Winston has a difficult time believing ("swallowing") the Party's lies. I think the main reason for this is because of his memories of the times before the Party as well as his memories of some facts before the Party changed them. He remembers what life was like before the Party interfered, so when the Party tells the citizens of Oceania that the literacy rate has improved, or that everyone has better food and shelter, he can question whether that's the truth or not. Also, when the Party changes facts (for example, when the Party vaporizes somebody and afterwards that person presumably never existed), Winston can't help but be conscious of what the facts really are, instead of what the Party made them to be. I don't think that his "acts of defiance" are forms of normal protesting, but rather forms of personal, internal protesting. This is because he isn't openly defying the Party to anyone but himself--the journal was kept to himself, his beliefs were kept to himself, his questioning was kept to himself. Although he shared some of these things with Julia, it wouldn't be protesting because she is against the Party as well.
Compared to acts of rebellion today, Winston's acts might seem small. However, what people do today is show discontent with certain aspects of their lives, which is exactly what Winston does. Occupy Wall Street shows how people don't like the distribution of taxes; Winston's writings show how he doesn't like the new life the Party created for him.
Our society definitely has quite a long way to go before we reach an Orwellian society. Our government mostly takes in the opinions of what the people want, while an Orwellian society focuses strictly on the government and its oppression of the people.
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