Editing Homage to Catalonia (section)

===Contemporary reviews (1930s–1940s)===
Initial reception of ''Homage'' were mixed and few in number, with reviews being divided between supporters and opponents of Orwell's analysis of the conflict.{{Sfn|Buchanan|2002|pp=304-305}} 

Many positive reviews of the book came from Orwell's friends and political allies, such as [[Geoffrey Gorer]] and [[John McNair (British politician)|John McNair]] respectively.{{Sfn|Buchanan|2002|p=305}} Veterans of [[World War I]], such as [[Herbert Read]] and [[Gerald Brenan]], praised the book for its vivid depiction of life on the frontlines of a war. Read commented that, except for a lack of artillery bombardment, Orwell's "physical miseries" in Aragon seemed worse than his own in [[Battle of Ypres|Ypres]]; while Brenan related to his descriptions of war's "immense boredom and its immense charm, the sense of being a human being again among other human beings." [[Irene Rathbone]] likewise wrote that he had captured the feelings of the men that fought in the World War, commenting that he was "in essence" a part of that same generation.{{Sfn|Buchanan|2002|p=311}} Other positive reviews came from staunch [[anti-communism|anti-communists]] in [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] and [[Catholic Church in the United Kingdom|Catholic]] circles, who had opposed the [[Second Spanish Republic|Spanish Republic]] from the outset. A review for the conservative magazine ''[[The Spectator]]'' concluded that the "dismal record of intrigue, injustice, incompetence, quarrelling, lying communist propaganda, police spying, illegal imprisonment, filth and disorder" was evidence that the Spanish Republic had deserved to fall.{{Sfn|Buchanan|2002|p=305}} The book also received a positive review from Austrian journalist [[Franz Borkenau]], who wrote that ''Homage'' and his own book ''[[The Spanish Cockpit]]'' formed a complete picture of the [[Spanish Revolution of 1936]].{{Sfn|Buchanan|2002|p=305}}

A mixed review for ''[[The Listener (magazine)|The Listener]]'' described the book as a "muddle-headed and inaccurate" account of the war and criticised it for its positive depiction of the POUM, while also praising Orwell's vivid description of "the horror and filth, the futility and comedy, and even the beauty of war."{{Sfn|Buchanan|2002|p=305}} Another mixed review was supplied by [[V. S. Pritchett]] who called Orwell naïve about Spain but added that "no one excels him in bringing to the eyes, ears and nostrils the nasty ingredients of fevered situations; and I would recommend him warmly to all who are concerned about the realities of personal experience in a muddled cause".{{Sfn|Bowker|2004|pp=237-238}}

In a negative review for the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]]'s newspaper, ''[[Morning_Star (British newspaper)#The Daily Worker (1930–1966)|The Daily Worker]]'', [[John Langdon-Davies]] wrote that "the value of the book is that it gives an honest picture of the sort of mentality that toys with revolutionary romanticism but shies violently at revolutionary discipline. It should be read as a warning."{{Sfn|Buchanan|2002|p=305}} Anti-fascist poet [[Nancy Cunard]] later wrote that the book was riddled with "perfidious inaccuracies" and came away from it thinking Orwell was a [[Trotskyism|Trotskyist]], wondering "what kind of damage he has been doing, or trying to do, in Spain".{{Sfn|Buchanan|2002|p=306}} Other negative reviews were published in ''[[The Tablet]]'' and ''[[The Times Literary Supplement]]''.{{Sfn|Bowker|2004|pp=237-238}}

British historian [[Tom Buchanan (historian)|Tom Buchanan]] believed that, at the time of its initial publication, Orwell had "delivered a message that was too unwelcome, and at too late a stage in the war, to stimulate the kind of debate that he may have wished to initiate."{{Sfn|Buchanan|2002|pp=305-306}} Most of the British left believed that the Spanish Civil War had been a simple conflict between [[democracy]] and [[fascism]], ignoring the role of [[revolutionary|revolutionaries]] on the Republican side, which Orwell himself believed had made them complacent regarding the situation.{{Sfn|Buchanan|2002|p=306}} In late 1937, when Nancy Cunard began soliciting opinions from British authors on which side of the conflict they supported, Orwell responded that he refused to write about "defending democracy", retorting that the Spanish Republican government had forced fascism onto Spanish workers "under the pretext of resisting Fascism".{{Sfn|Buchanan|2002|p=306}} [[Kingsley Martin]] subsequently refused to publish any of Orwell's "anti-government propaganda" in the ''[[New Statesman]]'', which led Orwell himself to conclude that he was a victim of [[censorship]].{{Sfn|Buchanan|2002|pp=306-307}}