Animal Farm I

"Now comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours? Let us face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short. We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength; and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty. No animal in America knows the meaning of happiness or leisure after he is a year old. No animal in America is free. The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth.

But is this simply part of the order of nature? Is it because this land of ours is so poor that it cannot afford a decent life to those who dwell upon it? No, comrades, a thousand times, NO! The soil of America is fertile, its climate is good, it is capable of affording food in abundance to an enormously greater number of animals than now inhabit it. This single farm of America could support people of various races, genders, sexual preferences, religious beliefs - and all of them living in a comfort and a dignity that are now almost beyond our imagining. Why then do we continue in this miserable condition? Because nearly the whole of the produce of our labor is stolen from us by "human beings". There, comrades, is the answer to all our problems. It is summed up in a single word - Man. Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished for ever.

Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not take menial jobs such as cooks or janitors, he does not get his hands dirty and bloody from working in factories (the ones that are here and overseas), he is too weak to take these security, construction, or any other jobs requiring manual labor. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself. Our labor keeps the country moving in many different ways and yet there is not one of us that owns more than his bare skin. And even that is questionable these days. For all our hard work and stress what do we have to show for it? NOTHING. Every drop of it has gone down the throats of our enemies. What has an animal to show for all the cold-blooded murders, rapes, extortion plots, kidnappings and other crimes committed against us that have lasted for the better part of 400 years, whether they reside in Africa, North America, Latin America or South America? All our efforts have gone to feed the families of Man and keep Man wealthy all these centuries, while we get a cold pen to sleep in and crumbs to fill our stomachs. We still are shown as animals to this day even though they have domesticated us. And whenever we try to provide a better life for our fellow animals, we get terrorized. We get slaughtered. We get our governments overthrown. We get infected from incurable diseases. We get poison put in our coups and stables. And now Man insists on engaging in bestiality by transporting animals from foreign lands for the sole purpose of stimulating Man's sexual appetite. It is a horrible time to be an animal in America.

And even the miserable lives we lead are not allowed to reach their natural span. No animal escapes the cruel knife in the end, which is the fact that this country does not give a good God damn about us in any shape way or form. The only reason we are here is to work like slaves until our lungs give out.

Is it not crystal clear, then, comrades, that all the evils of this life of ours spring from the tyranny of human beings? Only get rid of Man, and the produce of our labor would be our own. Almost overnight we could become rich and free. What then must we do? Why, work night and day, body and soul, for the overthrow of society's evils. That is my answer to you, comrades: REBELLION! I do not know when that Rebellion will come, it might be in a week or in a hundred years, but I know, as surely as you and I see a magazine in our hands, that sooner or later justice will be done. Fix your eyes on that, comrades, throughout the short remainder of your lives! And above all, pass on this message of mine to those who come after you, so that future generations shall carry on the struggle until it is victorious.

And remember, comrades, your resolution must never falter. No argument must lead you astray. Never listen when they tell you that Man and the animals have a common interest, that the prosperity of the one is the prosperity of the others. It is all lies. Man serves the interests of no creature except himself. And among us animals let there be perfect unity, perfect comradeship in the struggle. All men are enemies. All animals are comrades.

I'll end it with these simple thoughts. Remember always your duty of enmity towards Man and all his ways. And remember also that in fighting against Man, we must not come to resemble him. Even when you have conquered him, do not adopt his vices. All habits of Man are evil. And, above all, no animal must ever tyrannize over his own kind. Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers. No animal must ever kill any other animal. ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL!"