The novel is a great example of allegorical satire that doesn't go beyond its limits. it's very tasteful even if a reader doesn't subscribe to the same views. Orwell presents everything in simple yet highly effective language. Readers should read the book knowing the history even though the book itself is great enough to be read without historical support. However the reason it is better to know history is because we can then truly grasp the depth of Orwell's political thought. Was he a socialist who had reservations about his own principles? Did he think communism was as evil as capitalism? If hatred doesn't work, how should revolutions be brought about?

When studied closely, we realized that these questions are very important. If Orwell was a socialist democrat,...

All in all, the book is a classic example of tasteful satirical attack on communism.
Why I Write," in George Orwell, a Collection of Essays (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1953), p. 314

Animal Farm (New York: Alfred a. Knopf, 1993)

V.I. Lenin, What Is to Be Done? Burning Questions of Our Movement (New York: International Publishers, 1969)

Sanford Pinsker, a Note to the Teaching of Orwell's Animal Farm," CEA Critic (1978): 18-19.

Appendix II, Animal Farm (Knopf edition), p. 113.