He was radicalized against the Soviets because they did not support the socialist revolution led by anarchosyndicalists. Instead Stalin supported the liberals because he said it wasn’t time for revolution yet which is BS since Barcelona and big parts of Catalonia did well under anarchists. An anarchist revolution would undermine the “ends justify the means” and “there is no other way to socialism than ours” rhetoric of the bolsheviks.
TLDR He was an anti-Soviet agitator but from the left
It was after. That also radicalized him towards class solidarity and socialism. He empathized with the suppressed indigenous peoples there and in the next step with the suppressed in his own country. He went to meet them and live with them as documented in his book The Road to Wigan Pier. Then, as a vaguely socialist, he went to Spain as documented in Homage to Catalonia. I read both books btw
For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemmingway is set during this period. Just a side note.
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell would also be a good read for someone looking favorably on the Soviets during the Spanish Civil War.
Wasn’t Orwell a British spy under Churchill and a professional anti-communist agitator?
He was radicalized against the Soviets because they did not support the socialist revolution led by anarchosyndicalists. Instead Stalin supported the liberals because he said it wasn’t time for revolution yet which is BS since Barcelona and big parts of Catalonia did well under anarchists. An anarchist revolution would undermine the “ends justify the means” and “there is no other way to socialism than ours” rhetoric of the bolsheviks.
TLDR He was an anti-Soviet agitator but from the left
Was this before or after he served as a British intelligence officer in colonial-era Burma?
It was after. That also radicalized him towards class solidarity and socialism. He empathized with the suppressed indigenous peoples there and in the next step with the suppressed in his own country. He went to meet them and live with them as documented in his book The Road to Wigan Pier. Then, as a vaguely socialist, he went to Spain as documented in Homage to Catalonia. I read both books btw