abstractmentality
25th July 2003, 00:24
Ayn Rand - We the Living
So then, Ayn Rand, a champion of free-market capitalism. This is her first book, published in 1936. The story is of post revolutionary Russia, i think from 1917 through to the time of Stalin (the end period of the book is inferred on my part by the anti-trotsky sentiment that is present towards the end of the book).
Kira Argounova is the main character of the book. Her father was a factory owner with plenty of anti-communist sentiment. Her eventual husband is Leo, a counter-revolutionary. Beyond that, she also spends time with a GPU official with plenty of power named Andrei. Her brother is Victor, a young communist party member. As can be seen by this set up, complications are inevitable. The rest of the plot of the book plays out just as Rand, the capitalist supporter of the time, would like it to play out. She has the state oppress her and her friends, limit her personal freedoms, etc.
Im sure that the book has many historical realities within it, as she lived in Russia until 1926, when she moved to the US, but the story is most likely not a true account of a person she knew in Russia.
However, I am sure that much of what she wrote on was very much true. The crooked beaucrats, the oppression of certain aspects of dissidence within the party, the controling of social life, etc. All of these are, in my opinion, important things when talking about post revolutionary theory. She wrote the whole book, in a sense, with a question as to why any person should hold the state above the individual person, but doesnt put out an answer for this question (i have read that Atlas Shrugged is where she writes her answer).
Her philosophy of libertarianism is something to take into consideration. Her ideas on personal freedom is at where Chomsky, in his 1970 work "On the Future of Government," called the meeting of Left Wing Marxism and Libertarian Socialism (Anarchism). What she did fail to write about, however, is the idea of freedom from economic oppression. As smart as she seemed, she missed one complete side of freedom: economic. When i write freedom and economic in the same sentence, it isnt meant to mean "free-market" freedom, but rather the freedom from an oppressing economic class.
At 464 pages (my version at least), this is a bit long of a read, especially for someone who doesnt like it very much because of what she misses. It is, however, something good to read as it makes debates with the right a bit easier. The books gives you a deeper look into how the right thinks, which is nice when analyzing the angle the right sometimes comes from.
So then, Ayn Rand, a champion of free-market capitalism. This is her first book, published in 1936. The story is of post revolutionary Russia, i think from 1917 through to the time of Stalin (the end period of the book is inferred on my part by the anti-trotsky sentiment that is present towards the end of the book).
Kira Argounova is the main character of the book. Her father was a factory owner with plenty of anti-communist sentiment. Her eventual husband is Leo, a counter-revolutionary. Beyond that, she also spends time with a GPU official with plenty of power named Andrei. Her brother is Victor, a young communist party member. As can be seen by this set up, complications are inevitable. The rest of the plot of the book plays out just as Rand, the capitalist supporter of the time, would like it to play out. She has the state oppress her and her friends, limit her personal freedoms, etc.
Im sure that the book has many historical realities within it, as she lived in Russia until 1926, when she moved to the US, but the story is most likely not a true account of a person she knew in Russia.
However, I am sure that much of what she wrote on was very much true. The crooked beaucrats, the oppression of certain aspects of dissidence within the party, the controling of social life, etc. All of these are, in my opinion, important things when talking about post revolutionary theory. She wrote the whole book, in a sense, with a question as to why any person should hold the state above the individual person, but doesnt put out an answer for this question (i have read that Atlas Shrugged is where she writes her answer).
Her philosophy of libertarianism is something to take into consideration. Her ideas on personal freedom is at where Chomsky, in his 1970 work "On the Future of Government," called the meeting of Left Wing Marxism and Libertarian Socialism (Anarchism). What she did fail to write about, however, is the idea of freedom from economic oppression. As smart as she seemed, she missed one complete side of freedom: economic. When i write freedom and economic in the same sentence, it isnt meant to mean "free-market" freedom, but rather the freedom from an oppressing economic class.
At 464 pages (my version at least), this is a bit long of a read, especially for someone who doesnt like it very much because of what she misses. It is, however, something good to read as it makes debates with the right a bit easier. The books gives you a deeper look into how the right thinks, which is nice when analyzing the angle the right sometimes comes from.