Animal Farm

George Orwell's Animal Farm was written during World War II. It is really short, about 130 pages in my edition. The story is one of an animal uprising at a farm. It is symbolic of the Communist uprising in Russia. Nearly each animal has a counterpart from real-life. Napoleon the pig = Stalin. Snowball the pig = Trotsky. Neighbor farmer No. 1 = Hitler. And so forth. Get the whole list on Wikipedia if you decide to read the book.

On Animal Farm, the animals decide to revolt and to create a communal system on the farm. The pigs are put in charge. Just read it. It's so short. It's a good rundown on what happened in Russia, and why, supposedly, Communism can not work.