George Orwell's Biggest Fear Went Far Beyond Big Brother

A surprise is that they don't mention his "Homage to Catalonia", which tells Orwell's experience of fighting in the Spanish civil war. It may have been the first time that he encountered the ugly face of the Soviet Union's totalitarian system, making him question the ideology behind. "Animal Farm" and "1984" look to me like they were heavily influenced by Orwell's experience in the civil war.

The big brother surveillance part in "1984" is really only part of the story - there is a lot more in the book, and it wasn't science fiction either.