It was illegal to own a copy of Animal Farm by George Orwell under the communist regime in Poland. But copies of the novel and other books were printed secretly and passed from hand to hand. It would be perilous for you if you were found to have a copy.
This is a Polish cartoon version of Animal Farm published in 1989, just as the communist regime was collapsing.
The close-up cartoon shows a pig reading a poem praising the top pig, Napoleon. Napoleon likes the poem and orders it to be put on a wall alongside a portrait of himself. This is a satire on how communist leaders – notably Stalin – promoted personality cults about themselves.
Animal Farm and 1984, also by Orwell, were particularly popular samizdat books in the communist regimes of Eastern Europe because they spoke to the condition of dictatorship and oppressive totalitarianism in which many in Eastern Europe found themselves.
The original Polish cartoon version was published in 1985. This is the second edition published in 1989. The cartoons were created by created by Robert Sniecinski and Fernando Molina whose pseudonyms were Maciek Bialy and Karol Blue.
This is one of a number of artefacts we have acquired to help bring to life the history of totalitarianism.
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