In 1944, Orwell's work was politically incorrect because the USSR was still an ally, however it was soon embraced by the rightwing establishment, including the CIA, (Central Intelligence Agency), which actually financed and distributed the 1954 cartoon "based on" the novel, by film animators John Halas and Joy Batchelor (Pearce). .

             Pearce notes however, that the key to the success of Animal Farm lies in the fact that it was not just a political novel, that the really important things in Orwell's life were private not political (Pearce). Orwell believed that man stayed human only by preserving "large patches of simplicity in his life," and most important was the need for something to believe in, regardless of the decay of traditional religious belief, for "man cannot live by hedonism alone" (Pearce). .

             Orwell may have been searching for a utopia of simplicity, yet his novel outlines the dangers of believing that a particular chosen path will lead one to such a Eden. Moreover, the novel cautions against following popular propaganda.

             However, there is no denying that political passion lies at the heart of Animal Farm (Pearce). In 1946, Orwell wrote that when he lacked a political purpose, he produced "lifeless books and was betrayed into purple passages, sentences without meaning, decorative adjectives and humbug generally" (Pearce). Thus, the purpose of his novel was to expose the "Soviet myth" of utopian propaganda for British readers (Pearce). There are many unmistakable parallels between Russian history and the revolution at Manor Farm (Pearce). Pearce writes, "Old Major represents Marx, Napoleon is Stalin, Snowball is Trotsky, Pilkington is Britain, Frederick Germany, the dogs are the OGPU/NKVD" (Pearce). The cowshed battle represents the Allied invasion of 1918, the battle of the windmill represents the Nazi invasion of 1941, "while the windmill itself represents the Five Year Plans" (Pearce).