The Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals ( MPAPAI , also MPA ) was an American organization of high-profile, politically conservative members of the Hollywood film industry. It was formed in 1944 for the stated purpose of defending the film industry, and the country as a whole, against what its founders claimed was communist and fascist infiltration.
147-484: The organization was described by its opponents as fascist -sympathizing, isolationist , antisemitic , red-baiting , anti- unionist , and supportive of Jim Crow laws . The MPA denied these allegations, with Jewish writer and MPA member Morrie Ryskind writing in defence of his fellow members. When the organization was formed in 1944, the initial, immediate purpose was to assemble a group of well-known show business figures willing to attest, under oath, before Congress to
294-526: A corporatist system of "National Councils" of experts, selected from professionals and tradespeople, elected to represent and hold legislative power over their respective areas, including labour, industry, transportation, public health, and communications, among others; and abolition of the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy . The Fascist Manifesto supported the creation of an eight-hour work day for all workers,
441-402: A dystopian United States in which the most creative industrialists, scientists, and artists respond to a welfare state government by going on strike and retreating to a hidden valley where they build an independent free economy. The novel's hero and leader of the strike, John Galt , describes it as stopping "the motor of the world" by withdrawing the minds of individuals contributing most to
588-590: A holistic -national radical Third Way ", while Walter Laqueur sees the core tenets of fascism as "self-evident: nationalism; social Darwinism ; racialism, the need for leadership, a new aristocracy, and obedience; and the negation of the ideals of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution." Historian Emilio Gentile has defined fascism thusly: [A] modern political phenomenon, revolutionary , anti-liberal , and anti-Marxist , organized in
735-431: A master race which blended with some variant of racism or discrimination against a demonized " Other ", such as Jews , homosexuals , transgender people , ethnic minorities , or immigrants . These ideas have motivated fascist regimes to commit massacres , forced sterilizations , deportations , and genocides . During World War II , the genocidal and imperialist ambitions of the fascist Axis powers resulted in
882-460: A minimum wage , worker representation in industrial management, equal confidence in labour unions as in industrial executives and public servants, reorganization of the transportation sector, revision of the draft law on invalidity insurance, reduction of the retirement age from 65 to 55, a strong progressive tax on capital, confiscation of the property of religious institutions and abolishment of bishoprics, and revision of military contracts to allow
1029-424: A revolution that brought massive changes to the nature of war, society, the state, and technology. The advent of total war and the mass mobilization of society erased the distinction between civilians and combatants. A military citizenship arose, in which all citizens were involved with the military in some manner. The war resulted in the rise of a powerful state capable of mobilizing millions of people to serve on
1176-581: A "friendly witness" before the United States House Un-American Activities Committee that the 1944 film Song of Russia grossly misrepresented conditions in the Soviet Union , portraying life there as much better and happier than it was. She also wanted to criticize the lauded 1946 film The Best Years of Our Lives for what she interpreted as its negative presentation of the business world but
1323-465: A "proletarian nation" that needed to pursue imperialism in order to challenge the " plutocratic " French and British. Corradini's views were part of a wider set of perceptions within the right-wing Italian Nationalist Association (ANI), which claimed that Italy's economic backwardness was caused by corruption in its political class, liberalism, and division caused by "ignoble socialism". The ANI held ties and influence among conservatives , Catholics, and
1470-542: A 'police state' and suppressed the media, as a forerunner of fascism. According to David Thomson , the Italian Risorgimento of 1871 led to the 'nemesis of fascism'. William L Shirer sees a continuity from the views of Fichte and Hegel , through Bismarck , to Hitler; Robert Gerwarth speaks of a 'direct line' from Bismarck to Hitler. Julian Dierkes sees fascism as a 'particularly violent form of imperialism '. Marcus Garvey , founder and leader of
1617-764: A 1959 interview with Mike Wallace , when asked where her philosophy came from, she responded: "Out of my own mind, with the sole acknowledgement of a debt to Aristotle, the only philosopher who ever influenced me." In an article for the Claremont Review of Books , political scientist Charles Murray criticized Rand's claim that her only "philosophical debt" was to Aristotle. He asserted her ideas were derivative of previous thinkers such as John Locke and Friedrich Nietzsche . Rand took early inspiration from Nietzsche, and scholars have found indications of this in Rand's private journals. In 1928, she alluded to his idea of
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#17327726855071764-748: A 6-foot (1.8 m) floral arrangement in the shape of a dollar sign. In her will, Rand named Peikoff as her heir. Rand described her approach to literature as " romantic realism ". She wanted her fiction to present the world "as it could be and should be", rather than as it was. This approach led her to create highly stylized situations and characters. Her fiction typically has protagonists who are heroic individualists, depicted as fit and attractive. Her villains support duty and collectivist moral ideals. Rand often describes them as unattractive, and some have names that suggest negative traits, such as Wesley Mouch in Atlas Shrugged . Rand considered plot
1911-460: A broad establishing shot description of a scene followed by close-up details, and her descriptions of women characters often take a " male gaze " perspective. The first reviews Rand received were for Night of January 16th . Reviews of the Broadway production were largely positive, but Rand considered even positive reviews to be embarrassing because of significant changes made to her script by
2058-601: A constant struggle in which only the strongest would survive. Futurism was both an artistic-cultural movement and initially a political movement in Italy led by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti who founded the Manifesto of Futurism (1908), that championed the causes of modernism, action, and political violence as necessary elements of politics while denouncing liberalism and parliamentary politics. Marinetti rejected conventional democracy based on majority rule and egalitarianism, for
2205-494: A critical element of literature, and her stories typically have what biographer Anne Heller described as "tight, elaborate, fast-paced plotting". Romantic triangles are a common plot element in Rand's fiction; in most of her novels and plays, the main female character is romantically involved with at least two men. In school, Rand read works by Fyodor Dostoevsky , Victor Hugo , Edmond Rostand , and Friedrich Schiller , who became her favorites. She considered them to be among
2352-447: A critical part in economic production for the war effort and thus arose a "military citizenship" in which all citizens were involved to the military in some manner during the war. World War I had resulted in the rise of a powerful state capable of mobilizing millions of people to serve on the front lines or provide economic production and logistics to support those on the front lines, as well as having unprecedented authority to intervene in
2499-759: A defining characteristic of those ideologies. They refer to the combination of populism, authoritarianism and ultranationalism as "a marriage of convenience". Robert Paxton says: [Fascism is] a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion. Roger Eatwell defines fascism as "an ideology that strives to forge social rebirth based on
2646-591: A few months with her relatives learning English before moving to Hollywood , California. In Hollywood a chance meeting with director Cecil B. DeMille led to work as an extra in his film The King of Kings and a subsequent job as a junior screenwriter. While working on The King of Kings , she met the aspiring actor Frank O'Connor ; they married on April 15, 1929. She became a permanent American resident in July 1929 and an American citizen on March 3, 1931. She tried to bring her parents and sisters to
