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A lifelong revolutionary [[socialist]],{{fact-political}}{{fact-historical}}  

A lifelong revolutionary [[socialist]],{{fact-political}}{{fact-historical}}  

George Orwell learned about Stalinism when he volunteered to fight the Spanish [[Fascist]] forces to keep them from overturning the democratically elected socialist government of Spain in the [[Spanish Civil War]] (1936-1939). He enlisted in the POUM (In English, Workers Party for Marxist Unity) Militia, and saw action on the Aragon front, where he fought side by side with [[Anarchist]]s and [[Communist]]s, as well as Republican regulars. He became disillusioned with the Spanish government's policy of witholding arms from the POUM and the Anarchists, which he saw as an attempt by the Communists to water down the revolutionary nature of the Anti-Fascist resistance, and centralize power in the hands of the Moscow-backed Communist Party. Taking a bullet through his neck but surviving, Orwell was invalided to Barcelona, where he witnessed the Stalinist repression of Trotskyist and Anarchist parties. Orwell and his wife were forced to escape from Spain as fugitives, after the POUM was banned by the increasingly repressive regime. Despite his persecution, Orwell continued to support the Republic upon his return to England, viewing a Communist dominated Spain as better than a Fascist Spain. He recounted his experiences in Spain in the book [[Homage to Catalonia]]. <ref>[http://www.george-orwell.org/Homage_to_Catalonia/index.html]</ref>

George Orwell learned about Stalinism when he volunteered to fight the Spanish [[Fascist]] forces to keep them from overturning the [[democratically elected]] socialist government of Spain in the [[Spanish Civil War]] (1936-1939). He enlisted in the POUM (In English, Workers Party for Marxist Unity) Militia, and saw action on the Aragon front, where he fought side by side with [[Anarchist]]s and [[Communist]]s, as well as Republican regulars. He became disillusioned with the Spanish government's policy of witholding arms from the POUM and the Anarchists, which he saw as an attempt by the Communists to water down the revolutionary nature of the Anti-Fascist resistance, and centralize power in the hands of the Moscow-backed Communist Party. Taking a bullet through his neck but surviving, Orwell was invalided to Barcelona, where he witnessed the Stalinist repression of Trotskyist and Anarchist parties. Orwell and his wife were forced to escape from Spain as fugitives, after the POUM was banned by the increasingly repressive regime. Despite his persecution, Orwell continued to support the Republic upon his return to England, viewing a Communist dominated Spain as better than a Fascist Spain. He recounted his experiences in Spain in the book [[Homage to Catalonia]]. <ref>[http://www.george-orwell.org/Homage_to_Catalonia/index.html]</ref>

Orwell had only ten years left in his life when he returned.  During that period he and his wife adopted a baby boy, but Orwell's wife died shortly thereafter.  In those ten years Orwell wrote his famous anti-communist classics described above, first spending three years on the short story [[Animal Farm]] (1944), and then perhaps five years on the longer novel [[1984]] (1949). Orwell continued championing [[Socialism]] right up to his death, writing a regular column in the left-labor Tribune paper, but strongly criticized the USSR, unusually for a [[left-wing]]er of the period. He died of [[tuberculosis]] in 1950.

Orwell had only ten years left in his life when he returned.  During that period he and his wife adopted a baby boy, but Orwell's wife died shortly thereafter.  In those ten years Orwell wrote his famous anti-communist classics described above, first spending three years on the short story [[Animal Farm]] (1944), and then perhaps five years on the longer novel [[1984]] (1949). Orwell continued championing [[Socialism]] right up to his death, writing a regular column in the left-labor Tribune paper, but strongly criticized the USSR, unusually for a [[left-wing]]er of the period. He died of [[tuberculosis]] in 1950.