Which is one of the reasons that made me think—conspiracy theorize—at first that the book was about a critique of capitalism, but then edited to read as a critique of communism.

Then, I thought that both systems can be prone to manifest inequality because of their own inherent flaws, and I realized that we shouldn't be squabbling about which one is "right" (like with the Leviathan of Parsonstown [0]), but rather on what parts can we take from any other politico-economical system to make the best one.

Edit: readability

[0] https://youtube.com/shorts/mQhBEw3gjSk

An important fact, that sadly is often not mentioned when discussing Orwell's most famous work, is that Orwell was a communist. He even wrote about is experience fighting side-by-side with the Catalonian anarchist of the CNT during the Spanish civil war, in his book/journal "homage to Catalonia". He was part of the POUM, a communist but anti-marxist militia.

In the book, you can already see that he was very wary of the USSR. And after being almost jailed and barely fleeing Catalonia by the Republican, who allied themselves with the USSR and jailed and undermined any militia who was not aligned with them, his mind was definitely made up.

Animal Farm is definitely a critique of both capitalism and authoritarian communism (Marxism-Leninism and Stalinism at the time), the conclusion pretty much being that both system end up with powerful and rich people on top and misery on the bottom.

I think 1) Orwell never identified as "communist" but rather as a socialist with anarchist leanings, which is somewhat different. 2) Given his early death we don't know how his views would have evolved had he lived. Many left wing people of his generation moved to the right (often extremely so like Whittaker Chambers) because they eventually saw the conflict as between the USSR and the West and began to see anyone with any sympathy to the USSR as a potential traitor.