Animal farm is a dystopian allegorical novella. It reflects events leading up to and during the Stalin era before world War II. Orwell, being a democratic socialist, was a critic of Joseph Stalin and was against Moscow-directed Stalinism. The novel addresses not only the corruption of the revolution by its leaders but also how wickedness, indifference, ignorance, greed and myopia destroy any possibility of a utopia. While the novel portrays corrupt leadership as the flaw in revolution, though not the Act of revolution itself, it also shows how potential ignorance and indifference to problems within a revolution could allow horrors to happen if smooth transition to a people's government is not effected. Time magazine chose the book as one of the 100 Best English-language novels (1923 to 2005). It was also placed at no. 31 on the modern library list of best 20th century novels in English.
