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Looking Back on the Spanish War
First of all the physical memories, The sounds, the smells and the surfaces of things. It is curious that more vividly than anything that came afterwards in the Spanish war I remember the week of so-called training that we received before being sent to the front - the huge cavalry barracks in Barcelona with its draughty stables and cobbled yards, the icy cold of the pump where one washed, the filthy meals made tolerable by pannikins of wine, the Trousered militia-women chopping firewood, and the roll-call in the early mornings where my prosaic English name made a sort of comic interlude among the resounding Spanish ones, Manuel Gonzalez, Pedro Aguilar, Ramon Fenellosa, Roque Ballaster, Jaime Domenech, Sebastian Viltron, Ramon Nuvo Bosch. I name those particular men because I remember the faces of all of them. Except for two who were mere riff-raff and have doubtless become good Falangists by this time, it is probable that all of them are dead. Two of them I know to be dead. The eldest would have been about twenty-five, the youngest sixteen. One of the essential experiences of war is never being able to escape from disgusting smells of human origin. Latrines are an overworked subject in war literature, and I would not mention them if it were not that the latrine in our barracks did its necessary bit towards puncturing my own illusions about the Spanish civil war. The Latin type of latrine, at which you have to squat, is bad enough at its best, but these were made of some kind of polished stone so slippery that it was all you could do to keep on your feet. In addition they were always blocked. Now I have plenty of other disgusting things in my memory, but I believe it was these latrines that first brought home to me the thought, so often to 'Here we are, soldiers of a revolutionary army, defending Democracy against Fascism, fighting a war which is about something, and the detail of our lives is just as sordid and degrading as it could be in
33 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1942
About the author
George Orwell
1,373 books53.2k followersEric Arthur Blair was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to all totalitarianism (both fascism and stalinism), and support of democratic socialism.
Orwell is best known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), although his works also encompass literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. His non-fiction works, including The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), documenting his experience of working-class life in the industrial north of England, and Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences soldiering for the Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), are as critically respected as his essays on politics, literature, language and culture.
Orwell's work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective "Orwellian"—describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices—is part of the English language, like many of his neologisms, such as "Big Brother", "Thought Police", "Room 101", "Newspeak", "memory hole", "doublethink", and "thoughtcrime". In 2008, The Times named Orwell the second-greatest British writer since 1945.
Orwell is best known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), although his works also encompass literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. His non-fiction works, including The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), documenting his experience of working-class life in the industrial north of England, and Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences soldiering for the Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), are as critically respected as his essays on politics, literature, language and culture.
Orwell's work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective "Orwellian"—describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices—is part of the English language, like many of his neologisms, such as "Big Brother", "Thought Police", "Room 101", "Newspeak", "memory hole", "doublethink", and "thoughtcrime". In 2008, The Times named Orwell the second-greatest British writer since 1945.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews
October 11, 2025
الحقيقة بسيطة جدا. لكي تنجو و تعيش .. عليك أن تقاتل. و القتال يفرض عليك توسيخ نفسك. الحرب شر لكن قليلا ما تكون الشر الأقل. الذي لابد منه. و الذين يشهرون السيف يؤخذون بالسيف و الذين لا يشهرون السيف تأخذهم الأمراض ذات الرائحة الكريهة.
لقد اقتنعت منذ مرحلة مبكرة من حياتي بأنه ما من حادثة تنشرها الصحف على حقيقتها لكنني رأيت في أسبانيا للمرة الأولى ما لا علاقة له بالوقائع إطلاقا. حتى و لا الحقيقة المتضمنة في الكذب العادي. قرأت عن معارك عظيمة بينما لم يجر في الحقيقة أي قتال. و رأيت الصمت المطبق مع مقتل المئات من الجنود. رأيت الجنود الذين حاربو ببسالة يدانون و يوصفون بالجبن و الخيانة و غيرهم ممن لم يطلقوا طلقة واحدة يمجدون أبطالا بانتصارات مختلقة. رأيت صحفا في لندن توزع هذه الأكاذيب و مفكرين متنورين يبنون هياكل عاطفية زائفة على أحداث لم تحدث أصلا. الواقع أنني رأيت التاريخ يكتب لا بحدود ما وقع بل بحدود ما كان يجب أن يقع بحسب مختلف الخطوط الحزبية.
أعرف بأن المتعارف السائد هو أن كل التاريخ المسجل كذب بكذب. و أنا أميل إلى الإعتقاد بأن التاريخ المسجل في معظمه غير صحيح و متحيز لكن ما يتميز به عصرنا هو نبذ فكرة أن التاريخ يمكن كتابة الحقيقة فيه. في الماضي كان الناس إما يكذبون متعمدين أو يلونون قصصهم بدون قصد أو يسعون وراء الحقيقة وسع الطاقة مدركين بأنهم سوف يرتكبون بعض الأخطاء لكنهم في جميع الأحوال كانوا يعتقدون بوجود الحقائق و بإمكان الوصول إليها. إلى حد ما. و عمليا كان ثمة مجموعة من الوقائع يتفق عليها الجميع تقريبا.
و الواضح أن النازيين يعتقدون أن من المربح العمل على رشوة المثقفين أما مع الطبقة العاملة فالأمر بالعكس تماما. فهم أكثر جهلا من أن يكشفوا الألاعيب التي تجري عليهم فقد يبتلعون الوعود الفاشية بسهولة و لكنهم إن عاجلا أو آجلا يعودون إلى النضال ثانية و هم لابد فاعلون هذا لأنهم بمعاناتهم بأجسادهم يكتشفون دائما بأن الوعود الفاشية لا يمكن الوفاء بها. و لكي تربح الفاشية الطبقة العاملة نهائيا. عليها أن ترفع مستوى المعيشة الأمر الذي تعجز عنه و ربما كانت غير راغبة به من الأساس.
إن نضال الطبقة العاملة هو مثل النباتات. النبات أعمى و مغفل. لكنه يعرف ما يجعله مثابرا على الصعود إلى فوق نحو النور. و يظل يفعل هذا مهما واجه من المعيقات التي لا نهاية لها.
