4 ms·

Homage to Catalonia is his highly personal analysis of the events of the Spanish Civil War. It isn't at all comprehensive, but very plain spoken and perceptive

Homage to Catalonia is his highly personal analysis of the events of the Spanish Civil War. It isn't at all comprehensive, but very plain spoken and perceptive and helps frame all of his fictional work.

lostlogin 4y ago
His description of trench warfare and hand to hand combat is horrifying. I understood his views on communism better after reading the book.
- robocat 4y ago
  The words “communism” and “socialism” have particularly slippery modern meanings - they depend where you are internationally, in time, and your partisanship. I have read a lot of what he wrote, and I am still unsure what he exactly meant by socialism. I find his essay ‘On Nationalism’ difficult to follow, although very interesting. I love all his writings about his own experiences, because his observations are so exceptionally well written, with the foreignness of early last century, plus the familiarity of his daily life. He then often writes later in those books about his political thoughts, which can be a bit more difficult to read e.g. Road to Wigan Pier.
  - smackeyacky 4y ago
    The US is the only place where the word "Socialism" isn't used properly. The rest of the world understands it perfectly well.
    - School-Cotton 4y ago
      Would you argue that the French socialist party is socialist for example? What do you claim “socialism” means?
    - int_19h 4y ago
      Not really, no. Most of Europe isn't using it properly, either - those "democratic socialist" parties aren't socialist.
      - fredgrott 4y ago
        to add to that look at what the letters USSR and DDR stood for... IN case no one remembers United Socialist Soviet Republic Deutsch Democratic Republic both not word plays on Democracy but word plays on social theory and what stateless means.
        int_19h 4y ago
        USSR is the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. I'm not sure what you mean by "word plays on social theory and what stateless means". Both are perfectly descriptive labels; they just lie.
  - littlestymaar 4y ago
    > I have read a lot of what he wrote, and I am still unsure what he exactly meant by socialism. Depends what you mean by “exactly”. Having a precise vision of everything Orwell puts under the “socialism” umbrella, is of course impossible, but at the same time, there are things that are clear: when he says socialism he definitely means means no capitalism, that is no bourgeoisie sitting atop the society by the virtue of being the owning class.
  - culi 4y ago
    At that time in Europe "socialism" basically just meant "good". It was a stand in for a government where you care about each other. Then there's the more "theoretical" definition of socialism. In the US it might seem bewildering why Orwell considered the anarchists of that war to be the "true socialists" (despite Orwell being a communist, he had a lot of support for them). But the truth is that both anarchism and communism far pretty well within the boundaries of socialist theory historically. And that's quite evident when you think about the fact that the final goal of both of these theories is a stateless society
    - ncmncm 4y ago
      What Orwell wrote about the Communists in Spain would not lead anyone to place him among them.
      - adrian_b 4y ago
        That what he wrote was written after he knew from personal experience the reality of Communism, which converted him from a supporter of Communism into an opponent of it.
        qikInNdOutReply 4y ago
        There was a infamous forgotten year, were europes "on party line" communists (also in england) cheered on germany, because that was a ally of moscow then. Those who hated on orwell, really showed their colors back then. Totalitarians, just with different decorations.
    - VieEnCode 4y ago
      Orwell wasn’t a communist. “Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it.”
      - typon 4y ago
        Not sure if this is a joke, but you are equating communism with totalitarianism, which is the opposite
_Algernon_ 4y ago
Read that recently. I'd advice anyone who reads it and isn't familiar with the time period to at least get an overview of the factions involved. Worst part of the book IMHO (though it wouldn't be fair to blame Orwell for that).

lostlogin 4y ago

His description of trench warfare and hand to hand combat is horrifying. I understood his views on communism better after reading the book.

robocat 4y ago
The words “communism” and “socialism” have particularly slippery modern meanings - they depend where you are internationally, in time, and your partisanship. I have read a lot of what he wrote, and I am still unsure what he exactly meant by socialism. I find his essay ‘On Nationalism’ difficult to follow, although very interesting. I love all his writings about his own experiences, because his observations are so exceptionally well written, with the foreignness of early last century, plus the familiarity of his daily life. He then often writes later in those books about his political thoughts, which can be a bit more difficult to read e.g. Road to Wigan Pier.
- smackeyacky 4y ago
  The US is the only place where the word "Socialism" isn't used properly. The rest of the world understands it perfectly well.
  - School-Cotton 4y ago
    Would you argue that the French socialist party is socialist for example? What do you claim “socialism” means?
  - int_19h 4y ago
    Not really, no. Most of Europe isn't using it properly, either - those "democratic socialist" parties aren't socialist.
    - fredgrott 4y ago
      to add to that look at what the letters USSR and DDR stood for... IN case no one remembers United Socialist Soviet Republic Deutsch Democratic Republic both not word plays on Democracy but word plays on social theory and what stateless means.
      - int_19h 4y ago
        USSR is the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. I'm not sure what you mean by "word plays on social theory and what stateless means". Both are perfectly descriptive labels; they just lie.
- littlestymaar 4y ago
  > I have read a lot of what he wrote, and I am still unsure what he exactly meant by socialism. Depends what you mean by “exactly”. Having a precise vision of everything Orwell puts under the “socialism” umbrella, is of course impossible, but at the same time, there are things that are clear: when he says socialism he definitely means means no capitalism, that is no bourgeoisie sitting atop the society by the virtue of being the owning class.
- culi 4y ago
  At that time in Europe "socialism" basically just meant "good". It was a stand in for a government where you care about each other. Then there's the more "theoretical" definition of socialism. In the US it might seem bewildering why Orwell considered the anarchists of that war to be the "true socialists" (despite Orwell being a communist, he had a lot of support for them). But the truth is that both anarchism and communism far pretty well within the boundaries of socialist theory historically. And that's quite evident when you think about the fact that the final goal of both of these theories is a stateless society
  - ncmncm 4y ago
    What Orwell wrote about the Communists in Spain would not lead anyone to place him among them.
    - adrian_b 4y ago
      That what he wrote was written after he knew from personal experience the reality of Communism, which converted him from a supporter of Communism into an opponent of it.
      - qikInNdOutReply 4y ago
        There was a infamous forgotten year, were europes "on party line" communists (also in england) cheered on germany, because that was a ally of moscow then. Those who hated on orwell, really showed their colors back then. Totalitarians, just with different decorations.
  - VieEnCode 4y ago
    Orwell wasn’t a communist. “Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it.”
    - typon 4y ago
      Not sure if this is a joke, but you are equating communism with totalitarianism, which is the opposite

_Algernon_ 4y ago

Read that recently. I'd advice anyone who reads it and isn't familiar with the time period to at least get an overview of the factions involved. Worst part of the book IMHO (though it wouldn't be fair to blame Orwell for that).