Ayn Rand: The Virtue of Selfishness

in the dying days of the 20th century the modern library commissioned two polls to find the greatest modern books the first aimed at scholars returned predictable results like the great gatsby but the second poll aimed at the general public was a different story the top of that list was occupied not by fitzgerald or hemingway but by a russian emigre who arrived in america barely able to speak english and wrote only four novels all of which were critical failures yet from those few books einrand built a philosophical edifice which would inspire some of the most powerful people in america born alissa zinoviev no rosenbaum ironrand's early life was marked by non-stop catastrophe as a child in russia she witnessed firsthand the violence of the bolshevik revolution an event that left her with a lasting hatred of socialism yet rand was more than just an anti-communist a radical believer in the individual she embraced both a militant atheism and a libertine lifestyle that was shocking to her mid-century contemporaries misunderstood in her lifetime still controversial today this is the life of iron rand america's objectivist icon at the moment ironrand first opened her eyes on february the 2nd 1905. it must have looked like fate had just handed the new baby the shortest of short straws the daughter of a successful pharmacist rand was born into a comfortable middle-class home in the grand city of some petersburg then the capital of imperial russia growing up the girl had servants nurses and a mother who was positively aristocratic if you're wondering what's so short straw about all of this though you only have to look at rand's birth name alyssa rosenbaum as you can probably guess the rosen bombs were jewish and sadly imperial russia in 1905 had no time for jews for months the country had been in the grip of the worst anti-semitic violence in centuries when rand was just eight months old her parents received word that 2500 of their co-religionists had been massacred in the odessa pogrom it was entirely possible that they'd be next but violent anti-semitism wasn't the only thing threatening the rosenbaum's once stable world 1905 was also the year of the first russian revolution when anger at a lack of domestic freedom and getting staunch in a far away war exploded into waves of unrest although hurried reforms would leave the tsar still standing the imperial system had been badly strained all it would take was one more shove and the rotten edifice would go crashing down spoiler alert for russian history here that shove was now only 12 short years away not that the young rand realized she was living through the prologue to a coming dystopia her childhood was both dull and frustrating hampered by her incredible intelligence and even more incredible cynicism when her teacher set an essay on the joys of childhood rand instead wrote a screed condemning childhood as an intellectual wasteland perhaps it's no surprise then to hear little inochka spent most of her free time alone absorbed in books and movies by 1914 aged just nine she had decided she was going to be a writer but not just one writing in the russian tradition even as a child randa hated the mysticism of her homeland a fact that would lead her to declare herself an atheist at 13. but while young and ran spent the mid-1910s plugging away churning out four novels about a brilliant misunderstood pre-teen girl the old religious russia she hated was already on the verge of collapse that summer 1914 imperial russia entered world war one although the tsar was on the winning team his crumbling regime wouldn't make it over the finish line by march of 1917 or february according to the julian calendar still in use in russia at the time the war had so shattered the nation that the capital exploded in revolution number two for twelve-year-old ayn rand the february revolution was a thrilling time she cheered from the sidelines as the tsar's autocracy went down in flames she cheered to the soft liberals who came to power as the provisional government she even expressed support for the moderate socialist alexander karensky it was a brief flirtation with the left and it would certainly be her last eight months later in october of 1917 karensky and the provisional government were overthrown and replaced by lenin's bolsheviks it was a pivotal moment in history one that established the world's first communist state it was also the moment when the last traces of rand's comfortable bourgeois life vanished for good while many russians were cautiously optimistic about the bolsheviks rand hated the new government from the get-go not even age 13 she frequently spat invective about lenin causing her family to fear for her safety but this was russia in 1917 everybody feared for their safety when the civil war broke out the rosenbaums fled to crimea to escape the violence there they lived in a desolate unheated home for several years while rand finished her schooling by now the teenage rand was sure of one thing that she hated communism even more than she hated religion but she hadn't yet found anything she loved any ideological framework she could admire as an alternative to socialism or sarism that all changed in her last year of high school taught for the first time about the political system in the united states rand became convinced that america must truly be the land of the free but while she would eventually move there she first