September 1, 2025
Recuerdos de la guerra de España, no es solo un testimonio de la Guerra Civil española; es un grito desgarrado de honestidad y humanismo escrito desde las entrañas del conflicto, en cada momento se transmite al lector que fue escrito con el alma en llamas.
November 14, 2014
En esta breve transcripción de sus reflexiones, Orwell nos deja ver sus obsesiones (como la re-escritura de la historia y la manipulación informativa) en pro del control de las masas y la supervivencia de los totalitarismos.
Nos cuenta, con tono derrotista y algo nostálgico, como el bando republicano plantó cara durante 3 años en una guerra que tenía perdida, tal vez esperando un apoyo exterior que nunca llegó. Critica abiertamente el comportamiento de naciones como Inglaterra o la Unión Soviética y plantea que si hubiesen obrado de otra forma, podrían haber evitado o minimizado daños en la II Guerra Mundial.
No da apenas datos, no transcribe vivencias a modo de crónica pero logra en muy pocas páginas dejarnos clara su visión del mundo, de los gobiernos y de la clase obrera con España como ejemplo de lo que pasa o puede pasar en cualquier lugar del mundo.
Nos cuenta, con tono derrotista y algo nostálgico, como el bando republicano plantó cara durante 3 años en una guerra que tenía perdida, tal vez esperando un apoyo exterior que nunca llegó. Critica abiertamente el comportamiento de naciones como Inglaterra o la Unión Soviética y plantea que si hubiesen obrado de otra forma, podrían haber evitado o minimizado daños en la II Guerra Mundial.
No da apenas datos, no transcribe vivencias a modo de crónica pero logra en muy pocas páginas dejarnos clara su visión del mundo, de los gobiernos y de la clase obrera con España como ejemplo de lo que pasa o puede pasar en cualquier lugar del mundo.
January 26, 2026
Fierce reflections on the hypocrisy of people and nations. A root cause for fascism winning (in every age, apparently).
April 18, 2021
After just reading 1984 and Animal Farm back to back, hearing Orwell talk about his own experience of war, without any character or lens in which to filter it through, was so enlightening. A world like 1984 not only feels within reach in the future, but his lived experience was not too dissimilar. It’s easy to forget about those fighting wars thousands of miles away and wars of the past but it is a system that has never stopped and it is so FUTILE! It’s only purpose is death and fear, to keep us subservient. Trump ran his whole presidency on fear mongering, it’s the oldest trick in the book and yet it’s still being repeated over and over again. Poor Orwell would be turning in his grave.
Also with the power of “fake news” being so prevalent today, it shocks me how it has always been happening, only fewer of us knew about it.
Also with the power of “fake news” being so prevalent today, it shocks me how it has always been happening, only fewer of us knew about it.
November 17, 2019
"No bomb that ever burst
Shatters the crystal spirit."
Shatters the crystal spirit."
April 12, 2025
Uma obra que mistura memória pessoal e reflexão política, com uma honestidade brutal e uma clareza impressionante. Mais do que relatar eventos relativos à Guerra Civil Espanhola, Orwell questiona as narrativas oficiais, expõe as contradições internas da esquerda e mostra como a verdade pode ser distorcida em tempos de conflito. Um testemunho profundamente humano, que continua relevante em qualquer época marcada por polarização ideológica.
“Depois do que por lá vi [em Espanha], cheguei à conclusão de que é vão uma pessoa ser “antifascista” procurando preservar o capitalismo. (…) Não vejo como podemos opor-nos ao fascismo a não ser ativando-nos para derrubar o capitalismo - começando cada qual, é claro, pelo seu próprio país.”
“Depois do que por lá vi [em Espanha], cheguei à conclusão de que é vão uma pessoa ser “antifascista” procurando preservar o capitalismo. (…) Não vejo como podemos opor-nos ao fascismo a não ser ativando-nos para derrubar o capitalismo - começando cada qual, é claro, pelo seu próprio país.”
May 12, 2021
Este pequeno ensaio, não sendo de qualidade literária elevada, revela uma sensibilidade, capacidade de observação e preocupação social impares de Orwell.
Possuidor de uma fineza precisa e directa, George Orwell, combatente na Guerra Civil de Espanha pela República contra os falangistas (ou pelos socialistas contra os fascistas) mostra não só o horror da guerra por quem a viveu...
"Uma das mais importantes experiências da guerra é a de nunca se poder esquecer os cheiros nojentos de origem humana. As latrinas (...)"
ou
"As balas ferem, os cadáveres fedem e os homens, quando estão no campo de batalha, ficam tão assustados que chegam a mijar nas calças."
...como as preocupações com a revisão da história que mais tarde viriam a assentar a coluna de '1984'...
"Mas o que me impressionou, e me continua a impressionar, é o facto de a existência destas atrocidades ser encarada como uma verdade ou como uma mentira conforme os campos políticos predilectos."
ou
"Tudo isto me assusta, pois faz-me pensar que o conceito da verdade objectiva está a desaparecer do mundo. Assim, há todas as possibilidades de que tais mentiras ou outras semelhantes entrem na história. Como será escrita a história da guerra espanhola?"
Orwell não era bruxo mas as suas palavras têm tal actualidade que merecem bem os minutos de preocupação com o próximo que este texto nos oferece.
Possuidor de uma fineza precisa e directa, George Orwell, combatente na Guerra Civil de Espanha pela República contra os falangistas (ou pelos socialistas contra os fascistas) mostra não só o horror da guerra por quem a viveu...
"Uma das mais importantes experiências da guerra é a de nunca se poder esquecer os cheiros nojentos de origem humana. As latrinas (...)"
ou
"As balas ferem, os cadáveres fedem e os homens, quando estão no campo de batalha, ficam tão assustados que chegam a mijar nas calças."
...como as preocupações com a revisão da história que mais tarde viriam a assentar a coluna de '1984'...
"Mas o que me impressionou, e me continua a impressionar, é o facto de a existência destas atrocidades ser encarada como uma verdade ou como uma mentira conforme os campos políticos predilectos."
ou
"Tudo isto me assusta, pois faz-me pensar que o conceito da verdade objectiva está a desaparecer do mundo. Assim, há todas as possibilidades de que tais mentiras ou outras semelhantes entrem na história. Como será escrita a história da guerra espanhola?"
