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Most of this chapter contains Jordan\'s reflections about
Gaylord\'s, a hotel in Madrid occupied by Soviet communists who had
come to fight for the Republic. It\'s partly a story of the first
stages in Robert Jordan\'s disillusionment. At Gaylord\'s \"you learned
how it was all really done instead of how it was supposed to be done.\"
At Gaylord\'s he had met the well-known \"peasant leaders\" of the
Loyalist troops. Although they were originally simple peasants and
workers, more recently they had spent time at the military academy
in the Soviet Union and have Soviet interests at heart at least as
much as Spanish interests. Jordan consoles himself that perhaps this
manufactured peasant image isn\'t so bad because real peasant
leaders, lacking the necessary military training, might very likely be
more like Pablo.
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NOTE: The three \"peasant leaders\" Jordan refers to in particular
were Enrique Lister, a former stonemason; Juan Modesto, a former
cabinet-maker; and Valentin Gonzalez, known as El Campesino (\"The
Peasant\"). They were well trained, able military leaders.
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The second of Jordan\'s disillusionments is with the luxuries that
surrounded these communist leaders. (Communism was supposed to
eliminate economic distinctions and privileges of class.) For a while,
he had been able to accept this lifestyle on the part of his heroes
(at least while they were at Gaylord\'s) and to give up the idea that
champions of the common people should do without nice things. But
the purity of revolutionary feeling dies fast, Jordan now reflects-
for him within six months.
At Gaylord\'s, Jordan meets Karkov, a Soviet journalist who is more
than just a reporter, and who serves somewhat as Jordan\'s tutor in the
ways of this war.
Although Karkov is a minor character, he is compelling and
interesting. Karkov is a realist. He holds no grand ideas about the
qualities of the Loyalist forces. In a sense, he bares the reality
of the Republican cause to Jordan.
Particularly significant is a comment Jordan makes to Karkov at
one point: \"My mind is in suspension until we win the war.\" You
might see this as evidence that Jordan had adopted an \"Act now,
think later\" stance long before taking the bridge assignment and
meeting Maria.
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NOTE: While covering the war in Spain, Hemingway stayed at the Hotel
Florida when in Madrid. But he frequently called at Gaylord\'s, the
Soviet center. He came and went freely there, although in many ways he
disliked the place. Jordan\'s reactions to Gaylord\'s are basically
Hemingway\'s: he felt it boasted too many luxuries, including gourmet
food and drink, while the common people (on whose behalf they were
supposed to be fighting) suffered. Nevertheless, he visited
Gaylord\'s often in hope of gaining information about the war. There he
frequently conversed with Mikhail Koltsov, a young Soviet journalist
who appears in the book as Karkov.
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