Orwells View of the Spanish Revolution - Essay Example

Orwell’s View of the Spanish Revolution For George Orwell, the Spanish Revolution of 1936 was a social movement that went terribly wrong. He agreedwith many of the socialist ideals espoused by members of the revolutionary movement and had, in the beginning, believed a social transformation based on the socialist ideals to be possible. As groups became more fractious, even within the revolutionary movement, Orwell came to comprehend the precarious nature of the revolution and the dangers associated with the Communists and the Stalinists. In the end, he lamented the failure of the revolution and questioned whether a true socialist revolution was really possible. In order to better explain how Orwell changed his view of the Spanish Revolution, this essay will discuss the Spanish Revolution and its manifestations among the civilian and military populations, how Orwell and other political groups viewed the Spanish Revolution at different stages, and how Orwell’s own peculiar biases may have affected his ultimate conclusions. As a preliminary matter, in order to define the Spanish Revolution properly, it is necessary to place it in its historical context. In many ways, the revolution was unexpected by the governing elite; indeed, the Spanish military had calculated that a military coup against the Republican elite would be effective in quelling domestic dissent and reestablishing a firmer sense of order for the civilian population. The political atmosphere was especially tense. What happened instead of a smoothly executed coup was a breaking apart of the country; more specifically, anarchists, communists, and those with socialist leanings mobilized against the military rebels while simultaneously rejecting Republican rule. The immediate result was a decentralization of power in many parts of Spain, particularly in areas influenced by the anarchists. The Spain that Orwell wrote about in Homage to Catalonia, therefore, was a Spain in which different areas of the country were held by the Republicans, by the military Nationals, and by the anarchists. Catalonia, the main subject of Orwell’s work, was firmly in control of the anarchists and like-minded groups. The manifestations were rapid and pervasive; as noted by Orwell, for instance, it was surprising how quickly the common workers had taken control of Barcelona. He described this initial sense of transformation by noting that “It was the first time that I had ever been in a town where the working class was in the saddle” (1.8). This simple statement assumes much meaning given the fact that Orwell was a well-traveled man; more relevant to this essay, it demonstrates an initial sense of wonder and enthusiasm. This was an experiment that Orwell thought might succeed. He went on to describe how thoroughly the common people had assumed command. The workers carried rifles and displayed anarchist flags. They had taken control of virtually all of the buildings in Barcelona. The churches had been attacked and many had been burnt. The shops had new signs and placards displayed which stated that they had been collectivized. Cars had been seized and put to collective use and public transportation had all been painted black and red. In the same way as the shops, factories and agriculture were collectivized. Patriotic songs were played through loudspeakers at all times of the day and night. In short, in this part of Spain, the manifestations for civilian society were extreme and pervasive. There were expectations that workers, whether industrial or agrarian, would control the means of production. There were expectations that people would be allowed to treat each other as equals, and this social equality would translate in a better society. The military withdrew to secure regions. Orwell, despite admitting his admiration for the ideals expressed by the people, also admitted certain uneasiness. At one point, he acknowledged “All this was queer and moving. There was much in it that I did not understand, in some ways I did not even like it, but I recognised it immediately as a state of affairs worth fighting for” (1.9). Thus, he felt motivated by the cause and uncomfortable at the same time. Still, despite his uneasiness, Orwell felt that a worker’s state was a noble cause and worthy of support. It was, as a careful reading of the text demonstrates, a support of complete transformation rather than maintaining any part of the status quo that initially endeared Orwell to the revolutionary movement. He wrote, for example, that he viewed the pre-revolutionary people of the region as already being rather peaceful and equal in their relations to each other. He did not, as a consequence, foresee or even anticipate how the movement would turn so violent and ideologically dogmatic. At one point, he seemed to disregard his feelings of uneasiness and to embrace the possibility that such a revolution could occur by stating that “Many of the normal motives of civilized life--snobbishness, money-grubbing, fear of the boss, etc.--had simply ceased to exist. The ordinary class-division of society had disappeared to an extent that is almost unthinkable in the money-tainted air of England; there was no one there except the peasants and ourselves, and no one owned anyone else as his master” (8.101-102). The cruel irony was the fact that normal motives of civilized life had not ceased to exist. The class-divisions had not disappeared and many people wanted to become the new master now that the Republican elite and the military leaders had been temporarily defeated. Gradually, the Republicans decided to align with the lower classes and the anarchists against the military Nationalists whom aligned themselves with monarchists and Catholic groups. A merging of interests thus occurred that created a Republican-anarchist alliance to preserve the gains of the revolutionary movement against the military rebels whom had initiated the aforementioned coup. The problems began, in Orwell’s view, when different factions within this Republican-anarchist alliance began to emerge and struggle for influence and power. The harmony had begun to dissipate and Orwell’s previously announced feelings of uneasiness were soon to prove prescient. It was the ascension of the Spanish Communist Party, and particularly its growing allegiance to the Stalinists in the Soviet Union that changed Orwell’s mind about the Spanish Revolution. He had accepted their initial arguments to the effect that the revolution would have to be delayed pending the outcome of the civil war. On a return from fighting, however, he saw in Barcelona that things had changed. The wealthier classes were patronizing expensive shops, eating at expensive shops, and the revolutionary fervor he had previously witnessed in Barcelona was difficult to detect. The communists believed that the workers were not yet ready for the revolution and they refused to pursue what Orwell and many other anarchists believed to be the proper political path. He had seen the collectivization, he had gone off to war, and on his return he could see that what the communists desired and what he desired were not the same. More troubling, the communists had decided to take complete control and exclude the anarchists altogether. In alliance with the Republican capitalists, the communists engaged in a violent assault on the anarchists and removed the workers their revolutionary gains. Orwell was shot. In the final analysis, Orwell was gravely disappointed that the Spanish Revolution envisioned by the anarchists did not succeed. He attributed this failure primarily to the betrayals by the communists and the Stalinists. Works Cited Orwell, G. (1938). Homage to Catalonia. Penguin Books: London 1978 Read More