Ayn Rand - We the Living - book review

[abstractmentality]

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.

[Fever]

Jesus, i disliked this one. Very long and drawn out. I love though how she craftily weaves in long tirades about objectivism into all of her work. How rediculous is that!
Note: see 50 page radio rant in atlas shrugged


(Edited by Fever at 4:31 am on July 25, 2003)

[abstractmentality]

Yes, it was difficult for me to finish it. i got about half way into it, saw the lenin bio on my shelf, and really wanted to finish that. But, since i had gotten that far, i figured i would finish. Her right anarchist perspectives were, well, weird to read through. She shoves her thought, as any writer does, into the story. But, she does do it more blatantly than most writers do. What book of hers would you recommend to read after We the Living? i know some authors have many books and in order to best understand them, one must read their books in a specific order. Any thoughts?

[Fever]

Anthem was a really great story i thought. It is a fairly fast read. A small book, i think only about a hundred pages, but it is captivating. After that i read Fountainhead followed by atlas shrugged. After you read anthem (if you do read it) i would suggest atlas shrugged. It was long, slightly boring at times, but it really is quite a great work (even if i often dont agree with her).

[RyeN]

True I think that Anthem was the most outstanding in her collection. But if you like meticulous detail Read the Foutain Head

[Rastafari]

The trouble I have with Ayn Rand is that once I put one of her books down for a little while, I never start again.

Anthem was good because I could just get it over with in one reading, and because it was an interesting (if not overdone) attack on socialism.

[Marxist in Nebraska]

Originally posted by abstractmentality@Jul 24 2003, 07:24 PM
She wrote the whole book, in a sense, with a question as to why any person should hold the state above the individual person [...]

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. [...]

"What she did fail to write about, however, is the idea of freedom from economic oppression."

Exactly. This is the ultimate flaw of libertarians. Many love to scream about having their freedoms curtailed until they are blue in the face, but yet they defend the capitalist system! Having freedoms is not worth a whole hell of a lot when you are too busy working 40, 50, or 60 hours a week to survive. Political freedom is not worth a lot when you are at a job--our places of employment are arranged like totalitarian states. We are not free there, and capitalism forces us to spend a huge percentage of our life in these constricting places.

abstractmentality,

Care to talk some more about the connection between Rand and Chomsky? I do not know much about this.