2793-439: A form of agent causation and rejected determinism . Rand also related her aesthetics to metaphysics by defining art as a "selective re-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value-judgments". According to her, art allows philosophical concepts to be presented in a concrete form that can be grasped easily, thereby fulfilling a need of human consciousness. As a writer, the art form Rand focused on most closely
2940-552: A gas chamber—go! ' ". Rand's nonfiction received far fewer reviews than her novels. The tenor of the criticism for her first nonfiction book, For the New Intellectual , was similar to that for Atlas Shrugged . Philosopher Sidney Hook likened her certainty to "the way philosophy is written in the Soviet Union", and author Gore Vidal called her viewpoint "nearly perfect in its immorality". These reviews set
3087-513: 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". She considered Objectivism a systematic philosophy and laid out positions on metaphysics , epistemology , ethics , aesthetics , and political philosophy . In metaphysics, Rand supported philosophical realism and opposed anything she regarded as mysticism or supernaturalism, including all forms of religion. Rand believed in free will as
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#17327726855073234-399: A militia party with a totalitarian conception of politics and the state, an activist and anti-theoretical ideology, with a mythical, virilistic and anti-hedonistic foundation, sacralized as a secular religion, which affirms the absolute primacy of the nation, understood as an ethnically homogeneous organic community, hierarchically organized in a corporate state , with a bellicose vocation to
3381-494: A mythos of national rebirth from decadence. Fascism was founded during World War I by Italian national syndicalists who drew upon both left-wing organizational tactics and right-wing political views. Italian fascism gravitated to the right in the early 1920s. A major element of fascist ideology that has been deemed to be far right is its stated goal to promote the right of a supposedly superior people to dominate, while purging society of supposedly inferior elements. In
3528-509: A new form of democracy, promoting what he described in his work "The Futurist Conception of Democracy" as the following: "We are therefore able to give the directions to create and to dismantle to numbers, to quantity, to the mass, for with us number, quantity and mass will never be—as they are in Germany and Russia—the number, quantity and mass of mediocre men, incapable and indecisive." Futurism influenced fascism in its emphasis on recognizing
3675-645: A new version of Tsar Nicholas II . After World War I, fascists commonly campaigned on anti-Marxist agendas. Liberal opponents of both fascism and the Bolsheviks argue that there are various similarities between the two, including that they believed in the necessity of a vanguard leadership, showed contempt for bourgeois values, and had totalitarian ambitions. In practice, both have commonly emphasized revolutionary action, proletarian nation theories, one-party states, and party-armies; however, both draw clear distinctions from each other both in aims and tactics, with
3822-589: A numerical sum of atomized individuals. They condemned the rationalistic, liberal individualism of society and the dissolution of social links in bourgeois society. The fin-de-siècle outlook was influenced by various intellectual developments, including Darwinian biology, Gesamtkunstwerk , Arthur de Gobineau 's racialism, Gustave Le Bon 's psychology , and the philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche , Fyodor Dostoyevsky , and Henri Bergson . Social Darwinism , which gained widespread acceptance, made no distinction between physical and social life, and viewed
3969-439: A patriotic cause rather than devoting himself to his music). Fascist Fascism ( / ˈ f æ ʃ ɪ z əm / FASH -iz-əm ) is a far-right , authoritarian , and ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy , militarism , forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy , subordination of individual interests for
4116-807: A philosopher or given any serious response. During Rand's lifetime, her work received little attention from academic scholars. In 1967, John Hospers discussed Rand's ethical ideas in the second edition of his textbook, An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis . That same year, Hazel Barnes included a chapter critiquing Objectivism in her book An Existentialist Ethics . When the first full-length academic book about Rand's philosophy appeared in 1971, its author declared writing about Rand "a treacherous undertaking" that could lead to "guilt by association" for taking her seriously. A few articles about Rand's ideas appeared in academic journals before her death in 1982, many of them in The Personalist . One of these
4263-553: A polemical approach and that her work lacks methodological rigor. Her writings have politically influenced some right-libertarians and conservatives . The Objectivist movement circulates her ideas, both to the public and in academic settings. Rand was born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum on February 2, 1905, into a Jewish bourgeois family living in Saint Petersburg in what was then the Russian Empire . She
4410-669: A pro-interventionist fascio called the Revolutionary Fasces of International Action in October 1914. Benito Mussolini upon being expelled from his position as chief editor of the PSI's newspaper Avanti! for his anti-German stance, joined the interventionist cause in a separate fascio . The term "fascism" was first used in 1915 by members of Mussolini's movement, the Fasces of Revolutionary Action. The first meeting of
4557-421: A rising tide of communism, fascism, and kindred beliefs, that seek by subversive means to undermine and change this way of life; groups that have forfeited their right to exist in this country of ours, because they seek to achieve their change by means other than the vested procedure of the ballot and to deny the right of the majority opinion of the people to rule. In our special field of motion pictures, we resent
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4704-608: A system; many of them contradict each other, and are also typical of other kinds of despotism or fanaticism. But it is enough that one of them be present to allow fascism to coagulate around it." Historian John Lukacs argues that there is no such thing as generic fascism. He claims that Nazism and communism are essentially manifestations of populism , and that states such as Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy are more different from each other than they are similar. In his book How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them (2018), Jason Stanley defined fascism thusly: [A] cult of
4851-579: A week. After the success of her later novels, Rand released a revised version in 1959 that has sold over three million copies. Rand started her next major novel, The Fountainhead , in December 1935, but took a break from it in 1937 to write her novella Anthem . The novella presents a dystopian future world in which totalitarian collectivism has triumphed to such an extent that the word I has been forgotten and replaced with we . Protagonists Equality 7-2521 and Liberty 5-3000 eventually escape
4998-411: A well made glove fits a beautiful hand." The fusion of Maurrassian nationalism and Sorelian syndicalism influenced radical Italian nationalist Enrico Corradini . Corradini spoke of the need for a nationalist-syndicalist movement, led by elitist aristocrats and anti-democrats who shared a revolutionary syndicalist commitment to direct action and a willingness to fight. Corradini spoke of Italy as being
5145-579: A wide range of topics, from literature and music to sexuality and facial hair. Some of her followers mimicked her preferences, wearing clothes to match characters from her novels and buying furniture like hers. Some former NBI students believed the extent of these behaviors was exaggerated, and the problem was concentrated among Rand's closest followers in New York. Throughout the 1960s and 70s, Rand developed and promoted her Objectivist philosophy through nonfiction and speeches, including annual lectures at
5292-454: Is "a radical variant of fascism"—on the political right by explaining: "The more a person deems absolute equality among all people to be a desirable condition, the further left he or she will be on the ideological spectrum. The more a person considers inequality to be unavoidable or even desirable, the further to the right he or she will be." Fascism's origins are complex and include many seemingly contradictory viewpoints, ultimately centered on
