Name: Homage to Catalonia
ISBN: 0156421178

George Orwell

Homage to Catalonia

Bastiaan

Above all, there was a belief in the revolution and the future, a feeling of having suddenly emerged into an era of equality and freedom. Human beings were trying to behave as human beings and not as cogs in the capitalist machine.

Even more than the men themselves he insisted upon complete social equality between all ranks. I remember his pained surprise when an ignorant recruit addressed him as 'Señor'. 'What! Señor! Who is that calling me Señor? Are we not all comrades?' I doubt whether it made his job any easier.

The essential point of the system was social equality between officers and men. Everyone from general to private drew the same pay, ate the same food, wore the same clothes, and mingled on terms of complete equality. If you wanted to slap the general commanding the division on the back and ask him for a cigarette, you could do so, and no one thought it curious. In theory at any rate each militia was a democracy and not a hierarchy. It was understood that orders had to be obeyed, but it was also understood that when you gave an order you gave it as comrade to comrade and not as superior to inferior. There were officers and NCOs, but there was no military rank in the ordinary sense; no titles, no badges, no heel-clicking and saluting. They had attempted to produce within the militias a sort of temporary working model of the classless society.

All Spaniards, we discovered, knew two English expressions. One was 'OK, baby, the other was a word used by the Barcelona whores in their dealings with English sailors, and I am afraid the compositors would not print it.

After several months of discomfort I had a ravenous desire for decent food and wine, cocktails, American cigarettes, and so forth, and I admit to having wallowed in every luxury that I had money to buy.

During that first week, before the street-fighting began, I had several preoccupations which interacted upon one another in a curious way.

The issue was clear enough. On one side the CNT, on the other side the police. I have no particular love for the idealised 'worker' as he appears in the bourgeois Communist's mind, but when I see an actual flesh-and-blood worker in conflict with his natural enemy, the policeman, I do not have to ask myself which side I am on.

Thoroughly enjoyed this one. Impulsively decided to read it before a trip to Barcelona, but in the end I probably would have enjoyed it either way. 

Getting such a personal and blunt account of a war was really nice, even if that means there’s not that much action. Also, I was definitely not used to some of the phrasings of that time, that was entertaining enough for me lol

Thoroughly enjoyed this one. Impulsively decided to read it before a trip to Barcelona, but in the end I probably would have enjoyed it either way. 

Getting such a personal and blunt account of a war was really nice, even if that means there’s not that much action. Also, I was definitely not used to some of the phrasings of that time, that was entertaining enough for me lol

Appendix II: "It is as though in the middle of a chess game one competitor should suddenly begin a screaming that the other is guilty of arson or bigamy. The point that is really at issue remains untouched. Libel settles nothing."

Finnegan Cole

illya

Over all it was very educative and interesting to me. Again, I felt this very close to me and my history so, I'd understand some of you don't agree with me and argue that it's plain, boring and lacking of any action whatsoever. I'd understand that, but we are talking about George Orwell here and in his behalf I'll say he is an author that picks make you think rather than writing a fast and action fill read. This is a small review/update, you are all warned now. 
I really liked the fact that he, himself, was the voice that led the plot, and how I got, unknowingly, attached to all the friends and mates he made out there. As well as it helped me remember how cruel and terrifically slow that war was, and how devastating it resulted in the end.
However, I do realise this touches home for various reasons it might not for many of you, that's why I recommend you read the vast amount of books set in post-war Spain if you are interested in that period of the country.

Jessica Smith

I'm definitely more liberal with the five-star ratings with nonfiction books than fictional ones… regardless though, this was a great book. It should be compulsory reading for any right-wing idiot who wants to claim Orwell was against revolutions; the entire point of this book was that he was fighting to defend it, and his criticism of the Communist Party is scathing not because they wanted revolution, but because (under orders from Moscow) they were determined to wreck it. His political analysis is brilliant – he uses the phrase "state-capitalist" before Cliff had ever theorised state capitalism - and above all, is passionate in his support of working-class revolution, with no pretense of being "impartial". The truth is not impartial, basically. 

Overall I loved this book. I'm definitely going to have to read more of his work; of course I've read his novels, but this has given me a taste for his nonfiction, too :)