Contemporary reviews of the book were mixed. Notably positive reviews came from Geoffrey Gorer in "Time and Tide", and from Philip Mairet in the "New English Weekly". Geoffrey Gorer concluded, "Politically and as literature it is a work of first-class importance." Philip Mairet observed, "It shows us the heart of innocence that lies in revolution; also the miasma of lying that, far more than the cruelty, takes the heart out of it." Hostile notices came from "The Tablet", where a critic wondered why Orwell had not troubled to get to know Fascist fighters and enquire about their motivations, and from "The Times Literary Supplement" and "The Listener", "the first misrepresenting what Orwell had said and the latter attacking the POUM, but never mentioning the book." John Langdon-Davies wrote in the Communist Party's "Daily Worker" 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." Some Conservative and Catholic opponents of the Spanish Republic felt vindicated by Orwell's attack on the role of the Communists in Spain; "The Spectator"s review concluded that this "dismal record of intrigue, injustice, incompetence, quarrelling, lying communist propaganda, police spying, illegal imprisonment, filth and disorder," was evidence that the Republic deserved to fall. A 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." Franz Borkenau, in a letter to Orwell of June 1938, called the book, together with his own "The Spanish Cockpit", a complete "picture of the revolutionary phase of the Spanish War."