As a fable with ironic overtones, the progression of action in Animal Farm parallels the rise of Bolshevik Russia and its ensuing revolution. The formation of a socialist government was meant to equalize everyone who would then share in the wealth.  However, with the rise of Josef Stalin, the citizens found themselves even worse off than before as the collective farms were failures and people starved. Added to this misfortune, the rule of Stalin was more brutal than that of Tsar Nicholas.

In Chapter Ten, having worked the animals harder than they were made to by Mr. Jones, Napoleon has run off Snowball and become a dictator who has altered the original rules by which the pigs live and begins to live in the Jones's home and even sleep in a bed, actions that are against the rules. Gradually, the socialist society begun by Old Major has ended and more of a brutal dictatorship is in existence. The rules are altered drastically changed to one rule:  "All Animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."  One day Clover calls the others to witness that Squealer and Napoleon walk on two legs. Now, too, fraternization among the pigs and the men has occurred. As they drink together, Napoleon tells the humans that the farm is now "a cooperative enterprise" with the title-deeds owned by the pigs.  Then, Napoleon announces that the farm's name has been returned to Manor Farm. The farm is renamed appropriately because it is again a dictatorship, one that is crueler than the one before.