mynyddwr t1_itnawuk wrote on October 24, 2022 at 10:11 PM

When I was a sailor in the sixties the magic and almost universal phrase was "jig-jig"

I'm not sure how reliable a guide Orwell is to the Spanish Civil War. He joined the P.O.U.M. which was an anarchist organization and which got into a fight with the communists in Barcelona. Anthony Beevor has written a useful history of the Spanish Civil War, although Beevor in turn is a Marxian. It is called the "Battle for Spain".

One of the most impressive novels about the war I have read is the Spanish trilogy that starts with "Los Cipreses creen en Dios" and ends with "Un millón de muertos".

SlitchBap OP t1_ito76v4 wrote on October 25, 2022 at 2:09 AM

Above all Orwell was an idealist turned realist. That's what I love about this narrative, too many other works are saturated with idealism and partisanship.

MasterOfNap t1_ito4c6k wrote on October 25, 2022 at 1:48 AM

I’ve read Beevor’s book but I don’t recall anything suggesting he’s a Marxist, do you have any source for that?

Orwell is a first-person witness in the war, which means there’s no way he can be perfectly neutral. That doesn’t mean he’s lying in the book though, unless you have some other evidence to support otherwise.

mynyddwr t1_its6omg wrote on October 25, 2022 at 10:22 PM

I certainly didn't say Orwell was lying, I merely pointed out that Orwell had a particular experience of the war, which was perhaps not consistent with the experience of many others.

Beevor, certainly had a reputation for taking the Soviet line in his earlier work, on Stalingrad and others. Don't forget that British historiography was deeply influenced by Marxism. I said Beevor was a Marxian not a Marxist.