Orwell não era bruxo mas as suas palavras têm tal actualidade que merecem bem os minutos de preocupação com o próximo que este texto nos oferece.
September 20, 2025
Looking Back on The Spanish Civil War by George Orwell is the fifteenth of The Essays that are ranked 917th (at the time I write this, an algorithm keeps changing the places) on The Greatest Books of All Time site, where Nineteen Eighty Four is sixth, only when they asked people, it was found that The Da Vinci Code is among the best known works, maybe thirteen, while Jane Eyre, Nineteen Eighty Four are below the 80th place, which is such a shame, one rotten waste of trees is such a commercial success, while magnum opera is getting ignored…you find more than five thousand reviews of chefs d’oeuvre from the GOAT and other lists, as well as notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made compilation and others on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
9 out of 10
As usual, I will see the parallels between what this excellent essay describes and the situation we have now in the world, ergo, maybe the ‘review’ should be one line: I enjoyed it very much, just like the other fourteen pieces I have finished from this marvelous collection, and from here on, it will probably veer into the unknown
‘Those who take the sword perish by the sword, and those who don't take the sword perish by smelly diseases. The fact that such a platitude is worth writing down shows what the years of rentier capitalism have done to us’ this line does not encourage someone like me to continue, for capitalism is not the problem, as I see it
Indeed, there are problems there, and the world today justifies what Orwell has written, take the passage on ‘fake news’, as they are called today, an immense headache in the time of The Spanish Civil War, or at least a very unfair situation, where the propaganda would boast about fights that had not taken place
Men were celebrated as heroes, when they did not do anything worthwhile, the valiant ones were ignored and I come to the awful spectacle of MAGA, evil – The Economist explains how they now have a replica in the UK, though Trump is unpopular, a big number want to Make Britain Great Again, and then the same elsewhere
We have had a bullet pass by, and it was close, when Simion, a local version of Orange Woland, came near winning the presidential elections, the far right is on rise: in France, if they had elections today, Le Pen would win, Farage may become prime minister in Britain, and the list is long, we have an uncertain future ahead
Then George Orwell wrote another thing which happens to describe the show we see today, he said ‘the ruling class are either stupid or vile’, something to that effect, and of course, the quote can be found online somewhere – I do not think Sir Keir Stammer is either of those, but if you ask me about America, OH My god!
That eejit is permanently doing damage, a calamity painted in orange, the latest: he wants to defund the democrats (he calls them radical left lunatics, because they oppose the would-be monarch, who is the real mad dog) they have cancelled Jimmy Kimmel, a show that I watched, and will not anymore, because the US is no longer the dream
Actually, we used to envisage a life in America – my sister is a doctor in Chicago, where the idiot will send troops soon, because again, this is what happens in tyrannies – but now I see this country of mine as many times better (with its many flaws) in terms of president, and the climate, yes, MAGA could vote for a local orange monkey next time
Nevertheless, we now have a mathematician for leader, modest, sane, intelligent, he won some competition in the Olympics – for mathematics I guess, not the athletic gathering – and he is like Jesus when set near Beelzebub when near Trump
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
9 out of 10
As usual, I will see the parallels between what this excellent essay describes and the situation we have now in the world, ergo, maybe the ‘review’ should be one line: I enjoyed it very much, just like the other fourteen pieces I have finished from this marvelous collection, and from here on, it will probably veer into the unknown
‘Those who take the sword perish by the sword, and those who don't take the sword perish by smelly diseases. The fact that such a platitude is worth writing down shows what the years of rentier capitalism have done to us’ this line does not encourage someone like me to continue, for capitalism is not the problem, as I see it
Indeed, there are problems there, and the world today justifies what Orwell has written, take the passage on ‘fake news’, as they are called today, an immense headache in the time of The Spanish Civil War, or at least a very unfair situation, where the propaganda would boast about fights that had not taken place
Men were celebrated as heroes, when they did not do anything worthwhile, the valiant ones were ignored and I come to the awful spectacle of MAGA, evil – The Economist explains how they now have a replica in the UK, though Trump is unpopular, a big number want to Make Britain Great Again, and then the same elsewhere
We have had a bullet pass by, and it was close, when Simion, a local version of Orange Woland, came near winning the presidential elections, the far right is on rise: in France, if they had elections today, Le Pen would win, Farage may become prime minister in Britain, and the list is long, we have an uncertain future ahead
Then George Orwell wrote another thing which happens to describe the show we see today, he said ‘the ruling class are either stupid or vile’, something to that effect, and of course, the quote can be found online somewhere – I do not think Sir Keir Stammer is either of those, but if you ask me about America, OH My god!
That eejit is permanently doing damage, a calamity painted in orange, the latest: he wants to defund the democrats (he calls them radical left lunatics, because they oppose the would-be monarch, who is the real mad dog) they have cancelled Jimmy Kimmel, a show that I watched, and will not anymore, because the US is no longer the dream
Actually, we used to envisage a life in America – my sister is a doctor in Chicago, where the idiot will send troops soon, because again, this is what happens in tyrannies – but now I see this country of mine as many times better (with its many flaws) in terms of president, and the climate, yes, MAGA could vote for a local orange monkey next time
Nevertheless, we now have a mathematician for leader, modest, sane, intelligent, he won some competition in the Olympics – for mathematics I guess, not the athletic gathering – and he is like Jesus when set near Beelzebub when near Trump
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
August 23, 2025
Jorjor wel
December 4, 2021
Muy corto e interesante.
February 8, 2023
Es muy interesante, solo que se me hizo muy corto y apresurado
February 10, 2021
Un texto corto, pero bastante potente y escrito desde las emociones y recuerdos. Orwell realiza una critica -con mucha nostalgia y resignación- a los intelectuales de izquierda, a los totalitarismos; habla de que el resultado de la guerra "se determinó en Londres, en París, en Roma, en Berlín, pero no en España".
