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Ernest Hemingway wielding a Mosin Nagant while fighting for the Republicans during the Spanish civil war, 1937 (slrpnk.net)

submitted 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) by ProdigalFrog to c/historyporn@lemmy.world

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[-] ProdigalFrog 94 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Incidentally, Orwell fought in the Spanish Civil war as well under the POUM, and went on to write a book about it. What he saw in Catalonia solidified him as a Democratic Socialist for the rest of his life, and soured him on totalitarian communism after seeing how the communists betrayed the Anarchists and the POUM, which inspired him to write Animal Farm.

For a deeper history on the Spanish Civil War, I'd highly recommend this excellent documentary series.

[-] PugJesus@lemmy.world 24 points 4 weeks ago

Homage to Catalonia is amazing, highly recommend.

[-] blubton@lemmy.world 13 points 4 weeks ago

I recently read this and was surprised at how good it was. I loved Orwells Animal Farm, but didn't like 1984 that much, so I wasn't expecting to enjoy it; I read it more to get some insights of the war. But the book is not just informative, it is also really funny at times, and the story is just wild.

I second this recommendation.

[+] shikitohno@lemm.ee -28 points 4 weeks ago

Betrayal is a bit of a hefty charge to be leveled against anyone by the guy who turned government informant and denounced writers he thought were too communist to the British government.

[-] meeeeetch@lemmy.world 50 points 4 weeks ago

Betrayal is about the only word to accurately describe the historically documented events when Soviet-backed communist troops began firing on non-Soviet-backed communist and anarchist troops in the middle of the civil war.

[-] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 14 points 4 weeks ago

Or the summary executions of individuals that criticized the growing Stalinist influence. Hemingway rather famously had falling outs with several of his friends for ignoring other friends being executed in the street.

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 11 points 4 weeks ago

Yeah, but that's critical thinking and using words as they're intended to be used...

This is social media and the topic is political ideology so no one has any time for such nonsense as that

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 7 points 4 weeks ago

The Soviets did shoot him before he did any of that. Like idk what your definition of betrayal is, but mine includes shooting your comrades

[-] match@pawb.social 18 points 4 weeks ago

is this the late modern equivalent of volunteering to fight in Ukraine

[-] ProdigalFrog 19 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

It's eerily similar. Another modern instance would be the International Freedom Battalions in Rojava, which were directly inspired from the International Brigades of the Spanish Civil War.

[-] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 12 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

No one could ever accuse Ernest Hemingway of being a boring person:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV8krTEQIXQ

[-] phoneymouse@lemmy.world 7 points 4 weeks ago

I’m sure he had political reasons, but it also provided material for For Whom The Bell Tolls.

[-] kamenoko@sh.itjust.works 6 points 4 weeks ago

Fun fact, he went as a journalist and violated international laws by participating, which there is scant evidence he actually did any fighting himself.