Orwell was "undeluded" when he actually experienced socialism. He lived a nearly fully socialist life when he joined the communist/anarchist militia in the Spanish Civil War.

He lived through, for a very short time, the Stalin/KGB actual socialism. He saw his friends and colleagues swept off the streets and disappear into "Big Brother's" maw, where they were tortured, interrogated, forced to confess, mutilated, and slaughtered.

That experience birthed "1984."

He got out from under Big Brother as quickly as possible, fleeing the socialist utopia of "Republican" Spain, back to the UK.

But he still maintained that he was a socialist--he was just an "anti-Stalinist" socialist. You'd think that seeing the end result of a socialist system, as he did in Spain, would open his eyes to reality. Instead, he continued to support socialism. This is delusional.

He wasn't alone--many other Brits of his time and class were also socialists, and a good number worked for Big Brother--the KGB--against their own country and system.

None of the Scandinavian countries are good examples of socialism. They are outliers and unique. Their (previously) monolithic ethnic/culture populations, sharing values, traditions, attitudes are impossible to replicate. In addition, their systems are actually crony capitalism with communitarian/nationalistic flavors. They also have hereditary monarchies, which are anathema in actual socialist systems.