Even as they suffer in amounts equal to or greater than the suffering they faced under Mr. Jones, there is a critical distinction between the work they did before and the work now; now they work for themselves. This is described succinctly in the opening of Chapter 6.
"All that year the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their work; they grudged no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything that they did was for the benefit of themselves and those of their kind who would come after them, and not for a pack of idle, thieving human beings."
(Animal Farm, msx.org)
George Orwell's Animal Farm is allegorical, reflecting the events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then following into the Stalinist era. With that in mind, an excellent way to understand Orwell's intent is to first understand the ways in which the text and history run parallel.
What pushes the oppressed animals into action is the leadership of Old Major and Snowball, and in parallel fashion Marx and Lenin were the figureheads needed to spark the Russian Revolution. However, as Animal Farm illustrates, reliance on figureheads, even in the name of just revolution, can recreate power imbalances. Reliance on figureheads allows for the entrance of less wholesome characters to take on said leadership positions. Although the animals are initially greatly rewarded for their revolution -- the farm runs smoothly and food is abundant -- Napoleon eventually takes control of the new paradise and pushes the animals to work for his benefit, a development which runs parallel to Stalin's acquisition of power and vilifying of opponents. Both Stalin and Napoleon maintain a sense of gratitude and loyalty despite the suffering they inflict using the same methodologies of propaganda and manipulation. This use of deceit and propagandizing are apparent any time Squealer speaks, but a critical example can be found in chapter seven, as Squealer rewrites history so that Snowball is the villain of their history and the cause of all their suffering,
"The plot was for Snowball, at the critical moment, to give the signal for flight and leave the field to the enemy. And he very nearly succeeded--I will even say, comrades, he WOULD have succeeded if it had not been for our heroic Leader, Comrade Napoleon. Do you not remember how, just at the moment when Jones and his men had got inside the yard, Snowball suddenly turned and fled, and many animals followed him? And do you not remember, too, that it was just at that moment, when panic was spreading and all seemed lost, that Comrade Napoleon sprang forward with a cry of 'Death to Humanity!'"
(Animal Farm, msx.org)
Orwell communicates, then, that the joy that comes from working for oneself rather than an oppressor -- such as the Russian autocracy or Mr. Jones -- is enormous, but it also renders a population vulnerable. Old Boxer ignores the pleas of Clover to not overwork himself because of his mottoes, "I will work harder," and "Napoleon is always right." If a population becomes convinced, under the instruction of a charismatic, deceitful, and selfish individual, that what they are doing is for their common good, they are willing to pour more of themselves into their work and do so unquestioningly. Orwell's hope is that through his allegory he can communicate these real world phenomena succinctly so that mistakes of the past are not repeated.
In Animal Farm, some of the animals are glad to believe that they are better off now, even if they know they are suffering, because this is the nature of denial. This is a human trait—which is one of the examples of the animals quickly transforming into human-like creatures—and is a form of defense mechanism triggered in our psyche when our beliefs are contradicted.
George Orwell has seen the rise of Marxist-based authoritarianism and was an officer in the British Army, thus making him a reluctant enforcer of Great Britain's colonialist policies. This background gave Orwell a firsthand account of the modern era's power struggles and power dynamics.
In Animal Farm, Orwell blatantly criticizes revolutionaries and supporters of authoritarian rulers who turn a blind eye to detrimental conditions created by failed revolutionary programs.
The animals did not become delusional, because they are well aware of the dictatorship, but they force themselves to believe that their sacrifices were not in vain. Thus the animals are forced to choose the new evil regime—one which they feel guilty for helping establish—over the old evil human regime, because they make themselves believe that the former is a lesser evil.
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