had to deal with several more years in the land of the incredibly not free in the early 1920s with the civil war winding down the family returned to saint petersburg soon to be renamed leningrad so that rand could study at university her father had intended to resume his business but the bolsheviks had confiscated it undeterred he tried to start over but when his new business was likewise confiscated he declared he was on strike from then on the rosenbaums would lead lives of poverty and grinding hunger still rand managed to continue her studies but even in the closed-off world of college the chill winds of revolution were still able to seep in before ran's eyes the communist government was clamping down on freedom of thought on education on everything by the time she graduated in 1924 russia was already on the slippery slope from the police state of lenin to the nightmare murder gulag of stalin and it was clear aynrand wouldn't survive this change she was outspoken intelligent arrogant she was vengeful and proud and insulting although she was capable of being charming when she wanted she refused to cow toe to the guys with guns and gulags if she stayed in russia it was clear there was nothing in her future but a late night knock at the door and an anonymous grave somewhere in siberia so in 1925 the rosenbaums agreed for their daughter to go and stay with relatives in america for rand this was the dream come true ever since that high school class she'd idealized america with its industry freedoms and mighty art deco skyscrapers glowing like a thousand beacons of course she couldn't tell the bolsheviks this she told them she was just going for a short trip that she'll be back in no time but both ran and her parents knew that she'd never return the girl left leningrad in early 1926 heading west along a route traveled by so many immigrants before her she turned 21 while passing through berlin and celebrated by changing her name from alyssa rosenbaum to iron rand in later life she'd say that the rand part came from her beloved remington rand typewriter but since remington rand wouldn't incorporate for another year it's clear this was a fabrication by late february 1926 ironrand had arrived in new york although the site of america's greatest city made her weep she wouldn't stay there for very long her first six months passed in chicago just long enough to get the visa extension she needed to secure her future stateside and then it was off west to the golden state to a magical place where dreams come true being rand was going to go to hollywood to say rand's life changed in hollywood is to underestimate just how head-spinning this transformation was two days after arriving the director cecil b demille offered her first a lift in his car then a job as a salaried extra and then work as a script reader mere days later she'd met and fallen in love with her future husband frank o'connor as a wise teenager once said life moves pretty fast but maybe not fast enough despite landing on her feet rand would spend the next few years utterly failing at writing this wasn't for lack of trying she kept meticulous diaries including making detailed notes on the serial killer william hickman who she called a man who really stands alone in action and in soul a brilliant unusual exceptional boy today we can see rand's obsession for a forceful man like hickman as a kind of early colonel for her future characters in terms of egoism at least but at the time she was just an obscure immigrant trying to catch a break it wouldn't come easily although she managed to sell a script to universal her attempts at literature were repeatedly shot down by editors who called her characters stereotypes and her themes obvious still rand persevered in 1934 she staged her first play although given different names by different theaters it's best known today under its new york title the night of january 16th that's important because it was the plays run in new york that convinced ran to finally pack her bags and leave the city that never sleeps the move was all the inspiration she needed rand landed a job at an architectural firm and almost immediately began work on a novel about an architect if you know anything about rand you'll already know that this book would become the fountainhead her breakthrough novel but it would take her a long long time to finish for now rand focused on producing a pair of shorter novels that would be easier to sell waythe living was a semi-autobiographical story about life under the ussr that landed to mixed reviews and mild sales while anthem was a dystopian sci-fi that was published to an even weaker response still the two books kept her going through those lean times kept her going long enough to finish her architecture novel and find a publisher in 1943 the fountainhead was finally released friend ran and for millions of americans it would change everything if you only know rand for her politics you might imagine the fountainhead is an objectivist screed about an unbridled superman repeatedly punching the government in the testicles but the novel is really a story one that centers not on rigid philosophy but on universal themes its heart is hard rock a visionary architect who would rather destroy his own work than see his vision compromised surrounded by mediocrities rorke's story is a man fighting to stay true to himself as an artist and as a human but the fountainhead goes beyond just rorke to tap