This book is incredible and terrifying, it is well-written and the topic is highly salient to our time. This is about more than communism, but about humanity. If you have read We, by Yvegeny Zamyatin, you really must read  1984. (I, for some reason, read them in that order) I would say that 1984  is the superior. Erich Fromm's afterword is worthwhile, additionally, it is  quite short and readable. 

Question: How did you learn to write?
Answer: it - written