January 31, 2022
“Se que está de moda decir que casi toda la historia escrita es una sarta de mentiras. Estoy dispuesto a creer que la mayor parte es tendenciosa y poco sólida, pero lo que es característico de nuestro tiempo es la renuncia a la idea de que la historia se podría escribir con veracidad”
💭
😐
💭
😐
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 14, 2022
Notes:
1. Story of enemy soldier running with no pants not being an "enemy" just a human.
2. The complaints about news being weaponized, and completely untrustworthy with the ultimate decision on what was reality being a backwards facing history written by the victors.
1. Story of enemy soldier running with no pants not being an "enemy" just a human.
2. The complaints about news being weaponized, and completely untrustworthy with the ultimate decision on what was reality being a backwards facing history written by the victors.
June 3, 2019
No te cuenta la guerra civil española, te cuenta sus mentiras. Otro punto de vista que es de obligada lectura.
August 12, 2024
És tan ple de coses que es podrien dir exactament igual avui que et fa pensar que des del 1942 no hem avançat gens en alguns aspectes…
December 4, 2022
Orwell é mestre no descortinar da propaganda de guerra e revela-se por exemplo em 1984. Grande Orwell, acabo a leitura com mais vontade de iniciar outra do autor.
Read
August 9, 2026orwell’s the goat
писал про майндсет наши храбрые герои vs их жестокие захватчики до того, как это стало мемом
писал про майндсет наши храбрые герои vs их жестокие захватчики до того, как это стало мемом
October 17, 2019
Um excelente complemento para "Homenagem à Catalunha", retratando os seus aspetos essenciais numa compliação de breves ensaios escritos, posteriormente, por Orwell
May 11, 2026
Orwell’s “Looking Back on the Spanish War” is interesting and insightful about the truth and his take on politics and the classes.
Page 127 | Highlight (Yellow)
But what impressed me then, and has impressed me
Page 127 | Highlight (Yellow)
ever since, is that atrocities are believed in or disbelieved in solely on grounds of political predilection.
Everyone believes in the atrocities of the enemy and disbelieves in those of his own side, without ever
bothering to examine the evidence.
Page 128 | Highlight (Yellow)
official war-propaganda, with its disgusting hypocrisy and self-righteousness, always tends to make thinking
people sympathise with the enemy. Part of the price we paid for the systematic lying of 1914–18 was the
exaggerated pro-German reaction which followed. During the years 1918–33 you were hooted at in left-wing
circles if you suggested that Germany bore even a fraction of responsibility for the war.
Page 128 | Highlight (Yellow)
But unfortunately the truth about atrocities is far worse than that they are lied about and made into
propaganda. The truth is that they happen. The fact often adduced as a reason for scepticism—that the same
horror stories come up in war after war—merely makes it rather more likely that these stories are true.
Page 130 | Highlight (Yellow)
The raping and butchering in Chinese cities, the tortures in the cellars of the Gestapo, the elderly Jewish
professors flung into cesspools, the machine-gunning of refugees along the Spanish roads—they all
happened, and they did not happen any the less because the Daily Telegraph has suddenly found out about
them when it is five years too late.
Page 132 | Highlight (Yellow)
Early in life I had noticed that no event is ever
Page 132 | Highlight (Yellow)
correctly reported in a newspaper, but in Spain, for the first time, I saw newspaper reports which did not bear
any relation to the facts, not even the relationship which is implied in an ordinary lie. I saw great battles
reported where there had been no fighting, and complete silence where hundreds of men had been killed. I
saw troops who had fought bravely denounced as cowards and traitors, and others who had never seen a shot
Page 132 | Highlight Continued
fired hailed as the heroes of imaginary victories;
Page 133 | Highlight (Yellow)
This kind of thing is frightening to me, because it often gives me the feeling that the very concept of objective
truth is fading out of the world. After all, the chances are
Page 133 | Highlight (Yellow)
that those lies, or at any rate similar lies, will pass into history. How will the history of the Spanish War be
written?
Page 133 | Highlight (Yellow)
Yet, after all, some kind of history will be written, and after those who actually remember the war are
Page 133 | Highlight (Yellow)
dead, it will be universally accepted. So for all practical purposes the lie will have become truth. I know it is
the fashion to say that most of recorded history is lies anyway. I am willing to believe that history is for the
most part inaccurate and biased, but what is peculiar to our own age is the abandonment of the idea that
history could be truthfully written. In the past people deliberately lied, or they unconsciously coloured what
they wrote, or they struggled after the truth, well knowing that they
Page 133 | Highlight (Yellow)
must make many mistakes; but in each case they believed that “the facts” existed and were more or less
discoverable. And in practice there was always a considerable body of fact which would have been agreed to
by almost everyone.
Page 133 | Highlight (Yellow)
It is just this common basis of agreement, with its implication that human beings are all one species of animal,
that totalitarianism destroys. Nazi theory indeed specifically denies that such a thing as “the truth” exists.
There is, for instance, no such thing as “science.” There is only “German science,” “Jewish science” etc. The
implied objective of this line of thought is a nightmare world in which the Leader, or some
Page 135 | Highlight (Yellow)
ruling clique, controls not only the future but the past. If the Leader says of such and such an event, “It never
Page 135 | Highlight Continued
happened”—well, it never happened. If he says that two and two are five—well, two and two are five.
May 10, 2026
Page 135 | Highlight (Yellow)
We in England underrate the danger of this kind of thing, because our traditions and our past security have
given us a sentimental belief that it all comes right in the end and the thing you most fear never really
happens.
Page 135 | Highlight (Yellow)
Consider for instance the re-institution of slavery. Who could have imagined twenty years ago
Page 135 | Highlight (Yellow)
that slavery would return to Europe? Well, slavery has been restored under our noses. The forced-labour
camps all over Europe and North Africa where Poles, Russians, Jews and political prisoners of every race toil at
road-making or swamp-draining for their bare rations, are simple chattel slavery. The most one can say is that
the buying and selling of slaves by individuals is not yet permitted. In other ways—the breaking-up of
families, for instance—the conditions are probably worse than they were on the American cotton plantations.
There is no reason for thinking that this state of affairs will change while any totalitarian domination endures.