deep into american ideals there's the glory of human achievement the creativity rourke brings to people's lives there's the excitement of seeing rorke succeed not because he's rich but because he's talented unlike his rival peter keating only in the game to impress others basically it's a celebration of hard work artistry and being yourself all wrapped up in a readable if over long drama it's no wonder it became a hit although the fountain had first appeared to mixed reviews and slow sales it quickly became a word of mouth success by the end of the year it was big enough for rand to sell the rights to hollywood with herself attached as a screenwriter nearly 20 years after arriving in america the woman who'd once been alyssa rosenbaum had made it she was successful newly rich and with a career ahead of her as a best-selling writer and really rand could have stopped there could have rested on her laurels and kept turning out books about passionate architects but rand had bigger ideas weirder ideas she didn't want to stop at fiction she wanted to change the world in the end rand didn't return to new york for eight years eight years during which she wrote the screenplay for the fountainhead watched it get turned into a mere film and began to work on a final novel but it wasn't all creativity in 1947 rand testified against her fellow screenwriters at the house on american activities committee a witch hunt that inspired arthur muller's the crucible while it makes sense in the context of rand's own experience with communism it was still a moral low point still the huac appearance was a minor event in rand's life it would be a meeting in 1950 that had the biggest impact on her future that year rand started receiving fan letters from a young ucla student called nathaniel brandon 25 years rand's junior brandon nonetheless seemed interesting enough for rand to suggest they meet it was a decision that would change both their lives brandon was blown away by rand's charm and spiky personality people later said that he staggered out at their first meeting like someone who had had a religious experience for her part rand was smitten at first she was just seduced by brandon's admiration for her but that seduction was about to get a whole lot more literal in 1951 brandon and his wife moved to new york city shortly after brand insisted to her husband that they followed the pair to the big apple although rand always admired powerful men who dominated women to the extent that the fountainhead contains a sex scene that wouldn't look out a place in 50 shades in real life she always called the shots so o'connor dutifully followed her to the city and when rand announced in 1955 that she was going to have an affair with brandon o'connor didn't object at all interestingly the affair didn't cause any bad blood between rand and her husband who still doted on her what it did do was provide rand with an intellectual muse across the 1950s rand worked feverishly on her book one speech alone took her two years to write the same time she and brandon expounded on her growing philosophy to a new circle of admirers night after night people would congregate at rand's new york apartment joining in debates that lasted till morning debates in which she developed her thoughts no longer were her themes just the unfettered individualism and creativity of the fountainhead working with brandon she was constructing a whole edifice of thought one that was strongly pro-capitalism strongly anti-religion and celebrated self-interest as humanity's driving motor these themes would profoundly shape her final novel released in 1957 atlas shrugged is a tome the sort of book you could easily use to give someone a concussion the story of john gold who leads the geniuses of the world on strike it was both appeal to individualism and a heavy-handed allegory in which the main characters spend 60 damn pages spelling out the novel's themes if you're watching this you probably already have an opinion on it the world of gold's gulch is either a dream of rugged individuality or a nightmare of nietzsche and superman beholden to no one yet it's worth pointing out the novel is more nuanced than its reputation suggests yes rand celebrates powerful wealthy geniuses but she also celebrates blue collar workers who bring passion and experience to their jobs and attacks rich parasites who do nothing for their money still it's not a novel you can call subtle that's sort of the point by 1957 brandon and rand were actively building the philosophy they'd soon call objectivism atlas shrugged would be its first conscious expression good job it was a phenomenal best seller although reviews were so dismal that rand plunged into depression john galt wouldn't feel this she moped to a diary it made stacks of cash it also cemented rand as one of the most influential writers in america [Music] by the late 1950s rand and brandon were working hard to get objectivism into the mainstream they published newsletters even open schools in manhattan where brandon spread the word the audience their teachings found were young but they'd grow to be hugely important plenty of rand acolytes served in the reagan administration most famously alan greenspan chair of the federal reserve ferand these were heavy times she was so confident in a new philosophy that she plowed all her money and energy into it seeing herself as on a mission to save america from socialism she also felt confident