This is Orwell's memoir of his experiences during the Spanish Civil War - a groundbreaking work of dissident literature drawn from vivid personal experience. There are occasions where it pays better to fight and be beaten than not to fight at all... 

This is dissident literature drawn from vivid personal experience. Orwell volunteered to fight in the Spanish Civil War, was near-fatally wounded and survived to write this book about the experience. Written with all the deep human understanding that defines Orwell’s writing, he vividly recounts the battles that were faced by ordinary working people as they fought for both their lives and their ideologies. Using first-hand experience, his capacity for observation and the clarity and conviction of his writing, Orwell reveals the real-world effects of totalitarianism.