Page 136 | Highlight (Yellow)
Yet this does not alter the fact that the working class will go on struggling against Fascism after the others
have caved in. One feature of the Nazi conquest of France was the astonishing defections among the
intelligentsia, including some of the left-wing political intelligentsia. The intelligentsia are the people
Page 136 | Highlight (Yellow)
who squeal loudest against Fascism, and yet a respectable proportion of them collapse into defeatism when
the pinch comes. They are far-sighted enough to see the odds against them, and moreover they can be
bribed—for it is evident that the Nazis think it worth while to bribe intellectuals. With the working class it is
the other way about. Too ignorant to see through the trick that is being played on them, they easily swallow
the promises of Fascism, yet sooner or later they always take up the struggle again.
Page 136 | Highlight (Yellow)
They must do so, because in their own bodies they always discover that the promises of Fascism cannot be
fulfilled. To win over the working class permanently, the Fascists would have to raise the general standard of
living, which they are unable and probably unwilling to do.
May 10, 2026
Page 138 | Highlight (Yellow)
That side which had arms would win. The Nazis and the Italians gave arms to their Spanish Fascist friends, and
the western democracies and the Russians didn’t give arms to those who should have been their friends. So
the Spanish Republic perished, having “gained what no republic missed.”2 Whether it was right, as all left-
wingers in other countries undoubtedly did, to encourage the
Page 138 | Highlight (Yellow)
Spaniards to go on fighting when they could not win is a question hard to answer. I myself think it was right,
because I believe that it is better even from the point of view of survival to fight and be conquered than to
surrender without fighting.
Page 127 | Highlight (Yellow)
But what impressed me then, and has impressed me
Page 127 | Highlight (Yellow)
ever since, is that atrocities are believed in or disbelieved in solely on grounds of political predilection.
Everyone believes in the atrocities of the enemy and disbelieves in those of his own side, without ever
bothering to examine the evidence.
Page 128 | Highlight (Yellow)
official war-propaganda, with its disgusting hypocrisy and self-righteousness, always tends to make thinking
people sympathise with the enemy. Part of the price we paid for the systematic lying of 1914–18 was the
exaggerated pro-German reaction which followed. During the years 1918–33 you were hooted at in left-wing
circles if you suggested that Germany bore even a fraction of responsibility for the war.
Page 128 | Highlight (Yellow)
But unfortunately the truth about atrocities is far worse than that they are lied about and made into
propaganda. The truth is that they happen. The fact often adduced as a reason for scepticism—that the same
horror stories come up in war after war—merely makes it rather more likely that these stories are true.
Page 130 | Highlight (Yellow)
The raping and butchering in Chinese cities, the tortures in the cellars of the Gestapo, the elderly Jewish
professors flung into cesspools, the machine-gunning of refugees along the Spanish roads—they all
happened, and they did not happen any the less because the Daily Telegraph has suddenly found out about
them when it is five years too late.
Page 132 | Highlight (Yellow)
Early in life I had noticed that no event is ever
Page 132 | Highlight (Yellow)
correctly reported in a newspaper, but in Spain, for the first time, I saw newspaper reports which did not bear
any relation to the facts, not even the relationship which is implied in an ordinary lie. I saw great battles
reported where there had been no fighting, and complete silence where hundreds of men had been killed. I
saw troops who had fought bravely denounced as cowards and traitors, and others who had never seen a shot
Page 132 | Highlight Continued
fired hailed as the heroes of imaginary victories;
Page 133 | Highlight (Yellow)
This kind of thing is frightening to me, because it often gives me the feeling that the very concept of objective
truth is fading out of the world. After all, the chances are
Page 133 | Highlight (Yellow)
that those lies, or at any rate similar lies, will pass into history. How will the history of the Spanish War be
written?
Page 133 | Highlight (Yellow)
Yet, after all, some kind of history will be written, and after those who actually remember the war are
Page 133 | Highlight (Yellow)
dead, it will be universally accepted. So for all practical purposes the lie will have become truth. I know it is
the fashion to say that most of recorded history is lies anyway. I am willing to believe that history is for the
most part inaccurate and biased, but what is peculiar to our own age is the abandonment of the idea that
history could be truthfully written. In the past people deliberately lied, or they unconsciously coloured what
they wrote, or they struggled after the truth, well knowing that they
Page 133 | Highlight (Yellow)
must make many mistakes; but in each case they believed that “the facts” existed and were more or less
discoverable. And in practice there was always a considerable body of fact which would have been agreed to
by almost everyone.
Page 133 | Highlight (Yellow)
It is just this common basis of agreement, with its implication that human beings are all one species of animal,
that totalitarianism destroys. Nazi theory indeed specifically denies that such a thing as “the truth” exists.
There is, for instance, no such thing as “science.” There is only “German science,” “Jewish science” etc. The
implied objective of this line of thought is a nightmare world in which the Leader, or some
Page 135 | Highlight (Yellow)
ruling clique, controls not only the future but the past. If the Leader says of such and such an event, “It never
Page 135 | Highlight Continued
happened”—well, it never happened. If he says that two and two are five—well, two and two are five.
May 10, 2026
Page 135 | Highlight (Yellow)
We in England underrate the danger of this kind of thing, because our traditions and our past security have
given us a sentimental belief that it all comes right in the end and the thing you most fear never really
happens.
Page 135 | Highlight (Yellow)
Consider for instance the re-institution of slavery. Who could have imagined twenty years ago
Page 135 | Highlight (Yellow)
that slavery would return to Europe? Well, slavery has been restored under our noses. The forced-labour
camps all over Europe and North Africa where Poles, Russians, Jews and political prisoners of every race toil at
road-making or swamp-draining for their bare rations, are simple chattel slavery. The most one can say is that
the buying and selling of slaves by individuals is not yet permitted. In other ways—the breaking-up of
families, for instance—the conditions are probably worse than they were on the American cotton plantations.
There is no reason for thinking that this state of affairs will change while any totalitarian domination endures.
Page 136 | Highlight (Yellow)
Yet this does not alter the fact that the working class will go on struggling against Fascism after the others
have caved in. One feature of the Nazi conquest of France was the astonishing defections among the
intelligentsia, including some of the left-wing political intelligentsia. The intelligentsia are the people
Page 136 | Highlight (Yellow)
who squeal loudest against Fascism, and yet a respectable proportion of them collapse into defeatism when
the pinch comes. They are far-sighted enough to see the odds against them, and moreover they can be
bribed—for it is evident that the Nazis think it worth while to bribe intellectuals. With the working class it is
the other way about. Too ignorant to see through the trick that is being played on them, they easily swallow
the promises of Fascism, yet sooner or later they always take up the struggle again.
