Editing Homage to Catalonia (section)

===Chapter one===
Orwell describes the atmosphere of Barcelona in December 1936. "The anarchists were still in virtual control of Catalonia and the revolution was still in full swing ... It was the first time that I had ever been in a town where the working class was in the saddle ... every wall was scrawled with the [[hammer and sickle]] ... every shop and café had an inscription saying that it had been [[collectivisation|collectivized]]." Further to this, "[[Anarchism in Spain|The Anarchists]]" (referring to the Spanish [[Confederación Nacional del Trabajo|CNT]] and [[Federación Anarquista Ibérica|FAI]]) were "in control", [[tip (gratuity)|tipping]] was prohibited by workers themselves, and servile forms of speech, such as "''Señor''" or "''Don''", were abandoned. At the [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] Barracks (formerly the [[Battle of Lepanto|Lepanto]] Barracks), militiamen were given instruction in the form of "parade-ground drill of the most antiquated, stupid kind; right turn, left turn, about turn, marching at attention in column of threes and all the rest of that useless nonsense, which I had learned when I was fifteen years old".<ref>George Orwell ''Homage to Catalonia''. Penguin Books 2013. p. 8.</ref>
[[File:Milicianas em 1936 por Gerda Taro.jpg|thumb|right|180px|"There were still women serving in the militias, though not very many. In the early battles they had fought side by side with the men as a matter of course." (''Barcelona, 1936. Militiawomen on beach near Barcelona''. Photo: [[Gerda Taro]]).<ref>''Out of the Shadows, a life of Gerda Taro'', François Maspero, p. 18, {{ISBN|978-0-285-63825-9}}.</ref>]]
He describes the deficiencies of the POUM workers' militia, the absence of weapons, the recruits mostly boys of sixteen or seventeen ignorant of the meaning of war, half-complains about the sometimes frustrating tendency of Spaniards to put things off until "''mañana''" (tomorrow), notes his struggles with Spanish (or more usually, the local use of [[Catalan language|Catalan]]). He praises the generosity of the Catalan working class. Orwell leads to the next chapter by describing the "conquering-hero stuff"—parades through the streets and cheering crowds—that the militiamen experienced at the time he was sent to the Aragón front.