“Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” Lord Acton. Although nearly sixty-nine years have passed since the release of George Orwell's "Animal Farm," the ultimate meaning of this satire has yet to be agreed upon. This article will explore Orwell's satirical incitement of how the corrupt nature of power on Animal Farm mirrors that of 20th century Marxism and Communism, but more importantly, how in our time Orwell's classic allegory has much-needed relevance. Napoleon is not a just leader, nor a democratic leader, nor even the great liberator of Animal Farm. Like Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler, Napoleon is a tyrannical dictator. Throughout “Animal Farm,” the political rhetoric and propaganda that Orwell merges with the imagination gives us a vision of revolution can quickly turn into tyranny or, in his words, “…the revolution ends always bad for the oppressed” (Davidson). In the 20th century, almost all European countries were made up of empires and ruled solely by monarchies, but there would be a rapid change to this rule, which would forever change Europe and its aristocracies. Communism, based on a variant of sociologist Karl Marx's ideology of Marxism, gained significant support across Europe, particularly in Russia. For Russians and Russia, the beginning of the century was tumultuous. Famine, fundamental social structures, civil war and a huge world war worry every day, and an impassive dictator who could not have cared less about the Russian working class. The rise of communism changed all that. During a brutal but apparently short revolution, the Russian power structure shifted ostensibly from imperialism to communism...... middle of paper ...... y, Animal Farm is "...the first post-war British novel embodying a fundamental turning point". point in the world historical atmosphere. The book has been an everlasting testimony throughout time because of its enduring message. “…Revolutionaries, once in power, often become as repressive as the people they overthrew. Too often the oppressed become the oppressors. » (Simon). The struggle for pre-eminence between the two rival pigs demonstrates how, under both fictional and historical circumstances, the founding principles of the oppressive rules of government are abandoned. For Orwell, the "turning point in history was supposed to be the moment when the pigs kept the milk and apples for themselves" (Davidson), signaling that the pigs are moving from a socialist animal utopia to adopting a repressive regime that adopted the traits and behaviors of their original oppressors.