"The old man brightened suddenly. 'Top 'ats!' he said. 'Funny you should mention 'em. The same thing came into my 'ead only yesterday. I donno why. I was jest thinking. I ain't seen a top 'at in years. Gorn right out, they 'ave'" (90).
Because Winston is obviously lacking in solid evidence to tell him that the past was better than his present, he felt the need to find someone who would remember the pre-revolutionary days enough to give him a rough sketch for him to form his view of then vs. now on. When considering how to do this, though, it is discovered that the reign of the Party is rather absolute: those who would have been able to tell him the differences have been "vaporized" by the Party; those living seem to not have the mental capacity or the care to have a grasp on the politics that existed in the past or the present. Orwell uses this encounter to reveal the characteristics of the proles, the people who are not involved with the Party and seem to have no grasp on the Party or its ideals. The proles simply think that it is the natural turn of things for popular trend to come and go, without ever realizing that their could be other reasons and motivations for things to happen the way they do. The proles are, in essence, unaware of the Party's existence. Once the truth of the situation is revealed, there seems to be nothing backing Winston's idea that hope lies in the proles; instead, it is as if the carpet has been pulled out from under Winston's hope.
nice language in the last line
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