Homage to Catalonia

George Orwell in Spain, 1937Writer George Orwell (tall man in the center) at the Aragon front in Huesca province, Spain, during the Spanish Civil War, c. March 13, 1937. His wife, Eileen Blair, is kneeling beside him.

Homage to Catalonia, autobiographical account by British writer George Orwell of his experience as a volunteer for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, published in 1938.

Unlike other foreign intellectual leftists, Orwell and his wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy Blair, did not join the International Brigades but instead enlisted in the Workers’ Party of Marxist Unification (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista; POUM). The book chronicles both his observations of the drudgery of the daily life of a soldier and his disillusionment with political infighting and totalitarianism. That disillusionment would eventually be channeled into his 1945 novella Animal Farm, a political fable based on the story of the Russian Revolution and its betrayal by Joseph Stalin.

George Orwell at the POUM headquarters in Barcelona, 1936
George Orwell at the POUM headquarters in Barcelona, 1936When the Spanish Civil War broke out, English writer George Orwell (tall man, far left in the background) joined the militia of the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista; POUM), a communist political party formed during Spain's Second Republic.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by René Ostberg.
Citation Information
Article Title: Homage to Catalonia
Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published: 15 September 2026
Access Date: November 14, 2026