To the memory of Ayn Rand...
White Russian is back... and just back from the World Freedom Summit (annual ISIL conference). This year the conference was not a usual one. Nothing exotic about the place (not New Zealand as it was last year!!) –just a small resort near Koln. But the meaning of the conference was special: it was dedicated to celebration of Ayn Rand’s anniversary - 100 years’ birthday. Barbara Branden, Ayn Rand’s intimate friend and colleague for eighteen years, and a close friend of the members of the “Rand Circle” was on the speakers list. I couldn’t miss the event.
Surprise followed the first day of the conference. During the morning lectures I have been fighting with a sleep (too much "socializing" the night before).Thankfully,my boss, who was sitting right next to me, “pushed” me from time to time not to let fully fall down from the chair. Then came the guy who suddenly woke me up. I couldn’t believe my ears- I came to libertarian conference, anniversary of Ayn Rand, and here is that guy “putting down” all Ayn Rand philosophy and her as a person. I thought I must have had too much beer the night before, cause the whole lecture sounded unbelievable, especially in such an environment. When he finished, the air in the auditorium was thick with tension. “A strange way to celebrate Ayn Rand’s birthday”, was one of the comments from the audience. A storm of remarks followed. The anti-Rand guy was fully discredited. He couldn’t answer the questions. He was confused. The only thing left for him was to escape. And he did it. At least I haven’t seen him any more.
I am very fond of Ayn Rand’s works. They really opened my eyes on bunch of useful things. They were like a sudden flame in the kingdom darkness for me. I remember after reading Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” I was so impressed I couldn’t think of anything but Rand’s book for the next 2 weeks! To my mind, Ayn Rand did a great job: she shaped the philosophy, which touched people minds and hearts. May be she was not a philosopher in the sense this word is used now. But she was a great person, artist, who managed to change the minds of thousands of people, and brought more use for the society that any philosopher did.
Thanks God, there were people at the conference, who gave a credit to Ayn Rand the other day. Jim Peron, the executive director of the Institute for Liberal values, shared his wonderful story “The day that Ayn Rand died”. He was among the people who never met Ayn Rand personally, but came to say good bye to their dear friend.
Hubert Jongen, the editor of Libertarian International and a fantastical person, shared his story and made a joke how, after shaking hands with Ayn Rand, he hasn’t been washing them for half a year after. He was the only one present in the audience who met Ayn Rand personally. Unfortunately, Barbara Brandon couldn’t make it to the conference. Some problems with passport, they said.
Anyway, there where lot’s of memories about Ayn Rand people shared with each other. Finally, everything ended with a huge 1 X 0.5 meter cake, of course with a big sign of dollar on it=). Vince Miller and the team did a great job. The celebration of Ayn Rand anniversary WAS a success, and even “nasty outsiders” didn’t manage to spoil it.
ISIL conference. Koln 2005.
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Sunni says:
Hey, W.R., welcome back! And thanks for the information -- sounds like a good conference, as usual.
I found a lot of value in Ayn Rand's work, but also some things I think she was wrong on. I'd be interested to know if her books are widely read in your country. What do those who read her books there think of her?
W.R. says:
Thanks for the comment,Sunni.Well, the opinions really differ.Most of my friends find her ideas interesting, and inspiring...some unfortunately fail to read...and return me the books just because they don't like the fiction style the book was written...
However,the books are not spread at all. There were only 2 issues of Ayn Rand in Russian. One - in St.Petesburg in 1993. The other one - in Minsk (Belarus) last year. But the number of the issues was very limited (500 books of the Fountainhead and 500 of Atlas Shrugged). They were spread mostly among businessman,bankers,some smart students. The whole idea of this issue was to find (attract) and investor, who would help with publishing a serious issue. As far as I know, there is no one willing to invest yet.....though I personally think that there is a huge market for her ideas in Belarus, Russia and other Post-Soviet block countries..
I agree with you that Ayn Rand was not right in everything...but this doesn't deny how much impact she produced on lot's of minds.
One my very good friend, and, actually, the person who introduced me to Ayn Rand books 3 years ago, was very inspired by her ideas when he read Atlas Shrugged back in 1993. After that book he really became interested in philosophy, read Aristotel and other works...Since then he started fighting against the system (in this case -Belarussian one)...having a very hard time, but still giving all his energy to fight it. He read Mises, Hayek,organised a Mises Center in Minsk and created his web-site with thousands of articles on libertarian and Austrian issues. Now he is the head of leading opposition party in Belarus. And though the environment is really hazardous in Belarus,opposition papers are constantly shut down, bussinessman and reporters are put into jail, thinktankers don't have any access to TV chanels or Radios, and are forced to work in a very unfriendly and scary environment.But the best of them don't give up. And partly it is thanks to Ayn Rand.
Scott H. says:
Wow, that is quite a story about things in Russia. Thanks W.R. Maybe us Americans think we have it tough, but nowhere near as tough as that. I think about your friend starting a Mises Institute: if your friend can do it here, certainly every person in every state in America could do something similar and with much greater ease, relatively speaking. In America, things aren't nearly so oppressive or difficult it seems to me, and of course there is still a vestigial sense that almost every American has of being entitled to rights, or that they inherently have rights (though maybe most Americans couldn't name alot of them today) and government has to stay out of the way of Americans exercising them. I think America is still fertile ground for propagating freedom and real individualism. Two big first steps in the right direction is to get the word out to people here that they don't have to bow their heads and go along with whatever people in government want, and also in spite of the terrorist scare, NOBODY needs to give up the smallest bit of their liberties and rights so they can be "protected".
Maybe atleast half the battle against collectivism could be won this way here in the states.