Orwell's Homage to Catalonia｜Exposition #1

[@williamcfox]

Would appreciate feedback on the new series, especially the working title, “Bibliophile”. @williamcfox to vote on potential alternative You might also enjoy my video about the Spanish Civil War in Madrid. Check it out!

[@jjamieson4256]

The Exploration Super excited about this, I've actually been reading this exact book. I've almost finished the book and haven't started your video, but I already think this is a great idea.

[@williamcfox]

Enjoy the rest of the book!

[@dimaignatiev6370]

maybe you can see how they are going to lose from the very beginning...armies supposed to have officers and conscripts/regular volunteers in different ranks for the chain of command to be clear to everyone... Edit: Quote:"England might not wake up until the bombs are crushing over their heads"...they didn't ...but when the bombs fell they just went to sleep in the underground stations until morning...

[@ibopwebop]

its excellent! thank you so much.

[@climbhard13]

This is one of Orwell's best, and most overlooked works. It's a dirty representation of the complicated factions vying for power. This and Burmese Days clearly show the development of Orwell's political and social view made famous by his later novels.

[@stephenmcdonagh2795]

True that. The meddling from Stalins input weakened the socialist (Democratically Elected Socialists). Stalin divided the anti Franco factions to the point where they were they ended up fighting each other. Reagan when visiting Spain said; "A lot of Americans came over to fight in Spain (The international Brigades), but they fought for the wrong side...!!" I have a lot of respect for Orwell. When writing, "The Road to Wigan Peer" he walked with his back bent for over two miles just to reach the coalface- and that was just the journey to work.

[@Luke-rt9bx]

@@stephenmcdonagh2795 it’s my favourite book by Orwell, he’s a true journalist/author he really got into his work, and it’s not just a guy who sat and read documents. He got involved like down in out and Paris and London, and also the road to Wigan pier I think he’d probably be my favourite author.

[@stephenmcdonagh2795]

@@Luke-rt9bx Orwell was a great predictor of future events also- he wouldn't have liked the type of identity politics that's blighting the West today. I've yet to read, "Keep The Aspidistra Flowing" I think I've read all his other works though. Glubb, who wrote, "The Fait of Empires" would see the beginning of the end of Western hegemony, as all empires seem to follow the same downward path- mass navel gazing and destroying from within the very freedoms that made them great in the first place. I find it quite profound that he noted that something as simple as the lionisation of "Chefs" was involved in every failing empire- now look at what's dished out ad nauseam on our TV screens.

[@jatrodai8921]

well said.

[@manuelcaballer5396]

I am Spanish and this is a fantastic book review. Orwell taught me an incribly visual lesson about what in all my education in Spain has been told with pretencious heroism and romantic mourning, instead of the actual roughness and scarcities of that time. Your book review is smart, accurate and very well summarised. Muchas gracias amigo.

[@leary4]

I met a Spanish Civil War vet in Scotland in 81. He possessed all the attributes I really liked in a man (at the time); a great thirst, an open wallet and really cool stories. I wish I knew something about the war at the time but it was very hard to find the good guys in it which made it confusing. Unlike the ISIS cowards of today who come home to free housing and jobs programs this guy was a person in un official internal exile. Neither he nor his comrades would serve in ww2 none would achieve a substantial role in a support capacity. I doubt any could get on with the civil service. They would be watched all the way through the cold war. I liked him, Scots don't usually open up w or w/o alcohol on short notice. I guess I was a safe harbor to unload some baggage. He had a very visible tragic streak to him. I guess I might ask if he would do it again if he knew how things would turn out.

[@williamcfox]

I met some elderly Germans who lived through WW2 as adolescents. Leaving Germany last year without having recorded their stories on video is one of the greatest regrets of my life. I wish I could go back.