Page 136 | Highlight (Yellow)
They must do so, because in their own bodies they always discover that the promises of Fascism cannot be
fulfilled. To win over the working class permanently, the Fascists would have to raise the general standard of
living, which they are unable and probably unwilling to do.
May 10, 2026
Page 138 | Highlight (Yellow)
That side which had arms would win. The Nazis and the Italians gave arms to their Spanish Fascist friends, and
the western democracies and the Russians didn’t give arms to those who should have been their friends. So
the Spanish Republic perished, having “gained what no republic missed.”2 Whether it was right, as all left-
wingers in other countries undoubtedly did, to encourage the
Page 138 | Highlight (Yellow)
Spaniards to go on fighting when they could not win is a question hard to answer. I myself think it was right,
because I believe that it is better even from the point of view of survival to fight and be conquered than to
surrender without fighting.
November 15, 2025
This essay is part of my “read everything” George Orwell project. I am struck by the timelessness of his writing, and this review is longer than reviews I’ve written for books ten times its length. That alone speaks to Orwell’s impact. What was true in 1943 remains true now. We still live in a polarised time where propaganda is rife and people believe what they want to believe.
Orwell does not spare the left, with whom he identified: “Our memories are short nowadays, but look back a bit, dig out the files of New Masses or the Daily Worker, and just have a look at the romantic warmongering muck that our left-wingers were spilling at that time” (p. 2). He reflects on his service in the Spanish Civil War, where his own comrades came close to executing him. He captures human nature with disturbing precision: “Everyone believes in the atrocities of the enemy and disbelieves in those of his own side, without ever bothering to examine the evidence” (p. 4).
Reading this, I can’t avoid reflecting on what happened on October 7th to the Jews in Israel, and what has continued to happen in Palestine. It all happened. There are no blameless people. My social media feed is full of people sharing propaganda from both sides with the same disregard for truth that Orwell observed in 1943. All the atrocities he mentions are human. The Bible is replete with Jewish atrocities being acknowledged and even celebrated (just as there were atrocities against the Jews). No one has innocence in their ancestry. This is partly why I am prepared to forgive the alleged atrocities of Ben Roberts-Smith. We sent him there. He is no better than the Taliban, and nor should we expect him to be. We place people in war and expect our boys to be better than theirs. War is horrible.
Orwell notes the selectiveness of belief: “Recently I noticed that the very people who swallowed any and every horror story about the Japanese in Nanking in 1937 refused to believe exactly the same stories about Hong Kong in 1942” (p. 4). I found it interesting that he was aware of what happened in Nanking in 1937 as early as 1943. Many people today have never even heard of it. As for Hong Kong in 1942, I have no idea what he is referring to, and that exposes my own ignorance of someone else’s suffering. Suffering is suffering. Orwell lists atrocities—“The raping and butchering in Chinese cities, the tortures in the cellars of the Gestapo, the elderly Jewish professors flung into cesspools, the machine-gunning of refugees along the Spanish roads—they all happened, and they did not happen any less because the Daily Telegraph has suddenly found out about them when it is five years too late” (p. 5).
He also understands the psychology of those doing the fighting: “People forget that a soldier anywhere near the front line is usually too hungry, or frightened, or cold, or, above all, too tired to bother about the political origins of the war” (p. 2). When you are fighting, you care about survival—your own and your friends’. You do not care who wants to call themselves King, Prime Minister, President, or Führer. Orwell also emphasises that those who romanticise war are nearly always non-combatants; the fantasies come from those who never had to face hunger, cold, or shells.
You can see the seeds of 1984 throughout this essay. “The implied objective of this line of thought is a nightmare world in which the Leader, or some ruling clique, controls not only the future but the past. If the Leader says of such and such an event, ‘It never happened’—well, it never happened. If he says that two and two are five—well, two and two are five. This prospect frightens me much more than bombs—and after our experiences of the last few years that is not a frivolous statement” (p. 11). Orwell worries that if fascism—or multiple fascisms—conquer the world, the conditions required for truth to exist would vanish. “We in England underrate the danger of this kind of thing, because our traditions and our past security have given us a sentimental belief that it all come right in the end and the thing you most fear never really happens” (p. 11). 1984 is this nightmare taken to its end point.
A related insight that Orwell develops here (and would later refine in “Politics and the English Language”) is the connection between language and thought. Propaganda thrives not only on falsified history but on mechanical, cliché-ridden language that numbs the mind. This is not simply a government problem; ordinary people participate in it willingly. Orwell argues that people twist facts to fit their loyalties long before any dictator forces them to. In this way, “memory holes” can appear even in free countries. This is one of Orwell’s most important insights, and as relevant now as it was then.
He also notes that some truths become visible only after the war. During conflict, patriotic pressure and fear make honest judgment impossible; the truth emerges only when passions cool. This reinforces Orwell’s broader point: humans are unreliable narrators of their own time.
Orwell’s sympathy is—as always—with the proles. “The backbone of the resistance against Franco was the Spanish working class, especially the urban trade-union members. In the long run—it is important to remember that it is only in the long run—the working class remains the most reliable enemy of Fascism, simply because the working class stands to gain most by a decent reconstruction of society. Unlike other classes or categories, it can’t be permanently bribed” (pp. 12–13).
In this essay, I can see 1984 coming more clearly than in almost anything else he wrote. Orwell has no trust in political leaders of either persuasion, nor in the political press, who function mainly as megaphones for their own a priori views. How can a prole find the “truth” in a time of lies and propaganda? I am not sure he knew, just as I have no idea today. We need to remember, to keep archives sacred, and to hold our leaders to account for their past words.
I am in awe of Orwell’s genius and will continue my project.
