In order to understand the broad vision of Orwell regarding the relationship between the classes and totalitarianism and the importance of democracy and capitalism against communism and totalitarianism, we need to clear our concept about these ideologies. Therefore, America is the birthplace of democracy as it provided various rights to its people, even property and intellectual rights. The other European countries followed the same capitalist approach with the end of the World War II. Later on capitalism was recognized to be the principle element for a society that is economically as well as politically and socially sound and healthy. So with the end of the Cold War between the communist Russia and the capitalist USA, Capitalism flourished with the new, modernized and changing trends of international order called as globalization. Now every state is following the capitalist ideology, even China yet being politically communist follows capitalism as its economic policy, due to which china is dominant over the global market. So a democratic society is such a society where the people run the government for the people and by the people. Therefore, totalitarianism and communist societies, being rigid, selfish and tyrant societies are poles apart from democratic societies.

Therefore, being influenced by the political and social ideologies and the repercussions of both these schools of thoughts on the societies, George Orwell, has gifted his prolific writings to the readers of political history of the 20th century. On the other hand, he achieved fame with his two brilliant satires during the late 1940’s. He is also recognized for writing documentaries, essays as well as critical issues during 1930’s that made him popular and an influential writer of the century. Homage to Catalonia is one of his great works that consists of 9 chapters.

Homage to Catalonia

George Orwell was basically a journalist so his writing style is very much objective as a journalist style usually is. He captures his personal experiences and understandings of the political and social conditions during and after the war in Spain. Though he read a lot about socialism and its society but this was the first experience he got to understand socialism practically. Therefore, many things became an influence of his expressions in Homage To Catalonia. Though he went as a reporter to Spain but soon joined himself to the Republican Party and becomes a member of “The Workers Party of Marxist Unification”, which was a revolutionary party against Stalin. Later on he is sent to the battlefield where he is caught by cold, which made him inactive, at the same time he was not well-equipped and lacked adequate weapons to fight. At the same time, he and the Spanish troops were suffering from serious heat, cold, dirt, parasites, deprivation from basic food and health care, boredom and other occasional dangers. Therefore, in Homage to Catalonia, he observes Russians as true conservatives and communists, as they rhetorically used and radicalized the Spanish people during war.

Orwell: Class and Totalitarianism

Homage to Catalonia is based on the experiences he gained during the Spanish Civil War. There he noticed the true nature of Russian ideology and realized it is basically a communist and conservative state rather then what it posses to be a socialist. What basically motivated this artistic political journalist to write in a different style then his other works was his desire to separate socialism from communism and promote democracy against totalitarianism, as he was feared by the rise of totalitarianism via the Stalinist Russia. So when writing this book, he also provided the readers with his personal opinions with the happenings side by side the information he was adding. Therefore, in Homage to Catalonia, he seriously observes the relationship between classes and totalitarianism, which made him realized the strong need of socialist democracy.

Though bourgeoisie class was not prominently present but he noticed a spontaneous rise in the working class that was intense in the arm forces, during the Spanish Civil War. However, Borkenau was the chief city if Catalonia during the war, where the Spanish army was discriminated by the Stalinist Russians. The Russian communists started torturing the Spanish people via police, discriminating them in the arm forces, closing and burning their shops etc. altogether these events were a cause for a revolution against the politically proletariat Russians. Therefore, Orwell noticed a spilt in the anti-fascist forces that were divided into 3 main groups. One was the Socialist Party of the left wing, other was the socialist organization and the anarchists called as FAI, while the third class was their Trade Union Confederation.

Though the socialist party of the left wing was not in favor to overthrow the workers of the Republican Party but it was necessary to crush the military to continue a revolution. Therefore, the FAI became dominant over the first group. However, many other changes occurred in these classes that reversed the revolutionary process. It was the Russian Military Political party that liquidated all the revolutionary gains of the past as it supported the Republican Middle class and the Spanish Communist Party.

Therefore, Orwell felt a division in the working class it self though the bourgeoisie and the revolutionary groups were struggling against fascism and fighting to achieve the same goals. Both these groups of the same class were pro-capitalism and socialism and ant-communism and totalitarianism. At the same time he felt the need to bring awareness among the classes about a social system where democracy is openly practiced and the rights of individuals are recognized with out any discrimination. This is the capitalist system, which is based on the rights of individual gains depending upon their capacities and skills to promote the national interest of the country.

Therefore, capitalist socialism was opposite to communism and totalitarianism. At that time the people were deprived to express freely what they want and were treated like animals in a farm. The ruling class had all the powers and was the sole decision making authority. So dictatorship and totalitarianism were strengthening its roots under communism. These political authorities decide the future of the masses and massively practiced class discrimination. All this was felt by Orwell, which he tried to express in Homage to Catalonia. So when the revolutionaries were rising, at the same time, he notices a twist in the Russian foreign policy. Now Russia was in quest of a compromise to join an alliance with Britain and France. So it followed a policy, compromising with international capital and over supported the left wing of the revolutionary group that ceased the whole movement for the time being.

Therefore, Orwell realized many classes including many individual anarchists and a small revolutionary party, named “POUM” that was working independently. However, Orwell strongly felt the need to complete the revolution to cease totalitarianism and communism for a prosperous future of the various discriminated classes in the Spanish society. At this stage he felt to participate in the revolutionary movement against fascism.