In the novel Animal Farm, Boxer is a hardworking and loyal horse who serves as an allegory for the Russian working-class who helped to establish the Soviet Union but were eventually betrayed by the government under Joseph Stalin). Boxer works tirelessly on the windmill, and when he collapses due to a lung ailment, the pigs announce that they will send him to a human hospital to recuperate. However, Benjamin reads the writing on the carts sideboards and discovers that Boxer is being sent to a glue maker to be slaughtered. The animals panic and cry out to Boxer to escape, but he is too weak to kick his way out of the van, which drives away. Squealer later announces that Boxer has died at the hospital and claims to have been at the great horses side as he died, saying that Boxer died praising the glories of Animal Farm. However, it is revealed that Boxer was actually sent to the knackers yard to be slaughtered). Squealer denounces the false rumors that Boxer was taken to a glue factory, saying that the hospital had simply bought the cart from a glue maker and had failed to paint over the lettering.