Orwell's attitude towards totalitarian government is obviously negative. However, it is important to go beyond the obvious to look at the more important aspects of his attitude.
To me, the main message of his book is about how totalitarian governments come to exist. He identifies a number of factors that allow them to happen. First, he says that these governments can only come about when most of the population either doesn’t care or is too stupid to understand what is happening. (Think sheep and Boxer.) So he’s saying these governments prey on the weak.
He is also saying that they can only survive by lies and by violence. Without the dogs and without Squealer to help him, Napoleon would have trouble staying in power.
So what Orwell is really saying about totalitarian government is not just that it’s bad – that’s really obvious. What he’s saying is that these kinds of government can only exist if their people are complacent and/or stupid. And they can only survive by lies and violence.
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