decreased 75% in the early days of the war, and I believe the Anarchists went on the principle of “collectivizing” the brothels, not suppressing them. But there was a drive against prostitution (posters etc.) and it is a fact that the smart brothel and naked cabaret shows were shut in the early months of the war and open again when the war was about a year old.’ The French-language text retains the original footnote without comment. Ed.]

See Appendix I: originally placed between Sections IV and V.

See note 2, p. 230.

See note, p. 24.

The purchasing value of the peseta was about fourpence.

See the reports of the Maxton delegation [in Appendix II].

Quiroga, Barrio, and Giral. The first two refused to distribute arms to the trade unions.

Comité Central de Milicias Antifascistas. Delegates were chosen in proportion to the membership of their organizations. Nine delegates represented the trade unions, three the Catalan Liberal parties, and two the various Marxist parties (POUM, Communists, and others).

This was why there were so few Russian arms on the Aragón front, where the troops were predominantly Anarchist. Until April 1937 the only Russian weapon I saw – with the exception of some aeroplanes which may or may not have been Russian – was a solitary sub-machine-gun.

In the Chamber of Deputies, March 1935.
† For the best account of the interplay between the parties on the Government side, see Franz Borkenau’s The Spanish Cockpit. This is by a long way the ablest book that has yet appeared on the Spanish war.

The figures for the POUM membership are given as: July 1936, 10,000; December 1936, 70,000; June 1937, 40,000. But these are from POUM sources; a hostile estimate would probably divide them by four. The only thing one can say with any certainty about the membership of the Spanish political parties is that every party overestimates its own numbers.

I should like to make an exception of the Manchester Guardian. In connection with this book I have had to go through the files of a good many English papers. Of our larger papers, the Manchester Guardian is the only one that leaves me with an increased respect for its honesty.

A recent number of Inprecor states the exact opposite – that La Batalla ordered the POUM troops to leave the front! The point can easily be settled by referring to La Batalla of the date named.

New Statesman, 14 May.
† At the outbreak of war the Civil Guards had everywhere sided with the stronger party. On several occasions later in the war, e.g. at Santander, the local Civil Guards went over to the Fascists in a body.
[Orwell originally mistook the Assault Guards in Barcelona for Civil Guards and thought only the troops brought from Valencia were Assault Guards. In his list of Errata he asked that ‘Civil’ be replaced by ‘Assault’ in the original chapters X and XI (now XI and Appendix II). But he also wished it made plain that the Civil Guards were hated. Fulfilling his wishes presents some textual problems. Suffice here to note that on this occasion ‘Civil’ is retained; elsewhere, if there could be confusion, what he first called Civil Guards are referred to as ‘local’ Assault Guards and those brought into Barcelona are referred to as ‘Valencian’ Assault Guards. Ed.]

For reports on the two delegations see Le Populaire, 7 September, La Flèche, 18 September, Report on the Maxton delegation published by Independent News (219 Rue Saint-Denis, Paris), and McGovern’s pamphlet, Terror in Spain.