The scary part was that people don't realize Orwell was not writing fiction!
Orwell's 1984 was published in 1948/49. It was a direct reflection on the "failure" of communism/socialism. The book was written AFTER 1917 Russia and 1933 Germany.
After 1984 was written, we have the 1978 Iran cultural revolution AND the 1966 Mao's Communist revolution, of both reflected everything in 1984.
So Orwell was not "making a prediction," but detailing the systematic pattern of hostile communist/socialist takeover.