Orwell does not spare the left, with whom he identified: “Our memories are short nowadays, but look back a bit, dig out the files of New Masses or the Daily Worker, and just have a look at the romantic warmongering muck that our left-wingers were spilling at that time” (p. 2). He reflects on his service in the Spanish Civil War, where his own comrades came close to executing him. He captures human nature with disturbing precision: “Everyone believes in the atrocities of the enemy and disbelieves in those of his own side, without ever bothering to examine the evidence” (p. 4).
Reading this, I can’t avoid reflecting on what happened on October 7th to the Jews in Israel, and what has continued to happen in Palestine. It all happened. There are no blameless people. My social media feed is full of people sharing propaganda from both sides with the same disregard for truth that Orwell observed in 1943. All the atrocities he mentions are human. The Bible is replete with Jewish atrocities being acknowledged and even celebrated (just as there were atrocities against the Jews). No one has innocence in their ancestry. This is partly why I am prepared to forgive the alleged atrocities of Ben Roberts-Smith. We sent him there. He is no better than the Taliban, and nor should we expect him to be. We place people in war and expect our boys to be better than theirs. War is horrible.
Orwell notes the selectiveness of belief: “Recently I noticed that the very people who swallowed any and every horror story about the Japanese in Nanking in 1937 refused to believe exactly the same stories about Hong Kong in 1942” (p. 4). I found it interesting that he was aware of what happened in Nanking in 1937 as early as 1943. Many people today have never even heard of it. As for Hong Kong in 1942, I have no idea what he is referring to, and that exposes my own ignorance of someone else’s suffering. Suffering is suffering. Orwell lists atrocities—“The raping and butchering in Chinese cities, the tortures in the cellars of the Gestapo, the elderly Jewish professors flung into cesspools, the machine-gunning of refugees along the Spanish roads—they all happened, and they did not happen any less because the Daily Telegraph has suddenly found out about them when it is five years too late” (p. 5).
He also understands the psychology of those doing the fighting: “People forget that a soldier anywhere near the front line is usually too hungry, or frightened, or cold, or, above all, too tired to bother about the political origins of the war” (p. 2). When you are fighting, you care about survival—your own and your friends’. You do not care who wants to call themselves King, Prime Minister, President, or Führer. Orwell also emphasises that those who romanticise war are nearly always non-combatants; the fantasies come from those who never had to face hunger, cold, or shells.
You can see the seeds of 1984 throughout this essay. “The implied objective of this line of thought is a nightmare world in which the Leader, or some ruling clique, controls not only the future but the past. If the Leader says of such and such an event, ‘It never happened’—well, it never happened. If he says that two and two are five—well, two and two are five. This prospect frightens me much more than bombs—and after our experiences of the last few years that is not a frivolous statement” (p. 11). Orwell worries that if fascism—or multiple fascisms—conquer the world, the conditions required for truth to exist would vanish. “We in England underrate the danger of this kind of thing, because our traditions and our past security have given us a sentimental belief that it all come right in the end and the thing you most fear never really happens” (p. 11). 1984 is this nightmare taken to its end point.
A related insight that Orwell develops here (and would later refine in “Politics and the English Language”) is the connection between language and thought. Propaganda thrives not only on falsified history but on mechanical, cliché-ridden language that numbs the mind. This is not simply a government problem; ordinary people participate in it willingly. Orwell argues that people twist facts to fit their loyalties long before any dictator forces them to. In this way, “memory holes” can appear even in free countries. This is one of Orwell’s most important insights, and as relevant now as it was then.
He also notes that some truths become visible only after the war. During conflict, patriotic pressure and fear make honest judgment impossible; the truth emerges only when passions cool. This reinforces Orwell’s broader point: humans are unreliable narrators of their own time.
Orwell’s sympathy is—as always—with the proles. “The backbone of the resistance against Franco was the Spanish working class, especially the urban trade-union members. In the long run—it is important to remember that it is only in the long run—the working class remains the most reliable enemy of Fascism, simply because the working class stands to gain most by a decent reconstruction of society. Unlike other classes or categories, it can’t be permanently bribed” (pp. 12–13).
In this essay, I can see 1984 coming more clearly than in almost anything else he wrote. Orwell has no trust in political leaders of either persuasion, nor in the political press, who function mainly as megaphones for their own a priori views. How can a prole find the “truth” in a time of lies and propaganda? I am not sure he knew, just as I have no idea today. We need to remember, to keep archives sacred, and to hold our leaders to account for their past words.
I am in awe of Orwell’s genius and will continue my project.
July 13, 2023
An appendix to Homage to Catalonia, with a more personal approach. If on Homage, Orwell wishes the Republican side to win, and believes they will, here his reflections turn more pessimistic. A disappointed melancholy emanates from this text. Both books are to be read one after the other, like a good wine pairing.
March 10, 2018
Un relato sobre la experiencia y las sensaciones y recuerdos de la Guerra Civil en Orwell, tan solo 3 años después de que terminara y en plena II Guerra Mundial. Contado desde una optiaca de relato periodistico destinado a ser leido en 1942, leerlo ahora es simplemente impresionante.
May 10, 2024
Here Orwell talks about various aspects of his service in Spain during the civil war, but some discussions end up skilfully explaining that there is nothing glorious in warfare, it’s always an outcome of failed politics fuelled by propaganda.
Read
May 14, 2026Um bom complemento à leitura de "Homenagem à Catalunha".
July 16, 2021
«Yo había ido allí a pegar tiros contra los “fascistas”, pero un hombre al que se le caen los pantalones no es un “fascista”; es, a todas luces, otro animal humano, un semejante, y se le quitan a uno las ganas de dispararle.»
Años antes de escribir ‘Rebelión en la granja’ o ‘1984’, George Orwell participó en la Guerra Civil Española peleando por un ideal. Consciente que siempre se puede decir «Los dos bandos son igual de malos; me declaro neutral». En la práctica, sin embargo, no se puede ser neutral.
Lo primero que viene a su mente son los recuerdos físicos, los ruidos y la imposibilidad de librarse en ningún momento de los malos olores de origen humano. «Las balas duelen, los cadáveres apestan, los hombres expuestos al fuego enemigo suelen estar tan asustados que se mojan los pantalones.»
