the workers could not learn and were ignorant. That allows any leader to abuse their position.
The working class’ intelligence only contributed to the failure Animalism in its purest form. Ultimately, Old’s Major ideals for Animalism on Animal Farm would fail under any possible circumstances. Unrealistic commandments, corrupt leaders, and an uneducated working class are just a few of the reasons for the predetermined failure of Old Major’s vision.