1984 And the Spanish Civil War

In book 2 of the Forgotten Stories from Spain, we look at George Orwell and his contribution to our understanding of the state and how the past can be manipulated in order to determine both the present and the future. Now, before you run off thinking this has nothing to do with Spain, stop! Because you would be wrong, as it was in Spain that Orwell first began to witness these ideas in action. 

George Orwell and Accountability

Tony Benn once recommended that we should ask our leaders 5 Important Questions:

1. What power have you got? 
2. Where did you get it from? 
3. In whose interests do you exercise it? 
4. To whom are you accountable? 
5. And how can we get rid of you?

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Now, it strikes me that where I to sit, there are few countries in the world that could offer a positive response to any of these questions. 
​But things were not always like this. Once upon a time - for a fleeting moment in history - Spain enjoyed a flourishing democracy unlike anything the world had seen before, but it lasted just a few months. One man, however,  witnessed that moment and wrote down the lessons he learnt in 3 majorly important books:

1. Homage to Catalonia
2. Animal Farm
3. 1984

 And his name, was George Orwell. 

It's an Orwell Feast!

1984 and the Spanish Civil War is the second book in the Forgotten Stories From Spain trilogy, the first being the Ambulance Man and the Spanish Civil War (2nd Edition), and the final book: The Bank Robber and the Spanish Civil War  - due out at the end of next year. 
The Forgotten Stories series looks at particular moments during the civil war, and explores their relevance back then, and now.  If you want to read the full story, grab both the audio and ebook here. If you want to learn an anarchist phrase or two: read the section below. 

Anarchic Sentences to slip into the conversation:

• You cannot buy a revolution. You cannot make a revolution. You can only be a revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere. 
• There is no end. There is only process.
• Your'e just a buyer or a seller. You  have no relation to things, but that of possession!

Posters to Collect and Swap!

Some of the images below can be found in the new book: 1984 and the Spanish Civil War. But not all...

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