5439-476: Is better seen as an elitist ideology. They cite in particular its exaltation of the Leader, the race, and the state, rather than the people. They see populism as a "thin-centered ideology" with a "restricted morphology" that necessarily becomes attached to "thick-centered" ideologies such as fascism, liberalism, or socialism. Thus populism can be found as an aspect of many specific ideologies, without necessarily being
5586-419: Is dead" because of the "decomposition of Marxism". Sorel became a supporter of reactionary Maurrassian nationalism beginning in 1909 that influenced his works. Maurras held interest in merging his nationalist ideals with Sorelian syndicalism , known as Sorelianism , as a means to confront democracy. Maurras stated that "a socialism liberated from the democratic and cosmopolitan element fits nationalism well as
5733-589: Is disputed. Rand's views also may have been influenced by the promotion of egoism among the Russian nihilists , including Chernyshevsky and Dmitry Pisarev , although there is no direct evidence that she read them. Rand considered Immanuel Kant her philosophical opposite and "the most evil man in mankind's history"; she believed his epistemology undermined reason and his ethics opposed self-interest. Philosophers George Walsh and Fred Seddon have argued she misinterpreted Kant and exaggerated their differences. She
5880-609: Is more aristocratic than democracy." By 1909, after the failure of a syndicalist general strike in France, Sorel and his supporters left the radical left and went to the radical right, where they sought to merge militant Catholicism and French patriotism with their views—advocating anti-republican Christian French patriots as ideal revolutionaries. Initially, Sorel had officially been a revisionist of Marxism, but by 1910 announced his abandonment of socialist literature and claimed in 1914, using an aphorism of Benedetto Croce that "socialism
6027-436: Is our priceless heritage; that freedom which has given man, in this country, the fullest life and the richest expression the world has ever known; that system which, in the present emergency, has fathered an effort that, more than any other single factor, will make possible the winning of this war. As members of the motion-picture industry, we must face and accept an especial responsibility. Motion pictures are inescapably one of
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6174-571: The fin-de-siècle generation. Bergson's claim of the existence of an élan vital , or vital instinct, centred upon free choice and rejected the processes of materialism and determinism; this challenged Marxism. In his work The Ruling Class (1896), Gaetano Mosca developed the theory that claims that in all societies an "organized minority" would dominate and rule over an "disorganized majority", stating that there are only two classes in society, "the governing" (the organized minority) and "the governed" (the disorganized majority). He claims that
6321-499: The 2020–2022 United States racial unrest , have substantiated his concern about how fascist rhetoric is showing up in politics and policies around the world. Roger Griffin describes fascism as "a genus of political ideology whose mythic core in its various permutations is a palingenetic form of populist ultranationalism ." Without palingenetic ultranationalism, there is no "genuine fascism" according to Griffin. Griffin further describes fascism as having three core components: "(i)
6468-665: The Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises . Despite philosophical differences with them, Rand strongly endorsed the writings of both men, and they expressed admiration for her. Mises once called her "the most courageous man in America", a compliment that particularly pleased her because he said "man" instead of "woman". Rand became friends with libertarian writer Isabel Paterson . Rand questioned her about American history and politics during their many meetings, and gave Paterson ideas for her only non-fiction book, The God of
6615-457: The Cold War and shifts in fascist organizing techniques, a number of scholars have moved toward the minimalist 'new consensus' refined by Roger Griffin: 'the mythic core' of fascism is 'a populist form of palingenetic ultranationalism .' That means that fascism is an ideology that draws on old, ancient, and even arcane myths of racial, cultural, ethnic, and national origins to develop a plan for
6762-687: The Fasces of Revolutionary Action were founded in Italy in 1915. In 1919, Mussolini founded the Italian Fasces of Combat in Milan, which became the National Fascist Party two years later. The fascists came to associate the term with the ancient Roman fasces or fascio littorio , a bundle of rods tied around an axe, an ancient Roman symbol of the authority of the civic magistrate , carried by his lictors . The symbolism of
6909-612: The Ford Hall Forum . In answers to audience questions, she took controversial stances on political and social issues. These included supporting abortion rights, opposing the Vietnam War and the military draft (but condemning many draft dodgers as "bums"), supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur War of 1973 against a coalition of Arab nations as "civilized men fighting savages", claiming European colonists had
7056-579: The Russian Civil War . After graduating high school there in June 1921, she returned with her family to Petrograd (as Saint Petersburg was then named), where they faced desperate conditions, occasionally nearly starving. When Russian universities were opened to women after the revolution, Rand was among the first to enroll at Petrograd State University . At 16, she began her studies in the department of social pedagogy , majoring in history. She
7203-608: The Spirit of 1914 manifested itself in the concept of the People's League of National Socialism. This National Socialism was a form of state socialism that rejected the "idea of boundless freedom" and promoted an economy that would serve the whole of Germany under the leadership of the state. This National Socialism was opposed to capitalism because of the components that were against "the national interest" of Germany but insisted that National Socialism would strive for greater efficiency in
7350-509: The Universal Negro Improvement Association , insisted that he and his organisation "were the first fascists". In 1938, C. L. R. James wrote "all the things that Hitler was to do so well later, Marcus Garvey was doing in 1920 and 1921". The historian Zeev Sternhell has traced the ideological roots of fascism back to the 1880s and in particular to the fin de siècle theme of that time. The theme
7497-646: The University of Wales wrote in 2000 that "fascism" is the "most misused, and over-used word, of our times". Fascist is sometimes applied to post-World War II organizations and ways of thinking that academics more commonly term neo-fascist . Despite fascist movements' history of anti-communism , Communist states have sometimes been referred to as fascist , typically as an insult. It has been applied to Marxist–Leninist regimes in Cuba under Fidel Castro and Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh . Chinese Marxists used
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#17327726855077644-501: The " superman " in notes for an unwritten novel whose protagonist was inspired by the murderer William Edward Hickman . There are other indications of Nietzsche's influence in passages from the first edition of We the Living (which Rand later revised), and in her overall writing style. By the time she wrote The Fountainhead , Rand had turned against Nietzsche's ideas, and the extent of his influence on her even during her early years
7791-439: The "top rank" of Romantic writers because of their focus on moral themes and their skill at constructing plots. Hugo was an important influence on her writing, especially her approach to plotting. In the introduction she wrote for an English-language edition of his novel Ninety-Three , Rand called him "the greatest novelist in world literature". Although Rand disliked most Russian literature, her depictions of her heroes show
7938-432: The 'new man. ' " Griffin himself explored this 'mythic' or 'eliminable' core of fascism with his concept of post-fascism to explore the continuation of Nazism in the modern era. Additionally, other historians have applied this minimalist core to explore proto-fascist movements. Cas Mudde and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser argue that although fascism "flirted with populism ... in an attempt to generate mass support", it
