Editing Animal Farm (section)

===Preface===
Orwell originally wrote a [[preface]] complaining about British [[self-censorship]] and how the British people were suppressing criticism of the USSR, their World War II ally:

{{blockquote|The sinister fact about literary censorship in England is that it is largely voluntary&nbsp;... Things are kept right out of the British press, not because the Government intervenes but because of a general tacit agreement that "it wouldn't do" to mention that particular fact.}}

Although the first edition allowed space for the preface in the author's proof, it was not included, and the page numbers had to be renumbered at the last minute.{{sfn|Freedom of the Press}}  As of June 2009, most editions of the book have not included it.<ref>{{Cite web |title=george orwell – Does "Animal Farm" explicitly state anywhere in the text that it is in fact a political allegory?|url=https://literature.stackexchange.com/questions/3661/does-animal-farm-explicitly-state-anywhere-in-the-text-that-it-is-in-fact-a-po|access-date=6 March 2021|website=Literature Stack Exchange}}</ref>

In 1972, [[Ian Angus (librarian)|Ian Angus]] found the original typescript titled "The Freedom of the Press", and [[Bernard Crick]] published it, together with his introduction, in ''[[The Times Literary Supplement]]'' on 15 September 1972 as "How the essay came to be written".{{sfn|Freedom of the Press}} Orwell's essay criticised British self-censorship by the press, specifically the suppression of unflattering descriptions of Stalin and the Soviet government.{{sfn|Freedom of the Press}} The same essay also appeared in the Italian 1976 edition of ''Animal Farm'' with another introduction by Crick, claiming to be the first edition with the preface. Other publishers were still declining to publish it.{{Clarify|date=March 2010|reason=more details needed, were some actively refusing, unaware of the preface?}}