Hemingway’s \u3cem\u3eThe Fifth Column\u3c/em\u3e, Fifthcolumnism, and the Spanish Civil War

Provides a brief history of the real fifth column and “fifthcolumnism” (sabotage and infiltration) before addressing the play’s thematic treatment of betrayal, deception, and disorder, and its morally ambiguous protagonist, Philip Rawlings. Valis contends that Hemingway failed to pursue the unsettling moral and political implications of the play, resulting in a work that is too morally convoluted to qualify as political propaganda