History Literature / HomageToCatalonia

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: The various party militias on the Republican side. Orwell describes the POUM militia, in which he served, as a particularly {{egregious}} example of this trope - an untrained, scruffy-looking band, partly composed of teenage boys whose enthusiasm was decidedly greater than their common sense.

* HomeByChristmas: A general commanding the Government troops after the fall of Siétamo proclaimed that "Tomorrow we'll have coffee in Huesca." Months of brutal fighting in the city in question disproved the general's proclamation.

* RedScare: Inverted-various "Red" factions accused each other of ''not'' being Red enough. Communist propaganda even accused the POUM of plotting with Franco, a "Brown Scare" if you will (specifically mentioned is a political cartoon in which a figure representing the POUM pulls a hammer and sickle-marked mask from its face to reveal a monstrous visage adorned with a swastika).

* WeAreStrugglingTogether: Communists, Anarchists and Socialists. None of them trusted the others (there was even rivalry between different Communist factions), but they all were against the Fascists. Orwell notes that the closer one got to the front, the better the camaraderie between the different groups. The fallout behind the lines helped to lose them the war.

* UrbanWarfare: Happened in Barcelona, between the Anarchists on one side and Communists & Republicans on the other.
* WarIsHell: Played with. The chapters about the trench warfare on the Aragon front don't fit this trope, but not WarIsGlorious, either; rather, Orwell describes it as boring and stale. He repeatedly emphasizes that there was hardly any action, and that everyone was more concerned about food and firewood than about the enemy. What close-quarters fighting he did see he describes as harrowing.

* WeAreStrugglingTogether: Communists, Anarchists and Republicans. None of them trusted the others (there was even rivalry between different Communist factions), but they all were against the Fascists. Orwell notes that the closer one got to the front, the better the camaraderie between the different groups.

The entire book can be read for free online [[http://www.george-orwell.org/Homage_to_Catalonia/ here]].

The entire book can be read for free online [[http://www.george-orwell.org/Homage_to_Catalonia/here]].

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: The Communist high command.

* RedScare: Inverted-various "Red" factions accused each other of ''not'' being Red enough. Communist propaganda even accused the POUM of plotting with Franco, a "Brown Scare" if you will (specifically mentioned is a political cartoon in which a figure representing the POUM pulls a hammer and sickle-marked mask from its face to reveal a monstrous face adorned with a swastika).

* OrwellianEditor: The [[BlatantLies horrible distortions of the truth]] which Orwell witnessed in Spain are the TropeMaker - they inspired the constant rewriting of the past in ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', which in turn [[TropeNamer named this trope]].

* WeAreStrugglingTogether: Communists, Anarchists and Republicans. None of them trusted the others (there was even rivalry between different Communist factions), but they all were against the Fascists.

* RedScare: Inverted-various "Red" factions accused each other of ''not'' being Red enough. Communist propaganda even accused the POUM of plotting with Franco, a "Brown Scare" if you will.

* WarIsHell: Played with. The chapters about the trench warfare on the Aragon front don't fit this trope, but not WarIsGlorious, either; rather, Orwell describes it as boring and stale. He repeatedly emphasizes that there was hardly any action, and that everyone was more concerned about food and firewood than about the enemy.

* WeAreStrugglingTogether: Communists and Anarchists.

** Orwell also loved the Spanish revolution and thought it's end was a bad thing.

* LanguageEqualsThought: The leftists refused to use ceremonial forms of address, preferring to simply call each other "thou" or "comrade".
** To clarify: In Spanish-as-spoken-in-Spain, there are two forms of the second person: the formal "usted" and the more casual "tú", and the usage of one or the other also affects how verbs are declined and other pronouns are used. The Catalonian anarchists favored usage of the latter as being less class-based.

** To clarify: In Spanish-as-spoken-in-Spain, there are two forms of the second person: the formal "usted" and the more casual "tú", and the usage of one or the other also affects how verbs are declined and other pronouns are used. The Catalonian commmunes favored the usage of the latter.

* RedScare: Inverted - various "Red" factions accused each other of ''not'' being Red enough. Communist propaganda even accused the POUM of plotting with Franco, a "Brown Scare" if you will.

* WarIsHell: Played with. The chapters about the trench warfare on the Aragon front don't fit this trope, but not WarIsGlorious, either; rather, Orwell describes it as boring and stale. He repeatedly emphasises that there was hardly any action, and that everyone was more concerned about food and firewood than about the enemy.

''Homage to Catalonia'' is Creator/GeorgeOrwell's account of his experiences in the SpanishCivilWar. He describes fighting as a militiaman on the side of the Republicans, as well as the gradual erosion of the Anarchist revolution in Catalonia and the [[DividedWeFall power struggle between various factions on the Republican side]]. It may well be the most famous book about the Spanish Civil War, and is widely praised for its BrutalHonesty.

* AnarchyIsChaos: Averted. Anarchist Catalonia is portrayed largely favourably, and while the situation in Spain is somewhat chaotic, Orwell makes it clear that this is due to it being in a state of civil war rather than due to it being in a state of anarchy. The POUM troops may be a RagtagBandOfMisfits but they are also quick to stand up for one another.

* AnarchyIsChaos: Averted. Anarchist Catalonia is portrayed largely favourably, and despite the civil war, there isn't much in the book that could be described as "chaos".

* AnarchyIsChaos: Averted. Anarchist Catalonia is portrayed largely favourably.

* WideEyedIdealist: The Republicans, especially the international volunteers. Orwell himself averts this trope, ''hard''.