8085-617: The 1920s was sometimes called fascist . Historian Peter Amann states that, "Undeniably, the Klan had some traits in common with European fascism—chauvinism, racism, a mystique of violence, an affirmation of a certain kind of archaic traditionalism—yet their differences were fundamental ... [the KKK] never envisioned a change of political or economic system." Early influences that shaped the ideology of fascism have been dated back to ancient Greece . The political culture of ancient Greece and specifically
8232-423: The 1920s, Mussolini and Giovanni Gentile described their ideology as right-wing in the political essay The Doctrine of Fascism , stating: "We are free to believe that this is the century of authority, a century tending to the 'right,' a fascist century." Mussolini stated that fascism's position on the political spectrum was not a serious issue for fascists: "[F]ascism, sitting on the right, could also have sat on
8379-743: The 1990s. Several academic book series about important authors cover Rand and her works, as do popular study guides like CliffsNotes and SparkNotes . In The Literary Encyclopedia entry for Rand written in 2001, John David Lewis declared that "Rand wrote the most intellectually challenging fiction of her generation." In 2019, Lisa Duggan described Rand's fiction as popular and influential on many readers, despite being easy to criticize for "her cartoonish characters and melodramatic plots, her rigid moralizing, her middle- to lowbrow aesthetic preferences ... and philosophical strivings". Ayn Rand Institute Other Rand called her philosophy "Objectivism", describing its essence as "the concept of man as
8526-587: The Alliance issued a "Statement of Principles": We believe in, and like, the American way of life: the liberty and freedom which generations before us have fought to create and preserve; the freedom to speak, to think, to live, to worship, to work, and to govern ourselves as individuals, as free men; the right to succeed or fail as free men, according to the measure of our ability and our strength. Believing in these things, we find ourselves in sharp revolt against
8673-632: The American film industry. It read, in excerpt: The purpose of the Communists in Hollywood is not the production of political movies openly advocating Communism. Their purpose is to corrupt our moral premises by corrupting non-political movies — by introducing small, casual bits of propaganda into innocent stories — thus making people absorb the basic principles of Collectivism by indirection and implication . The principle of free speech requires that we do not use police force to forbid
8820-463: The Bolsheviks emphasizing the need for an organized participatory democracy ( Soviet democracy ) and an egalitarian , internationalist vision for society based on proletarian internationalism , while fascists emphasized hyper-nationalism and open hostility towards democracy, envisioning a hierarchical social structure as essential to their aims. With the antagonism between anti-interventionist Marxists and pro- interventionist fascists complete by
8967-477: The Broadway production. Her first novel, the semi-autobiographical We the Living , was published in 1936. Set in Soviet Russia , it focuses on the struggle between the individual and the state. Initial sales were slow, and the American publisher let it go out of print, although European editions continued to sell. She adapted the story as a stage play , but the Broadway production closed in less than
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#17327726855079114-816: The Communists the expression of their ideas — which means that we do not pass laws forbidding them to speak. But the principle of free speech does not require that we furnish the Communists with the means to preach their ideas, and does not imply that we owe them jobs and support to advocate our own destruction at our own expense. Rand cited examples of popular and critically acclaimed films that in her view contained hidden Communist or Collectivist messages that had not been recognized as such, even by conservatives. Examples included The Best Years of Our Lives (because it portrayed businessmen negatively, and suggested that bankers should give veterans collateral-free loans), and A Song to Remember (because it implied without historical evidence that Chopin sacrificed himself for
9261-414: The Fasces of Revolutionary Action was held on 24 January 1915 when Mussolini declared that it was necessary for Europe to resolve its national problems—including national borders—of Italy and elsewhere "for the ideals of justice and liberty for which oppressed peoples must acquire the right to belong to those national communities from which they descended." Attempts to hold mass meetings were ineffective and
9408-468: The Italian Fasces of Combat ". The Fascist Manifesto was presented on 6 June 1919 in the fascist newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia and supported the creation of universal suffrage , including women's suffrage (the latter being realized only partly in late 1925, with all opposition parties banned or disbanded); proportional representation on a regional basis; government representation through
9555-497: The Living , and reviewers' opinions were mixed. Lorine Pruette 's positive review in The New York Times , which called the author "a writer of great power" who wrote "brilliantly, beautifully and bitterly", was one that Rand greatly appreciated. There were other positive reviews, but Rand dismissed most of them for either misunderstanding her message or for being in unimportant publications. Some negative reviews said
9702-541: The Machine . Rand's first major success as a writer came in 1943 with The Fountainhead , a novel about an uncompromising architect named Howard Roark and his struggle against what Rand described as "second-handers" who attempt to live through others, placing others above themselves. Twelve publishers rejected it before Bobbs-Merrill Company accepted it at the insistence of editor Archibald Ogden, who threatened to quit if his employer did not publish it. While completing
9849-649: The Polish actress Pola Negri ; it became her first published work. She decided her professional surname for writing would be Rand , and she adopted the first name Ayn (pronounced / aɪ n / ). In late 1925, Rand was granted a visa to visit relatives in Chicago. She arrived in New York City on February 19, 1926. Intent on staying in the United States to become a screenwriter, she lived for
9996-522: The Right stands for the maintenance of an economic structure, albeit an unjust one, while the Left stands for the attempt to subvert that economic structure, even though the subversion thereof would entail the destruction of much that was worthwhile." The term fascist has been used as a pejorative , regarding varying movements across the far right of the political spectrum. George Orwell noted in 1944 that
10143-568: The United States, but they could not obtain permission to emigrate. Rand's first literary success was the sale of her screenplay Red Pawn to Universal Studios in 1932, although it was never produced. Her courtroom drama Night of January 16th , first staged in Hollywood in 1934, reopened successfully on Broadway in 1935. Each night, a jury was selected from members of the audience; based on its vote, one of two different endings would be performed. Rand and O'Connor moved to New York City in December 1934 so she could handle revisions for
10290-582: The advocacy of reason to be the single most significant aspect of her philosophy. Commentators, including Hazel Barnes , Nathaniel Branden, and Albert Ellis , have criticized Rand's focus on the importance of reason. Barnes and Ellis said Rand was too dismissive of emotion and failed to recognize its importance in human life. Branden said Rand's emphasis on reason led her to denigrate emotions and create unrealistic expectations of how consistently rational human beings should be. In ethics, Rand argued for rational and ethical egoism (rational self-interest), as
10437-901: The affair hidden from Rand. As her relationship with Nathaniel Branden deteriorated, Rand had her husband be present for difficult conversations between her and Branden. In 1968, Rand learned about Branden's relationship with Scott. Though her romantic involvement with Nathaniel Branden was already over, Rand ended her relationship with both Brandens, and the NBI closed. She published an article in The Objectivist repudiating Nathaniel Branden for dishonesty and "irrational behavior in his private life". In subsequent years, Rand and several more of her closest associates parted company. Rand had surgery for lung cancer in 1974 after decades of heavy smoking. In 1976, she retired from her newsletter and, despite her lifelong objections to any government run program,