[@opheliabawles9646]

@@williamcfox l hear you. My Norwegian grandmother was born in 1910 and finally shuffled off at 103 years old. She'd occasionally be in the middle of some interminable story about familly when she might casually mention that it happened when such-and-such ship exploded in the harbour and broke a window, or the constant worry and stress around her brother who forged documents. Or even just how weird it was to suddenly see Germans goose-stepping up from the docks on a summer's day (she didn't follow politics much apparently.) Of course l never considered recording her until you mentioned it now. Oops 😳

[@notbadsince97]

I think one of my own favorite lines in the whole book or any book was, "goodness knows how many times the Spanish standard of marksmanship has saved my life"

[@estornel]

It's been a few years since I read Homage but one thing I can say, now that I live in Spain, is you don't go to Barcelona or Catalonia to experience the Spanish. You go there to experience the Catalans, massive difference. It's like saying you go to Switzerland to experience the Germans. Good synopsis of Homage. Definitely a great read!

[@REM-gd5zg]

I see no difference between a person of Madrid and one of Barcelona to be honest. Travelled all around Spain, and the cultural differences you may spot between cities and regions are small. Though, nationalists tend to minimize similarities and exagerate differences to build an artificial identity cosntruct, as Orwell new too well.

[@nickharris9761]

Loved the little anecdote that Orwell said about “asking the fascists to wear white arm bands”. I’ve been to Barcelona and this account brought the city more alive for me.

[@Guillemcll]

Read this book few months ago and loved it. I'm from Spain (Barcelona and I'm so much anti-fascist) and oh my god how much fun is in some points. First book I've ever read of Orwell and now reading more of them. Also, love this new section, please more videos like that! :D

[@williamtang899]

William how is the anarchist and leftist presence in Barcelona these days? I’d like to know how the political atmosphere is like, in the former home of the Anarcho-Syndicalist revolution. See any CNT-FAI red-black flags? Is the CNT still around and active?

[@JoeMmt347]

👍

[@a4grtu]

Great analysis! Really enjoyed it

[@HxH2011DRA]

This is gonna be so great for recommendations~ I like the title "The Exposition" because puns

[@Balidor]

I still remember my visit in the National History Museum of Catalonia. It was so moving and I never knew that Orwell was a fighter during their civil war ... mind blown.

[@fuzzydunlop7928]

You can tell how Orwell's experience during the War really shaped his outlook on the world. A unique one, at that. He seems to me to embody the true spirit of Libertarianism. Not that US "Gary Johnson" Ayn Rand bullshit but ACTUAL Libertarianism. Anti-authoritarian no matter what facade they choose to embody. Aware of the potential follies of unmitigated Capitalism run-amok. For self determination, for self-government. Orwell fought a civil war within a civil war, and it shows in his nuance. As someone who inhabits the space between "Anarchist" and "Libertarian" this was an important book for me and it continues to be a formative one as I continue this journey.

[@davidhull1481]

Coincidentally I am currently listening to this book on KZbin. I read it while in high school and it’s so good to hear it again after 55 years! I was prepared to boo hoo this video before I listened to it ( there’s so much crap on KZbin) but you did a really great job of explaining it for people who haven’t read it yet. I don’t twit, so I can’t vote for a title, but I would stick with Bibliophile. You clearly love books.

[@notmaireelneim]

Thanks for the book review. After I watched it the first time, I went ahead and read Orwell and then Hemmingway. Both books were amazing. I think you were a bit rough on Hemmingway. He had a completely different project from Orwell, but some parts of his novel spoke so true in terms of human nature. I think we should celebrate both of these works.

[@fuzzydunlop7928]

