<P> Animal Farm is an allegorical novella by George Orwell , first published in England on 17 August 1945 . According to Orwell , the book reflects events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then on into the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union . Orwell , a democratic socialist , was a critic of Joseph Stalin and hostile to Moscow - directed Stalinism , an attitude that was critically shaped by his experiences during the Spanish Civil War . The Soviet Union , he believed , had become a brutal dictatorship , built upon a cult of personality and enforced by a reign of terror . In a letter to Yvonne Davet , Orwell described Animal Farm as a satirical tale against Stalin ( `` un conte satirique contre Staline '' ) , and in his essay `` Why I Write '' ( 1946 ) , wrote that Animal Farm was the first book in which he tried , with full consciousness of what he was doing , `` to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole '' . </P>
what is the meaning of the book animal farm
events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then on into the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union