Benj,
I like and respect George Orwell based on his literary skill and his moral courage in denouncing Communist Totalitarianism. Whether or not he liked Karl Marx is another issue; if he did, then it is too bad for Mr. Orwell. In any event, George Orwell was not in the same league with Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, John Adams and James Madison – the anti-Socialists – the anti-Marxists. Karl Marx is the epitome of un-American philosophy, and George Orwell may have gravitated the wrong way here. Karl Marx simply did not believe in unalienable God-given human rights because he didn’t believe in God; this is a problem of course for all atheists who come face to face with the American Declaration of Independence. Because of this, Karl Marx viewed human rights as malleable or reversible socialist-state-derived privileges – an anti-American idea – an idea which flies in the face of our Declaration of Independence.

Karl Marx was instantly willing to trample on the sacred human rights of liberty and creatively pursuing happiness, because owning the fruit of your own individual labor does bring a degree of happiness; the remaining ingredients being love, compassion and service to others. Karl Marx embodied the very definition of unjust and tyrannical government power: government power derived without the consent of the governed. It was not a great stretch for Lenin, Stalin and others to then, on a disgustingly massive scale, trample on the sacred human right to life.

“In recent years the book has been used to compare new movements that overthrow heads of a corrupt and undemocratic government or organization, only to eventually become corrupt and oppressive themselves as they succumb to the trappings of power and begin using violent and dictatorial methods to keep it….In addition, the book encourages the reader to ponder whether rebellion will eventually resort to a sort of dictatorship — whether that particular power in society is merely part of human nature. This is shown in the way that the pigs, through their own power, lack of equality, and their domination become indistinguishable from the old regime in creating layers of power and concentrating power at the top.”

www.netcharles.com/orwell/articles/animal-farm-background-info.htm