Also, anyone interested in the war itself should read Paul Preston's Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge as a primer. It does an excellent job of exploring the ins and outs of the different factions of the conflict and really delves into the causes INSIDE SPAIN that caused it - rather than just the outside factors. It's a very good book for getting people caught up. 17:30 - It's actually complete happenstance that Orwell joined the POUM - they were the path of least resistance for him so he (perhaps naively) joined up but he inadvertently chose what might've been the absolute worst group to join because they were the infamous band of "Trotskyists", Anarchists, Catalan Separatists, etc that not just the Nationalists wanted to obliterate but that the Republican government and the Stalinist faction wanted to destroy. As such they received the poorest equipment and so they were left to their own devices and stuck in the worst situations. It's amazing how such a simple decision on his part has such immense consequences and shaped his outlook so profoundly. I wonder what would've happened had he just waited and joined the Internationale Brigades instead like his friend. What happened while Orwell was away to the front in between visits to Barcelona is that both the Republicans and Stalin himself wanted to reach out to the Western Democracies, who viewed the Republican cause as a pre-lude to Communism in Western Europe - primarily due to things like free Barcelona. Stalin saw the war with Germany and Italy on the horizon and was attempting to end his phase of isolationism in an attempt to ally with the West but he also viewed a Franco victory as something to absolutely be avoided, so with Soviet assistance the now-Communist-dominated Republican government clamped down on the POUM and the Catalans, and the Anarchists (as is tradition for Communists) in order to show the West that the Republicans were less 'Radical' than their cause appeared. This was futile, of course, and it's one of the great ironies of Spain's Civil War that the lack of Western aid to the legitimate Spanish government - due to a fear of Communist sprawl - actually caused the Republic to rely more and more on Stalin and Soviet assistance and thus allowed Stalin's "more moderate" Communist faction to dominate the Republican government by the end of the war. It wasn't the infighting and paranoia that lost the war for the Republic, and it wasn't due to Franco's strategic brilliance (he was actually a shitty commander), and it wasn't due to aid from Germany and troops from Italy (a lot of people don't know that a not-insignificant number of Italian "volunteers" fought in Spain), it was actually a lack of support from the Western Democracies - France and Great Britain chief among them - that lost the war for the Republic.

[@neilaspin008]

Orwell's finest book by a country mile.

[@nathanbruce1992]

This was extremely well presented and your knowledge seems authentic. Definitely one of the better researched and thought out channels on KZbin. Thank you, please make a lot more.

[@carlypakenas501]

This helped me out with a college class! Very insightful. You have gained another fan

[@joebanuelos5614]

I would suggest King Leopold's Ghost for your next nonfiction. I am not usually a reader, but I couldn't find enough time to read that book. It's a page turner that one. The subject is like the non fiction version of Heart of Darkness. Also you've inspired me to read Homage in the near future.

[@nickharris9761]

I’ve just finished reading this , an excellent review.

[@AlexandraBryngelsson]

felix morrow "revolution and counter revolution in spain" is also higly recomended for more background to the conflict from the declaration of the republic in 1931 You can find it online: www.marxists.org/archive/morrow-felix/1938/revolution-spain/

[@BrorealeK]

You've really sold the book for me, thanks for pushing me to bite the bullet and finally read this! I'd like for there to be a more professional video at some later point after breaking down the book and discussing it in a more measured, analytical way. That way all the people who've read it at your recommendation can answer with their own perspectives and a little discussion can happen. Of course this can happen at any time, even if you wait a year or more to do it. I just think it's a good idea!

[@williamcfox]

Nice idea. Doing a follow up for people who take the time to read the book. Sounds like something for the community tab, and/or my personal channel. I'll comment here again if I ever do it for this book

[@BabyPuncher9ll]

this is going to be a great series

[@sophiarevel6952]

Thank you for this video talk on Homage to Catalonia. ❤

[@kreationkaze]

You had me at Orwell.

[@justahologram6311]

Thank you so much for saving my grade.

[@LaNicoteca]

I m spanish... i just gona say good job, good video. I think there is no mistakes in that video

[@TheHeka42]

I was just discussing this book with my friend the other day. He didn't quite convince me to read it buy you certainly did.

[@climberly]

Wow, great video. I was considering buying this book but now I will for sure. Thank you!

[@oOnexxsoulzz]

I bought this book when you recommended it in one of your other videos looking forward to more recommendations it’s a fantastic book. Keep up the videos there really well made.

[@emperorpenguin3845]

That´s funny, started reading it yesterday, liked it so far. Are you stalking me?

[@williamcfox]

Big Brother is watching you!

[@SolomonsCave]

¡Qué interesante! Ahora lo tengo que leer. Together with all other Orwell books I haven't read yet.

[@minergmaingx2000]

En mi clase Ingles, leemos 1984 y mucha de mis amigos no gusta, RIP. Pero yo creer es porque mis amigos éramos personas muy idealistas y no gusta libros que 'todos es horrible y todos personas morir'.

