"complicated enough for most people!"
It really isn't that complicated Al
The Anarchists (POUM) and the Trotsyists thought it a good opportunity to create a s Socialist State - the Communist Party, backed by The Soviet Union opposed the idea
Some people complained that Stalin's support for Spain was limp-wristed - out of date weapons etc;others said that Russia was recovering from two wars and preparing for another
My dad and I argued over this endlessly
The nearest most of Orwell's biographers got to Spain was the Costa del Sol
The 'friend that informed me' was my dad who fought there and spent a deal of time in hospital and a prison camp
That was the reputation Orwell had
Jim