George Orwell's memoir Homage To Catalonia reflects on the futility of ideology in the Spanish Civil War. In his personal account of the conflict, Orwell reflects on his time on the front lines in Catalonia fighting the Nationalist advance. What beings as a naive desire to free Spain from Fascist control ends with Orwell totally disillusioned with the Spanish Civil War and ideological struggle in general.
As a journalist, Orwell came to Spain seeking to support the POUM (Workers' Part of Marxist Unification) in the conflict. Orwell entered the war as a foreign volunteer with full support of the anti-Fascist cause and efforts. Through the book though, the failure of the many diverse Spanish Anarchist and Communist/Socialist/Marxist factions to unite jades Orwell's perception. From the poor command on the battlefield, to the lack of supplies, to the failing war effort, to nearly being arrested by the end of the book, Homage to Catalonia reflects on the failure of Leftist ideology (largely Anarchism) to unite against the encroaching threat of Fascism in Europe at the time (in Orwell's eyes).
Orwell dedicates much of the book to talk about how the dogma of ideology failed to serve the anti-Fascist cause. He blames Spanish ideological divisions for failing the troops who fought against Franco's nationalist front. Where as the Nationalists fought for a unified cause to unite Spain, the Spanish leftists could not agree on a cause to unit Spain. Orwell's anecdotes showcase how ideological division in the war-effort. The ideological propaganda of the war occluded any direct cause or reason for its conduct. Without a clear direction, the Leftist cause was quagmired in infighting and literally quagmired in the trenches.
Orwell ultimately concludes that any pure ideological “revolution” was sabotaged in the Spanish Civil War which ended his optimism towards the cause. Orwell's escape from Spain ultimately supports his attitude towards the entire affair. Through it all though, Orwell can still see the innocent image of Spain. The Spain that was, before the Civil War obscured its beauty. George Orwell then returns to England where both images of Spain seem a far-off fantasy.
The book concludes as a homage to the ideological failure of Catalonia.
