[africanboy]

The "A cartoon movie of life under Marxist-Socialist Communism." subtitle is wrong.

That's absolutely not what the book is about, in George Orwell's words it was "un conte satirique contre Staline" (a satiric tale against Stalin), he didn't like the cult of personality that Staling created, it was against him, not against Marxism in general.

When he wrote the book UK and USSR (Stalin) were allied against nazi germans and Stalin was kept in high esteem from British politicians, a fact that Orwell hated.

[Jon_Lowtek]

Orwell was strictly against totalitarianism (state > people) and in favor of liberalism (people > state). He considered himself an anarchist, before settling with the social-liberal-democrats.

In schools he is often represented as "anti-soviets" but that is a simplification. He was a very political intellectual who cared far more about the patterns of government and the structures of society in general. Sure, he did despised stalinism, but he did so, because it was a tyrannical, totalitarian system. In the long run it is wiser to read the fable and consider if your own government is run by power hungry pigs.

[nickik]

A differentiation socialists love. In reality, all explicitly Marxists regimes are well represented by the book pretty well, whatever Orwell own believes. Marx himself was incredibly authoritarian as acted in his own movement and what he was willing to tolerate to achieve his vision. Bakunin and others had pointed that out already before any real Marxist regime ever existed.

[africanboy]

I honestly don't understand your point.

Other than the usual boring "all socialists are equal, also Bakunin" that brings me back to when I was in school 30 years ago (I wore patches of Gaetano Bresci back then)

Engels, Bakunin, Marx, were alle right on something and completely wrong on other things.

For example Bakunin was against private property and for equal mandatory work for everyone.

He theorised the abolition of money and collectivisation of the means of production.

Exactly like Marx, so why they disagreed?

Because Bakunin didn't believe in the democratic process and the universal suffrage.

He thought that "the State, any State, even the most democratic one governed by the most leftist idealists in the World, can ever give the people what they need" because he didn't believe in the institute of representation (that includes liberal democracies)

He obviously did not believe in "no taxation without representation"

Today he would put every western State in the same "totalitarian oppression of the people" ballpark.

But was this the point of my post?

No, it wasn't.

Orwell himself wrote in letters and other books (for example "Why I write") what story he wanted to tell in Animal Farm and it's not "how is life in Marxism-communism"

The book became a metaphor for every modern political system, where corruption and the betrayal of early ideals of a revolting community are the way to get the power.

Today Animal Farm describes USA or Italy as well as it did 80 years ago about Stalin and the UK politicians that first admired Mussolini in Italy and then Stalin in USSR, because the way they ruled their empire wasn't dissimilar.

So a better description of the video would be "Animal Farm - a contemporary political satire"