Abolition of Sunday Debates

Immediately after the nine dogs, reared in secret by Napoleon, had chased Snowball from the farm and driven him through a hole in the hedge, Napoleon mounted the raised platform where Old Major had once stood and announced that the Sunday-morning Meetings were to be abolished. He declared them "unnecessary" and said they "wasted time." From now on, all questions of farm policy would be settled by a special committee of pigs, presided over by himself, meeting in private and later communicating their decisions to the others. The animals would still assemble on Sundays to salute the flag, sing "Beasts of England," and receive their orders for the week, but there would be no more debates.

The animals were dismayed. Several would have protested if they could have found the right arguments. Even Boxer, though he set his ears back and shook his forelock, could not marshal his thoughts. Four young porkers in the front row uttered shrill squeals of disapproval and sprang to their feet, but the dogs that surrounded Napoleon let out deep, menacing growls, and the pigs fell silent. Then the sheep broke into a tremendous bleating of "Four legs good, two legs bad!" that lasted nearly a quarter of an hour, putting an end to any chance of discussion.

Squealer was sent to explain the new arrangement. He argued that Comrade Napoleon had made a heavy sacrifice in taking this extra labour upon himself, that leadership was a deep and heavy responsibility, and that the animals might make the wrong decisions, such as following Snowball's "moonshine of windmills." When someone remarked that Snowball had fought bravely at the Battle of the Cowshed, Squealer replied that "bravery is not enough," and that "loyalty and obedience are more important." He invoked the unanswerable argument: "Surely, comrades, you do not want Jones back?" Boxer, who had now had time to think, voiced the general feeling: "If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right." From then on he adopted the maxim "Napoleon is always right" in addition to his personal motto "I will work harder."

The abolition of the Sunday Meetings marked a decisive step in the consolidation of Napoleon's personal dictatorship. The participatory democracy of the early months, when any animal could speak and resolutions were debated and voted upon, was replaced by top-down orders delivered by a pig committee. The weekly assemblies continued but were now purely ceremonial: the flag was hoisted, the anthem sung, the week's orders read out. The dogs ensured that no dissent would be voiced, and the sheep's chant functioned as a tool to interrupt any opposition. The framework of the original principles—the Seven Commandments, the spirit of equality—remained on the wall, but the practical mechanism for the animals to influence their own governance had been eliminated.