Windmill Debate and Approval

The most bitter division on Animal Farm erupted over the windmill. Snowball, after surveying the knoll in the long pasture, declared it the ideal site for a windmill that would drive a dynamo and supply the farm with electrical power, lighting and warming the stalls, and running a circular saw, a chaff-cutter, a mangel-slicer, and an electric milking machine. The animals, accustomed only to primitive machinery, listened in astonishment as Snowball conjured a future of effortless labour, grazing at ease while machines worked. Napoleon, however, produced no schemes of his own, saying quietly that Snowball's would come to nothing, and seemed to be biding his time. The farm split into two factions under the slogans "Vote for Snowball and the three-day week" and "Vote for Napoleon and the full manger." Only Benjamin refused to take sides, predicting that life would go on badly regardless.

At the decisive Sunday Meeting, Snowball set forth his reasons, occasionally interrupted by the sheep's bleating of "Four legs good, two legs bad." Napoleon replied briefly, dismissing the windmill as nonsense, and sat down. Snowball then delivered a passionate appeal, painting a picture of Animal Farm freed from sordid labour, with electric light, hot and cold water, and electric heaters in every stall. His eloquence carried the animals, and the vote seemed certain to go in his favour. But at that moment Napoleon stood up, cast a peculiar sidelong look at Snowball, and uttered a high-pitched whimper. Nine enormous dogs, wearing brass-studded collars, bounded into the barn and dashed straight for Snowball. He escaped by a hair's breadth, slipping through a hole in the hedge and disappearing. The dogs, it turned out, were the puppies Napoleon had taken from their mothers and reared privately; they were now as fierce as wolves and kept close to him, wagging their tails as they had once done to Mr. Jones. Napoleon then announced that the Sunday-morning Meetings would end, and all questions would be settled by a special committee of pigs presided over by himself. The animals were dismayed, but Boxer, after some thought, concluded, "If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right," and adopted the new maxim "Napoleon is always right."

Squealer was sent to explain the new arrangement, arguing that leadership was a heavy responsibility and that discipline was necessary to prevent the return of Jones. The animals accepted, having no wish to see Jones back. The shed where Snowball had drawn his plans was shut up, and the plans were assumed to have been rubbed off the floor.

On the third Sunday after Snowball's expulsion, Napoleon surprised the animals by announcing that the windmill would be built after all. He gave no reason for his change of mind, only warning that the task would mean very hard work and possibly reduced rations. The plans, he said, had all been prepared by a special committee of pigs over the past three weeks. That evening, Squealer explained privately that Napoleon had never really opposed the windmill; he had seemed to do so only as a tactic to remove Snowball, a dangerous character, and that the plan was actually Napoleon's own creation. "Tactics, comrades, tactics!" he repeated, skipping and whisking his tail. The animals, not understanding the word but persuaded by Squealer's manner and the threatening growls of the dogs, accepted the explanation.