Are you serious? Oh, and did you know, that Nazi Germany wasn't totalitarian either? It has been historically misinterpreted time and time again as some fascist-authoritarian state, when in fact it was more of a conservative democracy. (try taking that seriously and you'll be able to see how I view your article). George Orwell did not pull his view of the USSR out of his ass; he was not born with an inherent distaste for the communist state, he detested because of the actual truth that came forth, a truth that came forth from a very talented journalist named Mr. Garett Jones (watch the movie "Mr. Jones" with James Norton). He uncovered what is known as the "Holodomor", a great systemic famine administered by the Soviet State under Stalin's reign, killing millions of people. I mean my god man--it's from this incident alone that you will hear the most grueling, chilling accounts of cannibalism, like you wouldn't believe! Never throughout the history of the USSR could it ever be labeled a Social Democracy. The only thing one can say, is that certain eras of the USSR were perhaps closer to it than in others, such as, for example, the USSR under Gorbachev versus the USSR under Stalin.