He risked his life fighting fascists, which is cool. He came away from the conflict with the opinion that “communists are just as bad” which is dumb, though considering the sectarian violence he experienced while trying to fight fascists, it can kind of be understood how he’d come away with that opinion. Doesn’t excuse it of course, and it certainly doesn’t excuse the fact that he only ever criticized communists from that point onward.

His fiction writing sucks ass, not exclusively for the anti-communist messaging.

On a personal level he was shit, possibly an attempted rapist (haven’t read up on that accusation too well, but i can believe it), homophobic, and racist.

So in short, he sucked, but I guess not as bad as he could’ve sucked. Not exactly a high bar to clear.