[@williamcfox]

Y es difícil para jóvenes entender qué fácil es perder la vida occidental que tenemos, una vida más o menos libre y sin mucha violencia de guerra. Cuando éramos niños, accpetabamos la realidad como pintura dibujado para nosotros. Por eso, un libro como 1984 es ficción pura o exageración.

[@SolomonsCave]

Pero fue diferente en las clases que enseñé en Honduras. Los jóvenes allí sí aprenden qué la vida es dura e injusta. A ell@s falta la esperanza.

[@miamiexplorer6451]

Subscribed! Great review. I’m reading it now.

[@b.griffin317]

good review. Orwell's non-fiction is better than his fiction.

[@skripnigor]

Great series! My problem with books is that I eagerly start a book but somewhere in the middle I loose the drive and switch to smth else. There are dozens of books that I dropped halfway through hoping I will finish them someday (though I know I never will :))

[@weedandwine]

I've done that to. The internet's made me lazy in some respects. I was just checking out some of your videos, you pretty good.

[@skripnigor]

weedandwine Thank you! Please stay tuned: my new composition is coming in a few days!

[@superspacecadet]

Awesome thanks for such a good video

[@franciman2]

Just wonderful

[@4gs8vh4gs8vh]

Love this video!

[@avicennam7708]

I will give it a read and keep up the good work :)

[@douglasanderson8636]

I had a girlfriend in Spain whose grandad was high up in the republican army...the stories about what happened to him after the war were chilling.

[@thatsnodildo1974]

*oh boy my wallet is screaming BECAUSE THIS IS GONNA BE GOOD RECOMMENDATIONS*

[@MissChanandlerBong96]

Great video, thank you. Orwell over Hemingway any day. Fucking PREACH!

[@tsunamis3702]

man you are the coolest

[@tsunamis3702]

How about doing a video on the rise and fall of Yugoslavia and Titoism?

[@belfigue]

Another great video. Loved the comparison with Hemingway. I always felt uncomfortable reading Hemingway, too much BS. I've read other Orwell books - seems like I missed an important one here. He definitely gets the futility of our civil war very well... Sad sad sad

[@TheJericho9090]

You the best m8

[@tomisweddable]

What's with the aversion to affiliate links? Does it not just work well for everyone? I've never thought of it as a problem. You're a good human tho, Will.

[@bobdole8830]

tomiswedd not everyone is a sellout...

[@douglasanderson8636]

try the Laurie Lee books about Spain.

[@Ptaku93]

Nice review, made me interested in the book, even though you would probably say I "quack like a fascist and move like a fascist". The use of "fascist" as an adjective to describe all the various anti-republican factions is probably the only feature of this video I found sub-par. I wonder what other books you will recommend in the future.

[@leiftorbjorn5621]

Ptaku93 This. Franco and the Falange were fascist . But there were Carlists, Monarchists, normal conservatives, etc. I mostly found it annoying not because I identify as a monarchist or anything. But because it is inaccurate.

[@iconsumedmt1350]

Why tf wasn't this on my home page 5 days ago

[@williamcfox]

Algorithm doesn't think you'd be interested I guess

[@olanmcevoy8581]

Thank you for doing this, I think it's a really great idea! I always try to read as much non-fiction as possible outside of coursework but it's always easier to find things when they're recommended by a trusted source

[@tomjensenlyrics]

Is he more Seth Rogen or more Peter Griffin? I go 60/40 and then 40/60.

[@tarquiniussuperbus21]

Wasn't he an anarchist? At least that's what he alludes to in the book.

[@TheReaper569]

The things orwell praises, the classless atmosphere, ability to reject orders, disorginnized mass of people, no chain of command.. are the reasons why republicans got crushed.

[@francescofontana9707]

Republicans got crushed because they had the best part of their professional army and staff defect to the rebels, and the Fascists had full support of Italy and Germany, the Italian navy blockaded the ports, making in it difficult for the Popular Army to resupply, Luftwaffe had clear air superiority, Italy alone sent 50 000 man to the fight. The Republicans had little public recognition from liberal democracies that were afraid to upset Herr Hitler, they were desperate for modern weapons, whatever little equipment the Soviets managed to get through they were not trained to use. Anarchist and POUM militias did fairly well considering the situation.

