The Minimum Grain Allowance on Animal Farm

A short note first: this is fiction, written in the style of Animal Farm

The Minimum Grain Allowance on Animal Farm

On a blustery evening, the animals gathered in the barn to hear Squealer’s latest announcement. He stood atop a crate, tail twitching with rehearsed enthusiasm. “Comrades,” he began, “it has been discovered that the Minimum Grain Allowance is strangling the farm’s prosperity. Our dear leader Napoleon has decreed that true freedom means allowing every animal to work for whatever reward the market—yes, the glorious market—decides.”

A murmur ran through the crowd. Clover frowned. “But Squealer,” she said slowly, “wasn’t the allowance created so that no animal would go hungry?”

Squealer’s eyes gleamed. “Ah, Clover, you misunderstand. The allowance has turbocharged inflation. It has denied animals second jobs. Why, Boxer could be working twice as hard if only he were free from the tyranny of guaranteed grain!”

Boxer, who had been standing quietly, blinked. “I thought the allowance was to make sure we didn’t starve,” he said. “If I must take two jobs, when will I rest?”

“Rest?” Squealer cried. “Rest is a bourgeois luxury! The true patriot works until the lanterns burn out. Besides, without the allowance, the hens will be able to sell their eggs for whatever price the market chooses. Isn’t that splendid?”

The hens looked at one another. They remembered the winter when the market had chosen no price at all.

Benjamin the donkey finally spoke. “It seems to me,” he said, “that whenever the pigs say something is for our benefit, it ends with us working more and eating less.”

Squealer puffed out his chest. “Cynicism, Benjamin, is the enemy of progress. The farm will flourish once we remove these outdated protections. Napoleon himself has endorsed this bold new policy.”

The animals shuffled out of the barn, uneasy. Boxer whispered to Clover, “I will work harder.” But even he sounded unsure.

Benjamin watched them go. “The commandments change,” he muttered, “but the hunger stays the same.”