Animal Farm by George Orwell (1:12:06)

Animal Farm by George Orwell

The book "Animal Farm" by Eric Blair (1903 – 1950) under his pen name George Orwell, was published on 17th August 1945. Blair was a socialist and had volunteered for fight for the republicans in the Spanish Civil War. He joined the POUM, a trotskyite (Trotsky was the adopted name of Lev Davidovich Bronstein, a Jew born in the Ukraine) militia. During the War, the POUM was eventually suppressed by the Communists, Blair saw this process and understandly disliked Stalin's communism. Trotsky was later assassinated by one of Stalin's agents.

In 1945, Eric Blair was working for the Ministry of Information (MOI) and he resigned when the MOI put out a pro-Soviet booklet supposed to quell ideological fears of the USSR and which claimed that the Red Terror was a figment of "Nazi" imagination. He then wrote the book "Animal Farm" which was a satirical attack on Communism.

Later in 1949, Orwell wrote 1984 another satire on the year 1948. It was partly based on his experiences in the MOI and B-B or Big Brother was based on Brendan Bracken, the head of the MOI. Brendan Bracken was a compulsive liar, a social climber, fantastist who had attached himself to Winston Churchill. Bracken advised Churchill and told him to say nothing when Chamberlain was seeking a successor (either Churchill or Lord Halifax). Churchill later appointed Bracken, head of the MOI, and it was probably Bracken that was responsible for Churchill's image. Later, Churchill appointed Bracken, Lord of the Admiralty. Bracken later retired from politics. In 2021, the Times reported that Bracken was a sex pervert who had then set up a school on a Scottish Island, where he posed as a schoolboy wearing shorts, but with a "premature aging condition" in order to get caned for swearing or dinking alcohol. Eventually, Bracken was recognised, and had to drop the fantasy life or face public disgrace.