Homage to Catalonia

Homage to Catalonia is political journalist and novelist George Orwell's personal account of his experiences and observations in the Spanish Civil War, written in the first person. The first edition was published in 1938. Orwell served as both a private and a corporal in Catalonia and Aragon from December 1936 until June 1937. The political party whose militia he served with, (the POUM, an anti-Stalinist communist party), was declared an illegal ... more

Homage to Catalonia is political journalist and novelist George Orwell's personal account of his experiences and observations in the Spanish Civil War, written in the first person. The first edition was published in 1938. Orwell served as both a private and a corporal in Catalonia and Aragon from December 1936 until June 1937. The political party whose militia he served with, (the POUM, an anti-Stalinist communist party), was declared an illegal organization and Orwell was subsequently forced to flee or face imprisonment. By his own admission, Orwell joined the POUM rather than the Communist-run International Brigades by chance—but his experiences, in particular his and his wife's narrow escape from the Communist purges in Barcelona in June 1937, greatly increased his sympathy for POUM and, while not challenging his moral and political adhesion to the cause of Socialism and Marxism, made him a lifelong anti-Stalinist. At the front, Orwell was shot through the neck and was nearly... less