10584-452: The ancient Greek city state of Sparta under Lycurgus , with its emphasis on militarism and racial purity, were admired by the Nazis. Nazi Führer Adolf Hitler emphasized that Germany should adhere to Hellenic values and culture – particularly that of ancient Sparta. Georges Valois , founder of the first non-Italian fascist party Faisceau , claimed the roots of fascism stemmed from
10731-602: The beginning of her role as a popular philosopher. In 1958, Nathaniel Branden established the Nathaniel Branden Lectures, later incorporated as the Nathaniel Branden Institute (NBI), to promote Rand's philosophy through public lectures. He and Rand co-founded The Objectivist Newsletter (later renamed The Objectivist ) in 1962 to circulate articles about her ideas; she later republished some of these articles in book form. Rand
10878-459: The business community. Italian national syndicalists held a common set of principles: the rejection of bourgeois values, democracy, liberalism, Marxism , internationalism , and pacifism , and the promotion of heroism , vitalism, and violence. The ANI claimed that liberal democracy was no longer compatible with the modern world, and advocated a strong state and imperialism. They believed that humans are naturally predatory, and that nations are in
11025-684: The collectivistic society and rediscover the word I . It was published in England in 1938, but Rand could not find an American publisher at that time. As with We the Living , Rand's later success allowed her to get a revised version published in 1946, and this sold over 3.5 million copies. During the 1940s, Rand became politically active. She and her husband were full-time volunteers for Republican Wendell Willkie 's 1940 presidential campaign. This work put her in contact with other intellectuals sympathetic to free-market capitalism. She became friends with journalist Henry Hazlitt , who introduced her to
11172-427: The democratic mystification of the popular will that created an impersonal collective subject. He claimed that a powerful monarch was a personified sovereign who could exercise authority to unite a nation's people. Maurras' integral nationalism was idealized by fascists, but modified into a modernized revolutionary form that was devoid of Maurras' monarchism. French revolutionary syndicalist Georges Sorel promoted
11319-483: The development of fascism. Leon Trotsky would later formulate a theory of fascism based on a dialectical interpretation of events to analyze the manifestation of Italian fascism and the early emergence of Nazi Germany from 1930 to 1933. In 1917, Mussolini, as leader of the Fasces of Revolutionary Action , praised the October Revolution, but later he became unimpressed with Lenin, regarding him as merely
11466-439: The earliest academic critiques of her ideas, said she failed in her attempt to solve the is–ought problem. Critics have called her definitions of egoism and altruism biased and inconsistent with normal usage. Critics from religious traditions oppose her atheism and her rejection of altruism. Rand's political philosophy emphasized individual rights , including property rights . She considered laissez-faire capitalism
11613-492: The economy and advance the interests of workers and the common people. The "fascist right" included members of the paramilitary Blackshirts and former members of the Italian Nationalist Association (ANI). The Blackshirts wanted to establish fascism as a complete dictatorship, while the former ANI members, including Alfredo Rocco , sought to institute an authoritarian corporatist state to replace
11760-405: The economy. Plenge advocated an authoritarian rational ruling elite to develop National Socialism through a hierarchical technocratic state. Fascists viewed World War I as bringing revolutionary changes in the nature of war, society, the state and technology, as the advent of total war and mass mobilization had broken down the distinction between civilian and combatant, as civilians had become
11907-546: The end of the war, the two sides became irreconcilable. The fascists presented themselves as anti-communists and as especially opposed to the Marxists . In 1919, Mussolini consolidated control over the fascist movement, known as Sansepolcrismo , with the founding of the Italian Fasces of Combat . In 1919, Alceste De Ambris and futurist movement leader Filippo Tommaso Marinetti created " The Manifesto of
12054-456: The far-right. Historian Stanley G. Payne 's definition is frequently cited as standard by notable scholars , such as Roger Griffin , Randall Schweller , Bo Rothstein , Federico Finchelstein , and Stephen D. Shenfield , His definition of fascism focuses on three concepts: Umberto Eco lists fourteen "features that are typical of what [he] would like to call 'Ur-Fascism', or 'Eternal Fascism'. These features cannot be organized into
12201-730: The fasces suggested strength through unity: a single rod is easily broken, while the bundle is difficult to break. Similar symbols were developed by different fascist movements; for example, the symbol of Falangism is five arrows joined by a yoke. Historian Ian Kershaw once wrote that "trying to define 'fascism' is like trying to nail jelly to the wall." Each group described as "fascist" has at least some unique elements, and frequently definitions of "fascism" have been criticized as either too broad or too narrow. According to many scholars, fascists—especially when they're in power—have historically attacked communism, conservatism, and parliamentary liberalism, attracting support primarily from
12348-562: The film rights to Warner Bros. and returned to Hollywood to write the screenplay. Producer Hal B. Wallis then hired her as a screenwriter and script-doctor for screenplays including Love Letters and You Came Along . Rand became involved with the anti-Communist Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals and American Writers Association . In 1947, during the Second Red Scare , she testified as
12495-446: The front lines, providing logistics to support them, and having unprecedented authority to intervene in the lives of citizens. Fascism rejects the view that violence is inherently negative or pointless but rather views imperialism , political violence , and war as means to national rejuvenation. Fascists often advocate for the establishment of a totalitarian one-party state , and for a dirigiste economy (a market economy in which
12642-660: The government to seize 85% of profits. It also called for the fulfillment of expansionist aims in the Balkans and other parts of the Mediterranean, the creation of a short-service national militia to serve defensive duties, nationalization of the armaments industry, and a foreign policy designed to be peaceful but also competitive. Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum ; February 2 [ O.S. January 20], 1905 – March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand ( / aɪ n / ),
12789-601: The growing impression that this industry is made of, and dominated by, Communists, radicals, and crackpots. We believe that we represent the vast majority of the people who serve this great medium of expression. But unfortunately it has been an unorganized majority. This has been almost inevitable. The very love of freedom, of the rights of the individual, make this great majority reluctant to organize. But now we must, or we shall meanly lose "the last, best hope on earth." As Americans, we have no new plan to offer. We want no new plan, we want only to defend against its enemies that which
12936-423: The guiding moral principle. She said the individual should "exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself". Rand referred to egoism as "the virtue of selfishness" in her book of that title . In it, she presented her solution to the is–ought problem by describing a meta-ethical theory that based morality in the needs of "man's survival qua man", which requires
13083-467: The human condition as being an unceasing struggle to achieve the survival of the fittest . It challenged positivism's claim of deliberate and rational choice as the determining behaviour of humans, with social Darwinism focusing on heredity, race, and environment. Its emphasis on biogroup identity and the role of organic relations within societies fostered the legitimacy and appeal of nationalism. New theories of social and political psychology also rejected
13230-420: The ideal German society as a Volksgemeinschaft , a racially unified and hierarchically organized body in which the interests of individuals would be strictly subordinate to those of the nation, or Volk." Kershaw noted that common factors of fascism included "the 'cleansing' of all those deemed not to belong—foreigners, ethnic minorities, 'undesirables ' " and belief in its own nation's superiority, even if it
