First Commandment: Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy

The First Commandment, "Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy," was the foundational rule of Animal Farm, inscribed in great white letters on the wall of the big barn. It originated in Old Major's speech, where he declared that all humans—two-legged beings—were the enemy, and that all four-legged or winged animals were friends. This binary classification was the cornerstone of Animalism, the revolutionary ideology that united the animals after the Rebellion. The commandment was written as part of the Seven Commandments, which were to form an unalterable law for all time.

To make the principle accessible to the less intelligent animals, Snowball reduced the Seven Commandments to a single maxim: "Four legs good, two legs bad." This slogan, also painted on the wall, became the constant refrain of the sheep, who bleated it for hours on end. The birds initially objected on the grounds that they had two legs, but Snowball argued that a bird's wing was an organ of propulsion, not manipulation, and thus should be regarded as a leg. The classification was thus maintained through a flexible interpretation that preserved the ideological purity of the rule.

The First Commandment was dramatically violated when the pigs began walking on their hind legs. Squealer first appeared strolling across the yard on two legs, followed by a long file of pigs, all walking upright. Finally Napoleon himself emerged, majestically upright, carrying a whip in his trotter. The animals, terrified and huddling together, watched as the pigs—by their own commandment—had become enemies. Yet no protest was made, and the dogs prevented any dissent. The sheep, who had been taught a new song during a week of seclusion, immediately began bleating in support of the pigs' bipedalism, silencing any potential opposition.

The final collapse of the classification system came when the pigs became indistinguishable from the humans they had once opposed. In the farmhouse, Napoleon and the other pigs, now walking on two legs and wearing human clothes, played cards with neighboring farmers. The animals outside the window looked from pig to man and from man to pig, and it was impossible to say which was which. The First Commandment's binary opposition—two legs enemy, four legs friend—had been rendered meaningless. The commandment never formally changed, but its violation was accepted, just as the other commandments had been quietly altered: the Fourth Commandment gained the words "with sheets," and the Sixth Commandment acquired the phrase "without cause." The pigs had not only violated the rule but had erased the very distinction it was meant to preserve.