My own view on 1984 was that Orwell saw it as a needed warning. He felt that once a totalitarian society existed, it would be undefeatable. People like Winston Smith might resist but they would inevitably be crushed.
So Orwell was telling his readers they couldn’t be complacent. The only way you could defeat people like Hitler or Stalin or Saddam was before they rose to power. You have to fight tomorrow’s totalitarianism today because tomorrow will be too late.