This year marks the 60th anniversary of the book's publication. David Pryce-Jones gives the historical background of the book and concludes:
"1984," it seems to me, had the effect of saving the
English-speaking intelligentsia from the Communist snares and delusions
rampant on the continent of Europe, and any future totalitarian society
will be obliged to ban it just as the Soviet Union did. That’s an immortal achievement.