How is George Orwell's Animal Farm a satire of the Russian Revolution?

Looking at the characters in Animal Farm is important in understanding how the book satirizes the Russian Revolution. Orwell has deliberately created characters who are based on real figures from the Revolution and we can see this from the very beginning. Old Major, for example, who makes his stirring speech to the animals in Chapter One is based on Karl Marx, the revolutionary thinker and economist. Notice how the pigs transform the content of Old Major's speech into a social system called Animalism. This is a satire of Communism, the system created by Karl Marx which emphasises the exploitation of the working classes and argues that a revolution is the only way to bring about social and economic equality.

Similarly, consider the character of Snowball. One of the leaders of the Rebellion, Snowball is based on Leon Trotksy, a major figure in the Russian Revolution. Just like Trotsky, Snowball provided the ideological framework of the Rebellion. Moreover, his conflict with Napoleon mirrors that of Trotsky with Stalin. Trotsky was expelled from the Soviet Union by Stalin, just like Snowball was run off the farm by Napoleon after he declared his plans for the windmill.