13377-612: The influence of the Russian Symbolists and other nineteenth-century Russian writing, most notably the 1863 novel What Is to Be Done? by Nikolay Chernyshevsky . Scholars of Russian literature see in Chernyshevsky's character Rakhmetov, an "ascetic revolutionist", the template for Rand's literary heroes and heroines. Rand's experience of the Russian Revolution and early Communist Russia influenced
13524-431: The initiation of force should lead to support of anarchism, rather than limited government. Except for Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas and classical liberals , Rand was sharply critical of most philosophers and philosophical traditions known to her. Acknowledging Aristotle as her greatest influence, Rand remarked that in the history of philosophy she could only recommend "three A's"—Aristotle, Aquinas, and Ayn Rand. In
13671-464: The label anti-fascist (often shortened to antifa ) to signify their stance. The Italian term fascismo is derived from fascio , meaning 'bundle of sticks', ultimately from the Latin word fasces . This was the name given to political organizations in Italy known as fasci , groups similar to guilds or syndicates . According to Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini 's own account,
13818-474: The late 18th century Jacobin movement, seeing in its totalitarian nature a foreshadowing of the fascist state. Historian George Mosse similarly analyzed fascism as an inheritor of the mass ideology and civil religion of the French Revolution , as well as a result of the brutalization of societies in 1914–1918. Historians such as Irene Collins and Howard C Payne see Napoleon III , who ran
13965-477: The leader who promises national restoration in the face of humiliation brought on by supposed communists, Marxists and minorities and immigrants who are supposedly posing a threat to the character and the history of a nation ... The leader proposes that only he can solve it and all of his political opponents are enemies or traitors. Stanley says recent global events as of 2020 , including the COVID-19 pandemic and
14112-473: The left. The accommodation of the political right into the Italian Fascist movement in the early 1920s created internal factions within the movement. The "fascist left" included Michele Bianchi , Giuseppe Bottai , Angelo Oliviero Olivetti , Sergio Panunzio , and Edmondo Rossoni , who were committed to advancing national syndicalism as a replacement for parliamentary liberalism in order to modernize
14259-446: The legitimacy of political violence in his work Reflections on Violence (1908) and other works in which he advocated radical syndicalist action to achieve a revolution to overthrow capitalism and the bourgeoisie through a general strike . In Reflections on Violence , Sorel emphasized need for a revolutionary political religion . Also in his work The Illusions of Progress , Sorel denounced democracy as reactionary, saying "nothing
14406-475: The liberal state in Italy while retaining the existing elites. Upon accommodating the political right, there arose a group of monarchist fascists who sought to use fascism to create an absolute monarchy under King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy . A number of post-World War II fascist movements described themselves as a Third Position outside the traditional political spectrum. Falange Española de las JONS leader José Antonio Primo de Rivera said: "[B]asically
14553-549: The lives of citizens. Fascists viewed technological developments of weaponry and the state's total mobilization of its population in the war as symbolizing the beginning of a new era fusing state power with mass politics , technology and particularly the mobilizing myth that they contended had triumphed over the myth of progress and the era of liberalism. The October Revolution of 1917, in which Bolshevik communists led by Vladimir Lenin seized power in Russia, greatly influenced
14700-399: The loyalty of the screen from the free America that give it birth. And to dedicate our work, in the fullest possible measure, to the presentation of the American scene, its standards and its freedoms, its beliefs and its ideals, as we know them and believe in them. In 1947, Ayn Rand wrote a pamphlet for the Alliance, entitled Screen Guide for Americans , based on her personal impressions of
14847-464: The manuscript drafts of her new novel, Atlas Shrugged . In 1954, her close relationship with Nathaniel Branden turned into a romantic affair. They informed both their spouses, who briefly objected, until Rand "sp[u]n out a deductive chain from which you just couldn't escape", in Barbara Branden's words, resulting in her and O'Connor's assent. Historian Jennifer Burns concludes that O'Connor
14994-411: The material provided by man's senses". Rand rejected all claims of non-perceptual knowledge, including " 'instinct,' 'intuition,' 'revelation,' or any form of 'just knowing ' ". In her Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology , Rand presented a theory of concept formation and rejected the analytic–synthetic dichotomy . She believed epistemology was a foundational branch of philosophy and considered
15141-525: The mountain of the center. ... These words in any case do not have a fixed and unchanged meaning: they do have a variable subject to location, time and spirit. We don't give a damn about these empty terminologies and we despise those who are terrorized by these words." Major Italian groups politically on the right, especially rich landowners and big business, feared an uprising by groups on the left, such as sharecroppers and labour unions. They welcomed fascism and supported its violent suppression of opponents on
15288-446: The murder of millions of people. Since the end of World War II in 1945, fascism has been largely disgraced, and few parties have openly described themselves as fascist ; the term is often used pejoratively by political opponents. The descriptions neo-fascist or post-fascist are sometimes applied to contemporary parties with ideologies similar to, or rooted in, 20th-century fascist movements. Some opposition groups have adopted
15435-504: The nation from decadence. Kershaw argues that the difference between fascism and other forms of right-wing authoritarianism in the interwar period is that the latter generally aimed "to conserve the existing social order", whereas fascism was "revolutionary", seeking to change society and obtain "total commitment" from the population. In Against the Fascist Creep , Alexander Reid Ross writes regarding Griffin's view: "Following
15582-402: The nation's wealth and achievements. The novel contains an exposition of Objectivism in a lengthy monologue delivered by Galt. Despite many negative reviews, Atlas Shrugged became an international bestseller, but the reaction of intellectuals to the novel discouraged and depressed Rand. Atlas Shrugged was her last completed work of fiction, marking the end of her career as a novelist and
15729-441: The notion of human behaviour being governed by rational choice and instead claimed that emotion was more influential in political issues than reason. Nietzsche's argument that "God is dead" coincided with his attack on the " herd mentality " of Christianity , democracy , and modern collectivism , his concept of the Übermensch , and his advocacy of the will to power as a primordial instinct, were major influences upon many of
15876-473: The novel Atlas Shrugged . Afterward, until her death in 1982, she turned to non-fiction to promote her philosophy, publishing her own periodicals and releasing several collections of essays. Rand advocated reason and rejected faith and religion. She supported rational and ethical egoism as opposed to altruism and hedonism . In politics, she condemned the initiation of force as immoral and supported laissez-faire capitalism , which she defined as
16023-458: The novel was too long; others called the characters unsympathetic and Rand's style "offensively pedestrian". Atlas Shrugged was widely reviewed, and many of the reviews were strongly negative. Atlas Shrugged received positive reviews from a few publications, but Rand scholar Mimi Reisel Gladstein later wrote that "reviewers seemed to vie with each other in a contest to devise the cleverest put-downs", with reviews including comments that it
16170-489: The novel, Rand was prescribed Benzedrine , an amphetamine , to fight fatigue. The drug helped her to work long hours to meet her deadline for delivering the novel, but afterwards she was so exhausted that her doctor ordered two weeks' rest. Her use of the drug for approximately three decades may have contributed to mood swings and outbursts described by some of her later associates. The success of The Fountainhead brought Rand fame and financial security. In 1943, she sold
