The left-wing and the pigs who believe that some animals are more equal than others

In 1945, one of the most famous works by British writer George Orwell was published. It was also one of his most controversial.

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That work, titled "Animal Farm", was a fable that clearly criticized the course that communism and the Soviet Union had taken, betraying the ideal of equality with which it had deceived many people and giving way to an oppressive regime in which a corrupt elite had all the power.

In the book, the animals on a farm rebel against their owners, fed up with constant mistreatment. Without a human to guide them, the animals form a self-governing society whose principles they enshrine in seven commandments. The main commandment, painted on a wall, states: "All animals are equal."

However, a group of pigs, led by one named Napoleon (representing Stalin), seizes power and establishes a dictatorship on the farm, imposing on the other animals a situation even worse than what they had suffered before their rebellion. The pigs surround themselves with privileges and end up adding something more to the commandment painted on the wall: "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others."

As with many truly daring works, Orwell faced a serious problem finding a British or American publisher willing to publish it. The book was written between the last months of 1943 and the beginning of 1944. It was completed while World War II was still raging. Stalin was an ally of the United Kingdom and the United States, and many did not want to antagonize him, even though there were many anti-communists in both countries. Finally, the book was published in August 1945, but it only began to gain fame in the following decade, once the Cold War had begun and relations between the USSR and its former Western allies had broken down.

Besides being a clear critique of Stalinist communism, "Animal Farm" is also a satire on political corruption. In particular, the book exposes the problem the left faces when its leaders are corrupt: ideological and political sectarianism and intolerance of debate ultimately give rise to an unscrupulous caste that sees power as a way to obtain privileges and wealth at the expense of the people. Unwittingly, since the British writer was a leftist, Orwell wrote a perfect portrait of the cynicism of much of the left regarding corruption, an endemic problem in all dictatorships and, therefore, in all totalitarian movements, including communism.

What we are seeing in Spain after the conviction of Attorney General Álvaro García Ortiz for the crime of revealing secrets, news that came to light this Thursday, is a clear example of the phenomenon that Orwell described in that book: accusations of a "coup d'état" from RTVE (controlled by the government) against the Supreme Court, a serious slander repeated by Podemos, Communist allies of the government, who yesterday spoke of a "judicial, media, and political coup" to reject García Ortiz's conviction, then launched this slogan: "It is urgent to disarm the right-wing coup power to protect democracy." These intolerable words from the communist MEP Irene Montero reek of an attempt to liquidate one of the pillars of democracy: judicial independence.

It goes without saying that this tantrum reveals that a large part of the Spanish left is openly anti-democratic, since it does not accept one of the basic elements of democracy: the separation of powers. This element aims to limit the exercise of political power in order to curb its abuses. A large part of the Spanish left wants unlimited power, typical of a dictatorship. Now that is a coup. A coup with which the extreme left intends to impose on us a totalitarian model cynically disguised as democracy, just as when the brutal communist dictatorship of East Germany called itself the "German Democratic Republic."

But beyond that, what much of the Spanish left is making clear is that it doesn't believe in equality, the very equality it has been defending for decades in its speeches, as if it were its sole representative. Equality before the law is another pillar of democracy: it is a right that means the law is the same for everyone, whatever their status, whether they are humble citizens or powerful people. With their tantrum yesterday, socialists and communists are making it clear that they consider themselves privileged, above the law, "more equal" than the rest of the citizens. Eighty years after the publication of that famous work, once again socialists and communists are acting like the pigs in Orwell's book.

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Image: Still from the 1954 film "Animal Farm", based on the famous work by George Orwell.