Animal farm is quite simply a timeless masterpiece. Orwell uses a deceptively modest 'Fairy Tale' - of farm animals rising up against their human masters - and with quiet precision, reveals each step on humanity's all-too-frequent path from popular revolution to despotism.

Written in 1944, Orwell takes as his exemplar the Russian Revolution of 1917 and its aftermath, but "I did mean it to have a wider application ... I meant that that kind of revolution (violent, conspiratorial, led by unconsciously power-hungry people) can only lead to a change of masters. I meant the moral to be that revolutions only effect a radical improvement when the masses are alert and know how to chuck out their leaders"

Napoleon the Pig's rise to total power through the slow, gradual degradation of freedom and rights of the general population has much to teach us in today's world. If we hand control of our future to a leader, or cabal of leaders, we should expect the ultimate result to be no better than the denouement of Animal Farm - total control of the many by the few. As Orwell himself said: "What I was trying to say was, 'You can't have a revolution unless you make it for yourself; there is no such thing as a benevolent dictatorship'"