Chapter 1 Summary

George Orwell arrives in Barcelona, Spain, in late December 1936 as a journalist. The revolutionary spirit in Barcelona is remarkable. Orwell sees pamphlets, posters and flags everywhere. Busses and buildings are painted in red and black, indicating that they have been collectivized. Formal and ceremonial forms of speech have been abandoned. Although women were treated equally in combat roles, only months previously they had been. One day, Orwell sees an Italian militiaman and is inspired by his friendly confidence. Orwell gets caught up in the revolutionary spirit and enlists in a militia unit. He is largely unaware of the political situation at the time, as well as largely uninterested in labyrinthine Spanish politics. Orwell happens, by chance, to enlist in a militia unit of POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificaciun Marxista, or Party of Marxist Unification - a small Trotskyist Communist group), mostly because of...