16317-524: The only moral social system because in her view it was the only system based on protecting those rights. Rand opposed collectivism and statism , which she considered to include many specific forms of government, such as communism , fascism , socialism , theocracy , and the welfare state . Her preferred form of government was a constitutional republic that is limited to the protection of individual rights. Although her political views are often classified as conservative or libertarian , Rand preferred
16464-490: The organization was regularly harassed by government authorities and socialists. Similar political ideas arose in Germany after the outbreak of the war. German sociologist Johann Plenge spoke of the rise of a "National Socialism" in Germany within what he termed the "ideas of 1914" that were a declaration of war against the "ideas of 1789" (the French Revolution). According to Plenge, the "ideas of 1789"—such as
16611-420: The organized nature of the organized minority makes it irresistible to any individual of the disorganized majority. French nationalist and reactionary monarchist Charles Maurras influenced fascism. Maurras promoted what he called integral nationalism , which called for the organic unity of a nation, and insisted that a powerful monarch was an ideal leader of a nation. Maurras distrusted what he considered
16758-517: The outbreak of World War I in August 1914, the Italian political left became severely split over its position on the war. The Italian Socialist Party (PSI) opposed the war but a number of Italian revolutionary syndicalists supported war against Germany and Austria-Hungary on the grounds that their reactionary regimes had to be defeated to ensure the success of socialism. Angelo Oliviero Olivetti formed
16905-563: The pattern for reaction to her ideas among liberal critics. Her subsequent books got progressively less review attention. Academic consideration of Rand as a literary figure during her life was limited. Mimi Reisel Gladstein could not find any scholarly articles about Rand's novels when she began researching her in 1973, and only three such articles appeared during the rest of the 1970s. Since her death, scholars of English and American literature have continued largely to ignore her work, although attention to her literary work has increased since
17052-563: The perceived good of the nation or race , and strong regimentation of society and the economy. Opposed to anarchism , democracy , pluralism , egalitarianism , liberalism , socialism , and Marxism , fascism is at the far right of the traditional left–right spectrum . Fascism rose to prominence in early-20th-century Europe. The first fascist movements emerged in Italy during World War I , before spreading to other European countries , most notably Germany . Fascism also had adherents outside of Europe. Fascists saw World War I as
17199-409: The placement of national interests above those of the individual. Fascist regimes often advocate for the overthrow of institutions that they view as "liberal decay" while simultaneously promoting traditional values. They believe in the supremacy of certain peoples and use it to justify the persecution of other groups. Fascist leaders often maintain a cult of personality and seek to generate enthusiasm for
17346-406: The politics of greatness, power, and conquest aimed at creating a new order and a new civilization. Historian and cultural critic Ruth Ben-Ghiat has described fascism as "the original phase of authoritarianism, along with early communism, when a population has undergone huge dislocations or they perceive that there's been changes in society that are very rapid, too rapid for their taste". Racism
17493-552: The portrayal of her villains. Beyond We the Living , which is set in Russia, this influence can be seen in the ideas and rhetoric of Ellsworth Toohey in The Fountainhead , and in the destruction of the economy in Atlas Shrugged . Rand's descriptive style echoes her early career writing scenarios and scripts for movies; her novels have many narrative descriptions that resemble early Hollywood movie scenarios. They often follow common film editing conventions, such as having
17640-429: The producer. Although Rand believed that We the Living was not widely reviewed, over 200 publications published approximately 125 different reviews. Overall, they were more positive than those she received for her later work. Anthem received little review attention, both for its first publication in England and for subsequent re-issues. Rand's first bestseller, The Fountainhead , received far fewer reviews than We
17787-699: The publication of The Fountainhead , Rand received many letters from readers, some of whom the book had influenced profoundly. In 1951, Rand moved from Los Angeles to New York City, where she gathered a group of these admirers who met at Rand's apartment on weekends to discuss philosophy. The group included future chair of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan , a young psychology student named Nathan Blumenthal (later Nathaniel Branden ) and his wife Barbara , and Barbara's cousin Leonard Peikoff . Later, Rand began allowing them to read
17934-491: The rebirth myth, (ii) populist ultra-nationalism, and (iii) the myth of decadence." In Griffin's view, fascism is "a genuinely revolutionary, trans-class form of anti-liberal, and in the last analysis, anti-conservative nationalism" built on a complex range of theoretical and cultural influences. He distinguishes an inter-war period in which it manifested itself in elite-led but populist "armed party" politics opposing socialism and liberalism, and promising radical politics to rescue
18081-456: The regime by rallying massive crowds. This contrasts with authoritarian governments, which also centralize power and suppress dissent, but want their subjects to remain passive and demobilized. Scholars place fascism on the far right of the political spectrum . Such scholarship focuses on its social conservatism and its authoritarian means of opposing egalitarianism . Roderick Stackelberg places fascism—including Nazism , which he says
18228-450: The right to invade and take land inhabited by American Indians , and calling homosexuality "immoral" and "disgusting", despite advocating the repeal of all laws concerning it. She endorsed several Republican candidates for president of the United States, most strongly Barry Goldwater in 1964 . In 1964, Nathaniel Branden began an affair with the young actress Patrecia Scott , whom he later married. Nathaniel and Barbara Branden kept
18375-428: The rights of man, democracy, individualism and liberalism—were being rejected in favor of "the ideas of 1914" that included "German values" of duty, discipline, law and order. Plenge believed that racial solidarity ( Volksgemeinschaft ) would replace class division and that "racial comrades" would unite to create a socialist society in the struggle of "proletarian" Germany against "capitalist" Britain. He believed that
18522-563: The state plays a strong directive role through economic interventionist policies), with the principal goal of achieving autarky (national economic self-sufficiency). Fascism's extreme authoritarianism and nationalism centres around the own group, but that can manifest as a belief in Manifest Destiny , revival of historical greatness (like Mussolini seeking to restore the Roman Empire) or in case of Nazism, racial purity or
18669-1153: The supposed presence of Communists in their industry. When the House Un-American Activities Committee investigated the motion picture industry, the vast majority of "friendly witnesses" were supplied by the Alliance. The Alliance officially disbanded in 1975. Prominent members of the Alliance included Robert Arthur , Martin Berkeley , Ward Bond , Walter Brennan , Roy Brewer , Clarence Brown , Charles Coburn , Gary Cooper , Laraine Day , Cecil B. DeMille , Walt Disney , Irene Dunne , Victor Fleming , John Ford , Clark Gable , Cedric Gibbons , Hedda Hopper , Leo McCarey , James Kevin McGuinness , Adolphe Menjou , Robert Montgomery , George Murphy , Fred Niblo , Dick Powell , Ayn Rand , Ronald Reagan , Ginger Rogers , Morrie Ryskind , Barbara Stanwyck , Norman Taurog , Robert Taylor , King Vidor , Hal B. Wallis , John Wayne , Frank Wead and Sam Wood . Shortly after its formation in 1944,
18816-729: The system based on recognizing individual rights , including private property rights. Although she opposed libertarianism , which she viewed as anarchism , Rand is often associated with the modern libertarian movement in the United States . In art, she promoted romantic realism . She was sharply critical of most philosophers and philosophical traditions known to her, with a few exceptions. Rand's books have sold over 37 million copies. Her fiction received mixed reviews from literary critics, with reviews becoming more negative for her later work. Although academic interest in her ideas has grown since her death, academic philosophers have generally ignored or rejected Rand's philosophy, arguing that she has
