Born in Russia in 1905 as Alisa
Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum
She witnessed both the
Kerensky and Bolshevik
Revolutions during her
teenage years in Russia.
The communist victory in
Russia resulted in the
confiscation of her father's
pharmacy and periods of nearstarvation for her family.
Communist troops in Red Square in 1917
This revolution established the
Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (U.S.S.R. or Soviet Union), a
communist government.
When introduced to American
history in her last year of high
school, she immediately took
America as her model of what a
nation of free men could be.
In late 1925 she obtained
permission to leave Soviet Russia
for a visit to relatives in the
United States.
Although she told Soviet
authorities that her visit would be
short, she was determined never
to return to Russia, and she
never did.
She moved to the United
States in her twenties in 1926,
less than a decade after the
1917 Russian Revolution.
She opposed the communist
government that had taken over her
country and which was beginning to
spread around the world.
Actually, Rand opposed all
forms of Collectivism.
She is famous for several novels
including Anthem,
The Fountainhead, and
Atlas Shrugged, which voiced
this opposition through literature.
Collectivism: a philosophy that
stresses human interdependence
and the importance of a social
collective, rather than the
importance of separate individuals.
Collectivist:
one who focuses on community
and society, and seeks to give
priority to group goals over
individual goals.
Cooperation is key.
Its roots go back to the
concept of “Holism” from
Aristotle.
Holism: “The whole is more
than the sum of its parts”
– Aristotle
Collectivism inspired some political
philosophies.
Two are:
Socialism and Communism.
--Socialism: property & distribution
of wealth are controlled by
governments to increase social
and economic equality.
--Communism: goal is to form a
classless society based on
common ownership of the state
where everyone is equal.
The roots of communism go
back to the philosophical work
of Karl Marx who believed
communism should replace
other forms of government.
Marx: “From each according to
his ability—to each according to
his needs.”
Thomas More (English Author)
invented the term “Utopia”
in 1516.
Utopia translates to no place,
and it is a fictional paradise
where everyone is equal.
In some ways, Communism
seeks to achieve this kind of
paradise or at least a
“workers paradise.”
The “workers paradise” was
Marx’s last stage in his vision
for his collectivist society.
Dystopia is a vision of an often
futuristic society, which has
developed into a negative version of
Utopia.
A dystopia is often characterized
by a totalitarian form of
government.
It often features:
different kinds of repressive
social control systems,
a lack or total absence of
individual freedoms and
expressions,
and a state of constant warfare
or violence.
Think about these features as
you read any of Rand’s novels,
such as Anthem.
Individualism: a term used to
describe a social outlook that
stresses independence and the
importance of individual
self-reliance & liberty.
Individualism is therefore
opposed to collectivism, holism,
socialism, communism, and
totalitarianism.
Totalitarianism: government
regulation of nearly every
aspect of public & private
behavior.
Some individualists believe that
collectivism will ultimately lead to a
totalitarian government, leading to
a form of dystopia.
Rand came to see the individual as
the answer, in many ways, to the
purpose of life.
The expression of the individual
is continually expressed through
her fiction, such as in the lost “I”
in Anthem, Howard Roark in The
Fountainhead, and John Galt in
Atlas Shrugged.
Rand’s belief in the self, or ego,
came to be represented in a
philosophical framework of thinking
she called Objectivism.
Objectivism can best be
understood by its goal, which is to
achieve personal happiness
through one’s own efforts.
One does not give or receive
anything undeserved, and one
does not envy what others have.
It has been criticized as a
philosophy that is, in essence,
selfish or self-centered
. . . is it?
Rand: "My philosophy, in essence,
is the concept of man as a heroic
being, with his own happiness as
the moral purpose of his life, with
productive achievement as his
noblest activity, and reason as his
only absolute.”
The idea of objective principles
relates to the idea that there are
objective realities about life that
are not dependent on what
anyone thinks – they are
independent.
Some of these are the fact that
people deserve respect,
individual rights, and one should
live with moral integrity.
We must create our own
happiness.