George Orwell, Adam Hochschild, Lionel Trilling, Adam Hochschild: Homage to Catalonia (1969, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company)
264 pages
English language
Published Jan. 14, 1969 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
[Homage to Catalonia][1] is [George Orwell][2]'s account of his experiences fighting in the 'Spanish Civil War'. Alongside many British workers, trades unionists, and socialists keen to help the Spanish defend their Republic from General Franco's Fascist forces. Orwell joined the [POUM][3] Militia in the Catalan region of Spain, was injured in the fighting and invalided back to England. After leaving the front line preparatory to leaving Spain, Orwell saw for himself the machinations of the Communist Party leading to the POUM being declared 'Enemies of the People' along with its destruction. Which he expresses in his companion piece the Essay [Looking back on the Spanish War][4]. These are fuller descriptions of events culled from direct experience, than many especially current misrepresentations of the Spanish Conflict. English film director [Ken Loach][5] made a landmark film [Land and Freedom][6] of the Spanish anti fascist struggle with many similarities to George Orwell's story …
[Homage to Catalonia][1] is [George Orwell][2]'s account of his experiences fighting in the 'Spanish Civil War'. Alongside many British workers, trades unionists, and socialists keen to help the Spanish defend their Republic from General Franco's Fascist forces. Orwell joined the [POUM][3] Militia in the Catalan region of Spain, was injured in the fighting and invalided back to England. After leaving the front line preparatory to leaving Spain, Orwell saw for himself the machinations of the Communist Party leading to the POUM being declared 'Enemies of the People' along with its destruction. Which he expresses in his companion piece the Essay [Looking back on the Spanish War][4]. These are fuller descriptions of events culled from direct experience, than many especially current misrepresentations of the Spanish Conflict. English film director [Ken Loach][5] made a landmark film [Land and Freedom][6] of the Spanish anti fascist struggle with many similarities to George Orwell's story including that of perspective. The book and film can be appreciated in their own right or as companion pieces.
[1]: www.george-orwell.org/Homage_to_Catalonia/index.html [2]: www.george-orwell.org/l_biography.html [3]: www.marxists.org/history/spain/poum/1936/general-policy.htm [4]: www.george-orwell.org/Looking_Back_On_The_Spanish_War/0.html [5]: www.sixteenfilms.co.uk [6]: www.sixteenfilms.co.uk/films/film/27/landand_freedom/
Ya dice el mismo Orwell que este libro no es una historia de la Guerra Civil, sino la historia de cómo él vivió la guerra y los sucesos de mayo de 1937 que desembocaron en la ilegalización del POUM. Un interesante relato de las vivencias de un inglés que se alistó "para combatir el fascismo" y vivió de primera mano la repercusión internacional de la propaganda soviética.
I really enjoyed reading this for several reasons. Firstly, I've read Orwell's fiction, and it's always interesting to read personal accounts of a fiction writer with whom I'm familiar (especially when they recount such a dramatic time period for the writer and the world). Secondly, I am a radical anti-authoritarian who identifies primarily as an anarcho-syndicalist. Orwell's politics are more or less in line with mine, and it was, frankly, thrilling to hear about revolutionary Spain, the abolishment of "usted" and "señor" in favor of "tú" and "comrade"/"comarada", the equalized pay of non-hierarchical anarchist militia columns, etc. It was also infuriating to read about the involvement of Soviet Russia in opportunistically establishing the International Communist Party as the primary non-fascist force which, ironically, suppressed and jailed anarchists and radical socialists after coming to power in the Republican-held strongholds. While Orwell's commentary on the impartiality of the press outside Spain (writing, …
I really enjoyed reading this for several reasons. Firstly, I've read Orwell's fiction, and it's always interesting to read personal accounts of a fiction writer with whom I'm familiar (especially when they recount such a dramatic time period for the writer and the world). Secondly, I am a radical anti-authoritarian who identifies primarily as an anarcho-syndicalist. Orwell's politics are more or less in line with mine, and it was, frankly, thrilling to hear about revolutionary Spain, the abolishment of "usted" and "señor" in favor of "tú" and "comrade"/"comarada", the equalized pay of non-hierarchical anarchist militia columns, etc. It was also infuriating to read about the involvement of Soviet Russia in opportunistically establishing the International Communist Party as the primary non-fascist force which, ironically, suppressed and jailed anarchists and radical socialists after coming to power in the Republican-held strongholds. While Orwell's commentary on the impartiality of the press outside Spain (writing, as they did, from Communist or democratic countries) is very interesting, and makes a great case as to the reasons behind the failure of a radical socialist or anarcho-syndicalist revolution in Spain, it's also thoroughly depressing. I'm not surprised that democratic or Communist forces, being inherently authoritarian, would rather have seen Franco succeed than see people working together in a radically egalitarian society.
This is a very powerful book. It's a first-hand account of how Orwell found himself volunteering for an anti-Fascist brigade, and how utterly disillusioning the whole experience was, as the fractious anti-Fascists wasted enormous amounts of energy fighting each other instead of the real enemy. There are relevant lessons for any political campaign today (certainly I see the same tendencies in the environmental movement), and it also does a lot to illuminate where he was coming from with Animal Farm and 1984. Having studied these at school I was left under the impression that Orwell was a rather pro-establishment writer, but reading his non-fiction makes it clear that he was a strong ideological Socialist, and his critiques of Stalinism have all the bitterness of someone seeing his own ideals betrayed.