enough to attack those who shared her goal but preferred other methods they were the early libertarians who she dismissed as hippies scum and plagiarists of her work there was a religious right who she denigrated as militant mystics unsuited to power more damagingly she also turned her poison pen on her own followers where rand's apartment had once been a space for fierce intellectual battle it was now a place for fawning students to sit at her feet and learn in reverential silence any hopeful objectivists who disagreed with her on anything would be cast out of the movement as would those who displeased her on some personal level and rand was about to be betrayed on the most personal level imaginable in 1968 rand discovered that brandon was sleeping with another younger woman although objectivists should see this as brandon's moral right to pursue his own happiness that's not how rand saw it she expelled her lover from objectivism shut down the schools he'd opened tried to have his writing career sabotaged the blowout was so big that it basically fractured her new movement ending her stranglehold on objectivism in the wake of the split new groups with new interpretations of rand's work sprang up across the country much to the author's annoyance not that there was anything she could do in writing her novels rand had struck a chord with millions of young people across america while that was great for sales it also meant that there were now uncountable people out there who had formed their own ideas about john gold and wanted to take his teachings without all the other objectivist crap brands could either ride this wave of feeling or she could fight against it and be swept aside she settled for the latter post 1968 rand's personal influence waned even as the influence of her novels grew it probably didn't help that her physical health was giving out back in 1942 rand had started taking amphetamines in a rush to finish the fountainhead by the late 1960s she had been addicted for decades and that addiction was taking its toll but it wouldn't be drug use that put her out of the writing game once and for all but something far more tragic in the early 1970s rand was diagnosed with lung cancer although a major operation saved her life it left her exhausted and too weak to even continue printing a newsletter the medical bills also cleared her out in the wake both she and her husband were forced to apply for social security benefits while rand rationalized this as restitution for the taxes that had been stolen from her by the government it was still a bitter pill for this lifelong individualist to swallow but even this wasn't the worst thing to happen to her that decade frank o'connor died on november 9 1979. although she'd carried on a multi-year affair with brandon rand had always been devoted to her husband his death devastated her shattering whatever spirit she had left after that it was all downhill even as a vowed fans of the fountainhead and atlas shrugged descended to the highest levels of government even as objectivism took root on wall street rand herself seemed to fade from public life in one of her last appearances rand rallied against the new president ronald reagan whose courting of christians she despised it was just another sign that the times had moved on leaving her behind modern conservatism had taken a lot from iron rand but it could survive quite happily without her einran died on march 6 1982 in a new york apartment her only company a nurse at that moment it was over a quarter century since atlas shrugged had come out and nearly 40 years since the success of the fountainhead with objectivism no longer a unified movement it must have seemed like she would soon be forgotten that her relevance would quickly pass but instead the opposite happened in the years after her death sales of rand's books only grew by the late 1990s her work was selling nearly as well as the bible in america when the 2008 crash hit millions of conservatives turned to her work as a road map out of recession fast forward to today and politicians actors ceos and ex-presidents all proclaim themselves as fans of her work in many ways this may well be the perfect legacy for iron rand here was a woman who was critically ignored in her lifetime who struggled to make any impression with the elites elites who today grew up reading the fountainhead and learning of john gold iran's story is many things the tale of an escapee from soviet rule of a traumatized immigrant who lived out the american dream but more than anything it's the tale of a woman who did her best to live life on her own terms she may not quite have been one of her own characters but rand was certainly objectively unique so i really hope you enjoyed that video if you did please do hit that like button don't forget to subscribe and thank you for watching

Channel: Biographics

Views: 279,256

Keywords: biographics, biography, biographies, people, famous people, simon whistler

Id: gfE2sKfbogQ

Length: 20min 32sec (1232 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 21 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Hexx22]

I don't understand why people can't just respect the woman's ideas and properly present them. So hard to get a non biased take on her work (this includes from objectivist like Yaron) without reading it yourself.

[u/zd4v1d]

I thought the video was fairly reasoned. She was human. Didn't affect the way I think of her ideas.