The 1930s saw the rise of both fascism and communism across Europe, and in hindsight the Spanish Civil War can be viewed as a tragic precursor to the Second World War. General Francisco Franco’s right-wing Nationalists (backed with equipment, supplies and troops by Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy) clashed with a coalition of left-leaning Republican forces (supported by Stalin’s Russia). Fighting in Spain cemented Orwell’s opposition to extreme political movements. In his essay ‘Why I Write’ (1946), he claimed that ‘every line of serious work … written since 1936’ was part of his fight against oppressive political totalitarianism.
Orwell was one of thousands of idealistic foreign volunteers who joined the Spanish Republicans to fight the fascist menace. What he found on the ground, however, was a much messier reality. Orwell fought as part of the Worker’s Party of Marxist Unification (POUM), and initially saw the Stalinists as brothers in arms. In time, the various left-wing groups descended into ruinous infighting, and Orwell’s war ended in May 1937, when he was shot through the throat by a sniper. Returning to England, he wrote an account of his experiences in Spain, Homage to Catalonia (1938). He struggled to get this book published because of its criticism of Stalinism, with many left-leaning publishers still in thrall to what Orwell termed ‘the stupid cult of Russia’.
Your organisation does not have access to this article.
Sign up today to give your students the edge they need to achieve their best grades with subject expertise
Subscribe
