I don’t think 1984 is supposed to be a critique of socialism - more a critique of authoritarianism. Ingsoc is socialist in the same way that nazis are - in name only. Animal Farm is more about socialism that 1984 is, and I think its message is that authoritarians can use socialist rhetoric to gain power and then turn around and start exploiting the working class just like capitalists (as we see in the real world in China, Russia, and a lot of state capitalism in general) rather than something like “socialism bad”. All in all, I don’t think Orwell was anti-socialist, I think he was anti-authoritarian, which is why some of his books were banned in both the US and USSR.
I don’t think 1984 is supposed to be a critique of socialism - more a critique of authoritarianism. Ingsoc is socialist in the same way that nazis are - in name only. Animal Farm is more about socialism that 1984 is, and I think its message is that authoritarians can use socialist rhetoric to gain power and then turn around and start exploiting the working class just like capitalists (as we see in the real world in China, Russia, and a lot of state capitalism in general) rather than something like “socialism bad”. All in all, I don’t think Orwell was anti-socialist, I think he was anti-authoritarian, which is why some of his books were banned in both the US and USSR.