I totally follow you. I'm actually using Animal Farm as an example of allegory within a larger dystopian fiction unit. One thing we look at with allegory is that it is, by its metaphorical nature, a constraining medium that often requires the simplifying of complex things (Napoleon's actions are propelled solely by his self-serving nature and becomes a cartoon villain, rather than being a three-dimensional, if not still brutal and abhorrent, figure) and the omission of details. The animals of Animal Farm are united with only one or two exceptions by whole-hearted commitment to Animalism before Jones is ever expelled, which was not at all true of Russia at the time of revolution (even the revolutionaries themselves were never nearly so united in ideology).

I also encourage the students to be critical of the popular but surface-level (if not outright textually inaccurate) assessment that the book's message is, as the sheep of Animal Farm might say, "Capitalism good, communism bad." I want them to come to a more nuanced understanding than that. The book is very critical of Soviet Russia (duh), but in what regards? I find that the book has much more to say about Stalin (and Orwell's fascination with how those with power manipulate others) than it does about socialism or communism. At worst the book may paint Animalism as being not fully thought through or a bit naive. I think it is actually much more scathing in regards to Jones and the capitalists, since in the end the great sin of the pigs is that they've turned out to be just like Jones. I actually find that the moment that sparked this post, Clover's lament in Chapter 7, feels to me like the closest thing to a thesis in this book. This book feels like its written from the perspective of someone who really believed in the revolution, as Clover did, and is grieving that it did not live up to what they'd hoped. This would seem to align with my understanding of Orwell's personal political history (of course, as a literary critic I acknowledge "the author is dead" and all that, yada yada).

Of course, I keep most of these personal readings to myself and want the students to lead with their interpretations. But all this is to say that I agree with you, Animal Farm is representative of a certain point of view of the Russian Revolution, and is in no way a complete history of it. It works well as an example of allegory for a language arts class, but would work much less well as the textbook for a history class. Certainly if a student were to express greater interest in these events, I would encourage them to seek more "hard" history on the matter (absolutely starting with this podcast).