Spanish Civil War labourers, and parts of the middle class. The conservative, strongly Catholic Basque country, along with Catholic Galicia and the more left-leaning Catalonia, sought autonomy or independence from the central government of Madrid. The Republican government allowed for the possibility of self-government for the two regions, whose forces were gathered under the People's Republican Army ("Ejército Popular Republicano", or EPR), which was reorganized into mixed brigades after October 1936. A few well-known people fought on the Republican side, such as English novelist George Orwell (who wrote "Homage to Catalonia" (1938), an account of his experiences in the war) and Canadian thoracic
Spain (Auden) Spain (Auden) Spain is a poem by W. H. Auden written after his visit to the Spanish Civil War. "Spain" was described by George Orwell as "one of the few decent things that have been written about the Spanish war". It was written and published in 1937. Auden donated all the profits from the sale of "Spain" to the Spanish Medical Aid Committee. Auden published two versions of the poem, first as a pamphlet "Spain" (1937), then, in revised form and titled "Spain 1937", in his book "Another Time" (1940). He later rejected the poem from his collected editions, regarding