Review of the Book

Atlas Shrugged
By Ayn Rand

Oscar B. Johannsen

[Reprinted from The Gargoyle, November, 1960]

"Get the hell out of my way" is the delightfully pungent demand which John Galt, the hero of Ayn Rand's newest novel, Atlas Shrugged throws at the looters in control of the American government. As a result of their bureaucratic controls, the producers and inventors, of which John Galt is one, are finding it increasingly difficult to produce with the result that the nation's productive system is grinding to a halt, with the gradual breakdown of Taggart Transcontinental Railroad symbolic of the economy's disintegration. To beat the looters at their game, John Galt convinces the leading industrialists to leave their businesses and disappear into a Shangri-La he has established hidden in the mountains of Colorado. When the nation is in a shambles, they are to return to direct the resurrection of the nation based on a free economy and a government limited to protection of life and property and the sanctity of contract.

The book is a brilliant, fighting defense of the dignity of the individual and of private enterprise. Miss Rand, who has written other powerful novels attacking socialistic concepts, emphasizes in this book that above all a man must be a man and not a spineless, cringing security seeker. That we need this to be dinned into our minds today is a terrible indictment of the low state to which we have fallen and her description of real men is a thrilling experience.

That is not to say that she is without faults. As a matter of fact, she attacks many of our cherished concepts and thus, no doubt, will be damned as often as she is praised. For example, she condemns the concept of the brotherhood of man because she believes it is the justification of socialism. Of course, socialists and do-gooders have perverted this concept but Miss Rand in attempting to correct their error goes too far. Recognition of the fact that men are all brothers really means man realizes that he is not just one of the lower animals, but rather has within himself something which makes it necessary for him to help a fellow human being in distress. With the exception of the paternal instinct, the lower animals are utterly indifferent to their fellow animals. If a dog is drowning, another dog will not rescue him. If a man sees another man drowning, he will make an attempt to save him, or at least feel he should. But this concept when carried too far can be corruptive instead of benevolent as when politicians and bureaucrats use it as an excuse to give themselves jobs administering relief throughout the world. That Miss Rand really believes men should help one another in the sense that Jesus of Nazareth did is evident as she has her hero saved by his friends, which they would not do if they acted the way she has them talk.

Unfortunately, Miss Rand suffers from the same misconception of the rulership of the world that Plato, the socialists and the libertarians have. All of them believe that the mass of people must be led by some ruling intelligentsia. Plato has his philosopher-kings; the socialists have their bureaucrats; the libertarians have their educable elite, while Miss Rand has her big industrialists. Now, men can live only under two types of economy -- a directed one or a spontaneous one. A directed economy is like an array in which all orders are given from above and must be implicitly obeyed. Such is a socialistic economy. The other one, the voluntary or market economy is one in which the customer is king, and by buying, or not buying votes for or against the production of goods and services. Both the libertarians and Miss Rand recognize and strongly advocate a free economy and private property, but they still do not adequately appreciate that the customer is the directing party and no geniuses are needed to lead them. Every man is a leader in his own sphere no matter how high or low.

As a matter of fact, the real hero of this novel is one of the mass. He is Eddie Willers who stays to the end trying to keep the railroad running thru thick and thin when those, who consider themselves his leaders start their interminable wars and mess things up.

If only enough people will read her book maybe the next time the politicians and bureaucrats start interfering they too will say, "Get the hell out of my. way."