Customer Reviews
Homage to fascism, more like - By: William Podmore, 26 Mar 2008 
Note how the great Orwell never says anything positive about those doing the bulk of the fighting against Franco -in fact, note how he barely mentions Franco & fascism at all! In the course of the events he descibesin this book, he spends most of his time doing nothing, like the rest of his Trotskyist & anarchist friends. Meanwhile, the Republicans, whom he slanders from afar, were fighting & dyingin the front line against the Nazi & Italian forces who enabled Franco's victory. Note also how he never says a positive word about the Soviet Union, which was the only country to help the Republic, while the British & French governments helped Hitler & Mussolini to intervene.
Homage to freedom and equality - By: Belmiro Vilela, 19 Mar 2008 
The Spanish civil war is possibly, alongside the Paris Commune of 1871, the period of history I wished to have taken an active part in. George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia is the best portrayal I've read so far on this period & an inspired & inspiring piece of literature. A very personal account of the war that doesn't neglect the social & political background, its implications & the influence it had on 20th century history. Ever wondered why the Spanish Civil war meant so much to so many around the world? Think you know what it really stood for? Ever questioned why the leftists (socialists, communists & anarchists) lost? Then this is the book for you.
Famous first-hand account of Spain's 1936-7 Civil War - By: Greshon, 24 Feb 2008 
A recent trip to Barcelona made me pull this book off my bookshelf, where it had been gathering dust since I first read it as a teenager 12 years ago. At the time I was very much into Orwell - his socialism, his hatred of Capitalism & his championing of the working classes. Though writing half a century earlier, he seemed to voice much of what myself & the other youths I hung around with believed.
Out of all Orwell's books that I read, I found this the least enjoyable & the most hard-going. I couldn't make head nor tail of who the different sides were, who was fighting who, what each side was fighting for & the complicated party politics of a Spain that existed nearly 60 yearsin the past.
The book is akin to Down & Outin Paris & Londonin that Orwell throws himself into an impoverished & dangerous situation which is not necessary for one of his social class & talents. Yet he does it anyway, mainly, I think, to provide the raw experience from which he can create these masterful literary accounts. In Paris & London Orwell writes about poverty & homelessness. Here he is writing about a war which, at first at least, he sees as being between 'the Fascists' & 'the working classes' (a perfect Orwellian subject). In the earlier book Orwell becomes a tramp. Here he becomes a soldier - a militiamanin a foreign army. Strange & noble that he should suffer so much for his art. However, 12 years on from my first reading, I can't help viewing Orwell's behaviour as a slightly patronising kind of 'social tourism'. When he has had enough, Orwell is able to, &in fact does, escape back to a comfortable middle-class existence backin England. This escape clause is not open to the real tramps, 'peasants' & militiamen he mixes with. This is not a severe criticism, though. Undoubtedly Orwell did genuinely care about the social injustices he witnessed & he was clearly trying to draw attention to them & strive for reform (he was instrumentalin setting up the NHSin the 1940s).
This time I understood little more of what was going on than first time round. However, despite my lack of understanding, & despite having a markedly different political stance than I did as a teenager, I found the book to be much more rewarding this time round. Orwell's matter-of-fact reportage of trench warfare & street fighting is fascinating. His vivid descriptions of the antiquated weapons, attacking an enemy position, the freezing nights & the human lice - not to mention of getting shot through the throat ("The whole experience of being hit by a bullet is very interesting & I think it is worth describingin detail") - are vivid & eloquent. Also, you can see here embryonic elements that made it into Nineteen Eighty-Four (the systematic suppression & even murder of those that disagree with the state view, for instance).
This time round I was gripped all the way to the last sentence, by which time Orwell has returned home & finds England "sleeping the deep deep sleep of England, from which I sometimes fear we shall never wake till we are jerked out of it by the roar of bombs." Chilling when you reflect that this book was publishedin 1938, only a year before WW2 broke out.
A brilliant book, author and anarchist - By: A. Tatton, 20 Oct 2007 Orwell has been slandered slightly with the title of socialist. This book well & truly shows his colours - multicoloured of course. The book is an outstanding account & description of the Spanish Civil War, an excellent portrayal of effective anarchismin actionin Barcelonain those early days, a brilliant advertisement for pacifism, & an excellent insight into the mind of someone whose lasting influncein the world has even changed the language. Thought police, Big Brother, Room 101 - all terms inspired by true events outlinedin this classic book. There's memorable glimpses into the horrors of lifein war - the food shortages, rats, the seemingly-trivial issues of looking for firewood, the lack of actual fighting, but the fun & camaradery too.
There's so muchin this little book - masculinity, class, war, socialism, anarchism & descriptions of the Ramblasin Barcelona that have stood the test of time.
Simply Brilliant - By: Wally, 06 Dec 2006 This book is truly essential reading for anyone interestedin the Spanish Civil War, or for that matter anyone with an interestin war, Communism, Socialism, Anarchism orin Literature. Orwell's account of the Spanish Civil War is more than just a brilliant account of lifein a civil war, it is a first hand account of the horrors of Stalinism, & Orwell's experiencesin Spain explain why he later wrote his best known works, 1984 & Animal Farm, to warn of the dangers which he knew so well.
The book starts out recounting Orwell's experiences of arrivingin Spain as an eager volunteer wanting to help fight Fascism. He is shocked to discover the disorganisation & inefficiency of the Republican militias. The book then goes on to give a telling account of the boredom of trench warfare, where the naïve Orwell wants to be able to kill at least one Fascist to do his partin the struggle for freedom, but ends up mainly having to contend with lice, rats & the freezing weather.
This alone might make for an interesting read, but the book really comes into its ownin the latter chapters, where Orwell describes the struggle going on within the Republican controlled region of Spain. A wounded Orwell returns to Barcelona, where the Stalinists who have seized control of the government turn on their political rivals. Orwell is well placed to describe the May fighting between the Stalinist police who wish to enforce state control & the idealistic anarchists who want to defend their revolutionary gains.
Following the government victory, Orwell's small political party the POUM is made a scapegoat for the fighting & is outlawed. A stunned Orwell is forced to go on the run from the very Republic for which he had been so willing to risk his life. This makes for a damning indictment of totalitarianism that is still capable of gripping & infuriating the reader generations after the events described. Orwell shows that he is one of the finest writersin the English language, & this is probably his finest work, deserving to be read by all.
