John’s comment > Likes and Comments

"It is of course also true that even in totalitarian states, the police cannot be omnipresent - but they like to convey the illusion that they are"

Yes. I think that is more plausible. Winston was delusional. He worried too much about little things, like if the thought police saw him looking at something too closely, as if they could figure out what he was thinking. Then he was dumb enough to leave a paper trail where he spelled out all that he was thinking. He also was a very poor judge of character, initially suspecting Julia as the villain and O'Brien as his kindred spirit. It was also apparent that there were many individuals who knew how to play the game so to speak. I mean superficially acquiescing to the rules and laws of the state, but discretely doing their own thing without causing any trouble. Winston just didn't know how to play the game. He was a very stupid protagonist.

You could be right - but many people do not know how to play the game. It is said that a third of the adult population of the USSR spent some time behind bars.