Ayn Rand and Objectivism
Ayn Rand reviled socialism and communism; understandably since her famiy’s life was ruined by the Russian Revolution. She reinvented herself and established and promoted a philosophy known as "objectivism" which shares common ground with libertarianism and some conservative thought. Although Ayn Rand died 20 years ago, her writings and philosophy are still vibrant today.
Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead is widely known as the founder of “objectivism”, a libertarian counterblast to the socialism she fought against her entire life. She was born Alisa Rosenbaum in pre-revolution Russia, the daughter of a pharmacist in St. Petersburg. Rand’s father was not just a pharmacist, but he also owned his own pharmacy and the building in which it was housed. When the communists came to power after the revolution, her father’s business was either seized or ruined, and he took his family to the Crimean peninsula where his revived business was confiscated by the communists as well. They returned to St. Petersburg where conditions after communism were desperate, and she and her family fought starvation on a regular basis. When the communist government gave her permission to visit relatives in New York in 1926 — she was 21 years old — she never returned to Russia.
She changed her name to Ayn, moved to Hollywood, and became a writer. Her play, Woman on Trial ran on Broadway during the 1930’s. She began writing her famous two works during the Great Depression. She made attempts to bring her family to the U.S., but they were routinely refused permission to emigrate.
She knew socialism so well, and fought against it her entire life. Her two towering novels, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, were more character studies of individuals against the state or against mediocrity than novels, and both novels were deeply ideological. The Fountainhead dealt principally with a supreme creator-perfectionist, and his struggle to work within a society that thrived on compromise. Atlas Shrugged, however, took place in a dystopian future where the individual is powerless against the collectivist government in power. The innovators in Atlas Shrugged “go on strike” and retreat from society, which brings the economies of the world to a halt. Although The Fountainhead dealt less with communism and the suppression of the individual, and more about a virtual superman-genius, Atlas Shrugged demonstrated the critical importance of entrepreneurs and innovators in our society. Atlas Shrugged became a byword for when the productive entrepreneurs of society stop producing and tax revenues fall, a phenomenon knows as “The Atlases are Shrugging”; that is, the disincentives to work are so great, that the geniuses stop creating and producing.
Liked it
