I have this vague idea that George Orwell was dismayed at the number of British/western leftists that were willing to defend Stalinism, and thus wrote 1984 to make his point that totalitarian government was not really socialist/communist/etc. and therefore should not be supported.
However, I have no idea where I picked this up, so it could be entirely speculation on my part. Does anyone know about Orwell's motivations for writing the novel, or his intent as to its meaning?
Oh boy! My time to shine! (On mobile, sorry about the mess) It's true that Orwell wrote 1984 as a warning against Stalinism, but his motivation was a lot more specific than a vaguely uneasy "totalitarianism is bad" feeling. Orwell's opposition to Stalinism actually began during the Spanish civil war, when he served in one of the left-wing militias. During his service the Soviet-backed government purged its opponents on the left, insisting that they were either fascist dupes or traitors. When he left Spain, Orwell was disappointed to find the left-wing press uncritically repeating all of the government's exaggerations, including some "massacres" being fabricated out of thin air, and others completely ignored. This is where the theme of "altering the past" comes from in his novels.2112
Orwell's misgivings got stronger and stronger as the left continued to drink Stalin's koolaid. The most pronounced example was when the Communist Party first opposed World War 2, then suddenly supported it once the USSR was involved. This is where the bit about "we have always been at war with eastasia" comes from. In his first preface to Animal Farm he notes that the only possible avenue for criticizing the USSR was from the right; left wing critiques were simply unpublishable.
Random fun trivia: one of the themes in 1984 is a secret book, circulated within the party, which describes the exact mechanics of society is controlled. When Orwell's books were secretly published in Eastern Europe, they were secretly circulated among the top ranks of the party--just like the book he described.
Sources: Orwell's essays, Homage to Catalonia, and Why Orwell Matters by Christopher Hitchens
hi! it may be worth x-posting to /r/AskLiteraryStudies