George Orwell became increasingly disillusioned with the way the communist revolution was unfolding in Russia in the 1930s and 1940s, which was turning to totalitarianism under Joseph Stalin. He felt the Stalinists had betrayed the revolution and deplored the terror and loss of freedom that characterized Soviet life in this period. He wrote 1984 as a cautionary tale to reveal the dangers of state tyranny. 

Additionally, Orwell's depiction of London in the novel was based on the reality, although somewhat exaggerated, of what the city looked like in the aftermath of World War II, when German bombing had devastated it and food rationing still existed, along with a shortage of consumer goods, and people still reeled from the aftermath of a major war.

Finally, the disintegration of Winston's health due to torture and starvation after his arrest mirrors Orwell's own devastating tuberculosis, which killed him shortly after he finished the novel.