[@TheReaper569]

We should also note that you have a bias towards left as well.

[@forcanisso1639]

Being anti fascist isnt a bias towards the left rofl

[@briangeorge4182]

aaaaaaye BB

[@sophiarevel6952]

It isn't politically correct to cover up the fact that this is what that 12 year old was called. The truth matters.

[@James-tb6je]

The Spanish inquisition

[@rgaleny]

DO , I, CLAUDIUS OR NOTES FROM THE UNDERGGO8UND

[@crab_aesthetics]

Based Franco

[@bobdole8830]

you left out the part about the international volunteers fighting for the facists

[@redwolf5469]

#Exploriphile

[@MatthewZmusician209]

Viva El Rey.

[@acleme1709]

You should do the three volumes of Gulag Archipelago, 90 depressing hours of the most awful things people have ever done to each other.

[@acleme1709]

But seriously, Homage to Catalonia is probably my favorite work by Orwell. Great book to jump off on. Now about Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's Soviet Union destroying masterpiece...

[@leiftorbjorn5621]

Honestly, I know this is an unpopular opinion. But even though Franco was a horrible dictator. His victory was desirable when compared to the chaos of the leftist alliance. Catalonia was dominated by tyrannical anarcho communist workers unions. And other parts of Spain was ruled by “the dictatorship of the proletariat” style governments. The actual republic before was very corrupt, and it continued to be so throughout the war. The defeat of Franco in Spain would undoubtedly lead to further conflict between the leftist groups leading to more deaths. The leading ideology there would either be Stalinism (or a version of it) which doesn’t have to be explained why it is bad. Or unionist anarcho communism, which proved itself extremely tyrannical and dangerous ideology where it was tried in Catalonia. Franco was horrible, but absolutely the lesser of two evils. The war wasn’t about fascism vs democracy. It was a war between pseudo fascism/traditionalist nationalism and tyrannical communism.

[@williamtang899]

The CNT(National Confederation of Labor), the said “tyrannical anarchist worker’s unions”, was an anarcho-syndicalist trade union organization, which worked alongside with the FAI(Anarchist Federation of Iberia) led the anarchist revolution in Catalonia. How, in any way, were they tyrannical? Revolutionary Catalonia was the most libertarian(in the political sense, not the american “anarcho-capitalist” sense). It put the workers in democratic control of their own factories, farmland, and firms, and in Orwell’s own words, “in was the first [society] where the working class was in the saddle”. The fighters of the CNT-FAI were the most dedicated soldiers on the Aragon front. The Anarchists wanted to accomplish the revolution during the war, and their defiance of authoritarianism and unjust hierarchy threatened both the reactionary Nationalists and counterrevolutionary, Statist Republicans, so the Republicans under direction of Stalin crushed the Anarchists in the May Days. This was part of the reason why the left lost the conflict. Also, yes; the Anarchist revolutionaries did, indeed, attack the church; however, at the time, the Catholic church in Spain had already aligned itself with the fascists, so they had it coming. It would be illogical for any revolutionary to NOT destroy any reactionary forces that would try to bring the, down from within. As a person with sympathies towards Christianity(especially, Liberation Theology), I feel that the attacks on the church were regrettable, as Christianity and the left have much in common; however the church had chosen to align itself with fascists.

[@leiftorbjorn5621]

Rolan Vorxariat your just echoing their ideals, not their actions. If you honestly think that cnt-fai catalunya was a left libertarian paradise and not tyrannical. You’re just saying what some schmuck on a propagandist video said. The unions restricted almost all rights of the workers that they were supposed to protect. They told you what you could and couldn’t do, and I’m not even necessarily coming at this from a “libertarian” perspective now. Even for leftist regimes, they were very restrictive on the populous, they told you where to work, how much to work, and how much free time you had, and where you could travel etc. You didn’t have an option not to do exactly what they said, because they had a “state” monopoly on the distribution of wealth and more importantly food. Even if ur a commie/syndie, or whatever, the CNT-FAI aught not to be one of your shining beacons of anarcho-syndicalism/ communism, or whatever.

[@williamtang899]

LEIF TORBJÖRN what’s your source?