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Orwell was fighting for the POUM (Workers' Party of Marxist Unification) not against them, this faction had the support of Stalin. He was shot by members of Fra
by Chestofdraw 13y ago
Orwell was fighting for the POUM (Workers' Party of Marxist Unification) not against them, this faction had the support of Stalin. He was shot by members of Francos army, they were a Fascist / Nationalist party that had the support of the NAZIs and Fascist Italy.
- pjc50 13y agoI'd conflated two events; you're correct that Orwell was shot by an Fascist sniper, but there were also Stalinist purges going on against POUM ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homage_to_Catalonia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homage_to_Catalonia ) as it was a non-Stalinist Marxist faction.
- cma 13y agoOne correction: POUM was anti-Stalinist. By the end of Homage to Catalonia, Orwell describes how POUM was driven underground by pro-Stalinist parties PSUC and PCE (I think these were the two). POUM was definitely left-anarchist/communist though.