Considera que un bando casi siempre tiende a apostar por el progreso, mientras que el otro es más o menos reaccionario. Cree que los fascistas vencieron porque eran más fuertes: tenían armas modernas y los otros carecían de ellas. Ninguna estrategia política habría compensado ese factor.
Le da la razón a la clase trabajadora al pensar que el estómago viene antes que el alma, no en la escala de valores, sino en el tiempo. Para él, lo más desconcertante de la guerra civil española fue la actitud de las grandes potencias que del modo más mezquino, cobarde e hipócrita, hicieron cuanto pudieron por entregar España a Franco y a los nazis.
«La lucha de la clase obrera es como una planta que crece. La planta es ciega y sin seso, pero sabe lo suficiente para estirarse sin parar y ascender hacia la luz, y no cejará por muchos obstáculos que encuentre.»
Años antes de escribir ‘Rebelión en la granja’ o ‘1984’, George Orwell participó en la Guerra Civil Española peleando por un ideal. Consciente que siempre se puede decir «Los dos bandos son igual de malos; me declaro neutral». En la práctica, sin embargo, no se puede ser neutral.
Lo primero que viene a su mente son los recuerdos físicos, los ruidos y la imposibilidad de librarse en ningún momento de los malos olores de origen humano. «Las balas duelen, los cadáveres apestan, los hombres expuestos al fuego enemigo suelen estar tan asustados que se mojan los pantalones.»
Considera que un bando casi siempre tiende a apostar por el progreso, mientras que el otro es más o menos reaccionario. Cree que los fascistas vencieron porque eran más fuertes: tenían armas modernas y los otros carecían de ellas. Ninguna estrategia política habría compensado ese factor.
Le da la razón a la clase trabajadora al pensar que el estómago viene antes que el alma, no en la escala de valores, sino en el tiempo. Para él, lo más desconcertante de la guerra civil española fue la actitud de las grandes potencias que del modo más mezquino, cobarde e hipócrita, hicieron cuanto pudieron por entregar España a Franco y a los nazis.
«La lucha de la clase obrera es como una planta que crece. La planta es ciega y sin seso, pero sabe lo suficiente para estirarse sin parar y ascender hacia la luz, y no cejará por muchos obstáculos que encuentre.»
April 18, 2024
[AudioLibro]
George Orwell es un activista de su tiempo histórico. Cuándo el fascismo atacaba España el se alistó en las tropas republicanas para intentar frenarles, y en este pequeño libro nos cuentas su vivencias y también sus reflexiones en torno al absurdo de una Guerra que estaba perdida de antes, y no por los ideales, sino por las fuerzas que estaban en pugna, una como un experimento y la otra como una fuerza conservadora con el apoyo del más fuerte poderío militar de ese entonces.
Aquí aparecen sus punzantes pensamientos en torno al papel de la URSS, de lo qué significa estar en un trinchera, de que todos quienes batallan no entienden los ideales por el cual lo hacen sino que es el tránsito histórico que les toca vivir. Estuvo tan sólo 1 año, de 1936 a finales de 1937, pero entendió que el mundo necesita de ciertos ideales para seguir sobreviviendo.
A casi 100 años de su escritura, y con vientes de guerra nuevamente, leer los pensamientos de Orwell siempre ayudan a clarificar los propios.
Si quieres leerlo y/o escucharlo, puedes encontrarlo acá.
George Orwell es un activista de su tiempo histórico. Cuándo el fascismo atacaba España el se alistó en las tropas republicanas para intentar frenarles, y en este pequeño libro nos cuentas su vivencias y también sus reflexiones en torno al absurdo de una Guerra que estaba perdida de antes, y no por los ideales, sino por las fuerzas que estaban en pugna, una como un experimento y la otra como una fuerza conservadora con el apoyo del más fuerte poderío militar de ese entonces.
Aquí aparecen sus punzantes pensamientos en torno al papel de la URSS, de lo qué significa estar en un trinchera, de que todos quienes batallan no entienden los ideales por el cual lo hacen sino que es el tránsito histórico que les toca vivir. Estuvo tan sólo 1 año, de 1936 a finales de 1937, pero entendió que el mundo necesita de ciertos ideales para seguir sobreviviendo.
A casi 100 años de su escritura, y con vientes de guerra nuevamente, leer los pensamientos de Orwell siempre ayudan a clarificar los propios.
Si quieres leerlo y/o escucharlo, puedes encontrarlo acá.
January 9, 2026
Reading Orwell's essays is like standing up and lifting your eye level above the mental mire and for the first time gaining some clarity about the state of our society. I like Orwell, the narrator-character written by Eric Blair. He is honest and direct when discussing topics fraught with silver-tongued lies.
My take on this essay is that it's the "Why I Write" essay, as applied specifically to Orwell's best work: "Homage to Catalonia". This is among his more emotional pieces, delivered with, frankly, an uncharacteristically brave amount of optimism, especially for a Brit. The closing poem has a great rhyming scheme and musicality, all the while being drably matter-of-fact, which is, I think, exactly how I would have imagined George Orwell, the narrator-character whose stated purpose is to make political writing into an artform in its own right, would write poetry. Another thing I love about the poem is that Orwell's love of both evidence and musicality offered his comrades in war a great honor -- their names being spoken over and again by untold thousands of heads which cannot shake the music of the following verse:
For where is Manuel Gonzalez,
And where is Pedro Aguilar,
And where is Ramon Fenellosa?
The earthworms know where they are.
Brilliant
My take on this essay is that it's the "Why I Write" essay, as applied specifically to Orwell's best work: "Homage to Catalonia". This is among his more emotional pieces, delivered with, frankly, an uncharacteristically brave amount of optimism, especially for a Brit. The closing poem has a great rhyming scheme and musicality, all the while being drably matter-of-fact, which is, I think, exactly how I would have imagined George Orwell, the narrator-character whose stated purpose is to make political writing into an artform in its own right, would write poetry. Another thing I love about the poem is that Orwell's love of both evidence and musicality offered his comrades in war a great honor -- their names being spoken over and again by untold thousands of heads which cannot shake the music of the following verse:
For where is Manuel Gonzalez,
And where is Pedro Aguilar,
And where is Ramon Fenellosa?
The earthworms know where they are.
Brilliant
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