What do the humans do that makes them evil in Old Major's eyes?

Old Major's speech to the animals occurs in Chapter One of Animal Farm. In it, he argues that "Man is the only real enemy we have," and lists a number of grievances intended to get the animals to see this (7). Essentially, he says that the humans, who are not productive in their own right, exploit the labor of animals to enrich themselves. Man "does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is...

Old Major's speech to the animals occurs in Chapter One of Animal Farm. In it, he argues that "Man is the only real enemy we have," and lists a number of grievances intended to get the animals to see this (7). Essentially, he says that the humans, who are not productive in their own right, exploit the labor of animals to enrich themselves. Man "does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals" (8). To illustrate the point, he reminds the cows that they have given thousands of gallons of milk to men. Most of the eggs laid by hens go to market, sold for the profit of Jones.

The animals' lives are, Old Major says, miserable, and when they are used up they are simply cast aside, or, in the case of the "young porkers," they will "scream their lives out block within a year." When Boxer is no longer strong enough to do his work, he will be sold to the knacker, who will kill him. So, Old Major says in conclusion, "all the evils of this life of ours spring from the tyranny of human beings" (9). He says that the animals must realize this truth, and rise up to claim what is rightfully theirs--the fruits of their labor. This speech is intended to echo the writings of Karl Marx, who wrote in the nineteenth century that industrial workers were being exploited by the bourgeoisie, the owners of the mills and factories where they worked. Marx's writings were inspirational to the communist revolutionaries who established the Soviet Union in the wake of World War One.