`  :Granted that the current claims are not referenced, this may sound silly, but do you have any references for that POV, ie, reviewers who suggest that Orwell did actually take the USSR for his vision. Keep in mind that Stalin didn't really rise to power in the way that we think of now until after WWII. This book was written in that period, so it is possible, however, the current claims do not seem unplausible to me. They correlate well together.  `