18963-688: The term "radical for capitalism". She worked with conservatives on political projects but disagreed with them over issues such as religion and ethics. Rand rejected anarchism as a naive theory based in subjectivism that would lead to collectivism in practice, and denounced libertarianism, which she associated with anarchism. Several critics, including Nozick, have said her attempt to justify individual rights based on egoism fails. Others, like libertarian philosopher Michael Huemer , have gone further, saying that her support of egoism and her support of individual rights are inconsistent positions. Some critics, like Roy Childs , have said that her opposition to
19110-460: The term had been used to denigrate diverse positions "in internal politics". Orwell said that while fascism is "a political and economic system" that was inconvenient to define, " as used , the word 'Fascism' is almost entirely meaningless. ... almost any English person would accept 'bully' as a synonym for 'Fascist ' ", and in 1946 wrote that " 'Fascism' has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies something not desirable." Richard Griffiths of
19257-650: The term to denounce the Soviet Union during the Sino-Soviet split , and the Soviets used the term to denounce Chinese Marxists, in addition to social democracy , coining a new term in social fascism . In the United States, Herbert Matthews of The New York Times asked in 1946: "Should we now place Stalinist Russia in the same category as Hitlerite Germany? Should we say that she is Fascist?" J. Edgar Hoover , longtime FBI director and ardent anti-communist, wrote extensively of red fascism . The Ku Klux Klan in
19404-409: The use of a rational mind. She condemned ethical altruism as incompatible with the requirements of human life and happiness, and held the initiation of force was evil and irrational, writing in Atlas Shrugged that "Force and mind are opposites". Rand's ethics and politics are the most criticized areas of her philosophy. Several authors, including Robert Nozick and William F. O'Neill in two of
19551-413: The virile nature of violent action and war as being necessities of modern civilization. Marinetti promoted the need of physical training of young men saying that, in male education, gymnastics should take precedence over books. He advocated segregation of the genders because womanly sensibility must not enter men's education, which he claimed must be "lively, bellicose, muscular and violently dynamic." At
19698-453: The world's greatest forces for influencing public thought and opinion, both at home and abroad. In this fact lies solemn obligation. We refuse to permit the effort of Communist, Fascist, and other totalitarian-minded groups to pervert this powerful medium into an instrument for the dissemination of un-American ideas and beliefs. We pledge ourselves to fight, with every means at our organized command, any effort of any group or individual, to divert
19845-454: Was "written out of hate" and showed "remorseless hectoring and prolixity". Whittaker Chambers wrote what was later called the novel's most "notorious" review for the conservative magazine National Review . He accused Rand of supporting a godless system (which he related to that of the Soviets ), claiming, "From almost any page of Atlas Shrugged , a voice can be heard ... commanding: 'To
19992-406: Was a Russian-born American author and philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system she named Objectivism . Born and educated in Russia, she moved to the United States in 1926. After two early novels that were initially unsuccessful and two Broadway plays, Rand achieved fame with her 1943 novel The Fountainhead . In 1957, she published her best-selling work,
20139-636: Was a key feature of German fascism, for which the Holocaust was a high priority. According to The Historiography of Genocide , "In dealing with the Holocaust, it is the consensus of historians that Nazi Germany targeted Jews as a race, not as a religious group." Several historians, such as Umberto Eco, Kevin Passmore, and Moyra Grant, stress racism as a characteristic component of German fascism. Historian Robert Soucy stated that "Hitler envisioned
20286-567: Was also critical of Plato and viewed his differences with Aristotle on questions of metaphysics and epistemology as the primary conflict in the history of philosophy. Rand's relationship with contemporary philosophers was mostly antagonistic. She was not an academic and did not participate in academic discourse. She was dismissive of critics and wrote about ideas she disagreed with in a polemical manner without in-depth analysis. Academic philosophers in turn viewed her negatively and dismissed her as an unimportant figure who should not be considered
20433-437: Was based on a revolt against materialism , rationalism , positivism , bourgeois society, and democracy . The fin-de-siècle generation supported emotionalism , irrationalism , subjectivism , and vitalism . They regarded civilization as being in crisis, requiring a massive and total solution. Their intellectual school considered the individual as only one part of the larger collectivity, which should not be viewed as
20580-478: Was enrolled in and subsequently claimed Social Security and Medicare with the aid of a social worker. Her activities in the Objectivist movement declined, especially after her husband died on November 9, 1979. One of her final projects was a never-completed television adaptation of Atlas Shrugged . On March 6, 1982, Rand died of heart failure at her home in New York City. Her funeral included
20727-451: Was likely "the hardest hit" emotionally by the affair. Published in 1957, Atlas Shrugged is considered Rand's magnum opus . She described the novel's theme as "the role of the mind in man's existence—and, as a corollary, the demonstration of a new moral philosophy: the morality of rational self-interest". It advocates the core tenets of Rand's philosophy of Objectivism and expresses her concept of human achievement. The plot involves
20874-441: Was literature. In works such as The Romantic Manifesto and The Art of Fiction , she described Romanticism as the approach that most accurately reflects the existence of human free will. In epistemology, Rand considered all knowledge to be based on forming higher levels of understanding from sense perception, the validity of which she considered axiomatic . She described reason as "the faculty that identifies and integrates
21021-427: Was not allowed to do so. When asked after the hearings about her feelings on the investigations' effectiveness, Rand described the process as "futile". After several delays, the film version of The Fountainhead was released in 1949. Although it used Rand's screenplay with minimal alterations, she "disliked the movie from beginning to end" and complained about its editing, the acting and other elements. Following
21168-557: Was not biological racism like in Nazism. Fascist philosophies vary by application, but remain distinct by one theoretical commonality: all traditionally fall into the far-right sector of any political spectrum , catalyzed by afflicted class identities over conventional social inequities. According to the Council on Foreign Relations , many experts see fascism as a mass political movement centered around extreme nationalism, militarism, and
21315-534: Was one of many bourgeois students purged from the university shortly before graduating. After complaints from a group of visiting foreign scientists, many purged students, including Rand, were reinstated. She graduated from the renamed Leningrad State University in October 1924. She then studied for a year at the State Technicum for Screen Arts in Leningrad. For an assignment, Rand wrote an essay about
21462-640: Was the eldest of three daughters of Zinovy Zakharovich Rosenbaum, a pharmacist, and Anna Borisovna ( née Kaplan ). She was 12 when the October Revolution and the rule of the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin disrupted her family's lives. Her father's pharmacy was nationalized, and the family fled to Yevpatoria in Crimea, which was initially under the control of the White Army during
21609-479: Was unimpressed by many of the NBI students and held them to strict standards, sometimes reacting coldly or angrily to those who disagreed with her. Critics, including some former NBI students and Branden himself, later said the NBI culture was one of intellectual conformity and excessive reverence for Rand. Some described the NBI or the Objectivist movement as a cult or religion. Rand expressed opinions on
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