22A046 Anthem by Jim Davies, 11/15/2022

The ZGBlog for 11/1/22 was titled Collectivism, and showed how in 1939 the whole British public did n0thing to oppose their government's foolish entry into what became WW2, with dreadful results not just for that country but also for the US, Japan, Germany, Italy, France, Russia and others. That apathetic consent to be led where the rulers chose is an example of collectivism. It's the usually mindless, sheep-like acceptance of authorized views and has been very evident during the last two years with the Bogus Plague. It's the converse of individual reasoning and choice.

Ayn Rand used the term frequently, and wrote her monumental Atlas Shrugged to show how deadly it is - but also other, shorter books including Anthem. I just read her Foreword to the 1946 Edition of Anthem and thought it so powerful that I've chosen to give this ZGBlog over to her own words. I hope they will move you to read the book, especially if you're new to Rand; it's delightful.

"This story was written in 1937.

"I have edited it for this publication, but have confined the editing to its style; I have reworded some passages and cut out some excessive language. No idea or incident was added or omitted; the theme, content and structure are untouched. The story remains as it was. I have lifted its face, but not its spine or spirit; these did not need lifting.

"Some of those who read the story when it was first written, told me that I was unfair to the ideals of collectivism; this was not, they said, what collectivism preaches or intends; collectivists do not mean or advocate such things; nobody advocates them.

"I shall merely point out that the slogan "Production for use and not for profit" is now accepted by most men as commonplace, and a commonplace stating a proper, desirable goal. If any intelligible meaning can be discerned in that slogan at all, what is it, if not the idea that the motive of a man's work must be the needs of others, not his own need, desire or gain?

"We have Councils of Vocations, Councils of Eugenics, every possible kind of Council, including a World Council -- and if these do not as yet hold total power over us, is it from lack of intention?

"'Social gains,' "social aims," "social objectives" have become the daily bromides of our language. The necessity of a social justification for all activities and all existence is now taken for granted. There is no proposal outrageous enough but what its author can get a respectful hearing and approbation if he claims that in some undefined way it is for "the common good."

"Some might think -- though I don't -- that nine years ago there was some excuse for men not to see the direction in which the world was going. Today, the evidence is so blatant that no excuse can be claimed by anyone any longer. Those who refuse to see it now are neither blind nor innocent.

"The greatest guilt today is that of people who accept collectivism by moral default; the people who seek protection from the necessity of taking a stand, by refusing to admit to themselves the nature of that which they are accepting; the people who support plans specifically designed to achieve serfdom, but hide behind the empty assertion that they are lovers of freedom, with no concrete meaning attached to the word; the people who believe that the content of ideas need not be examined, that principles need not be defined, and that facts can be eliminated by keeping one's eyes shut. They expect, when they find themselves in a world of bloody ruins and concentration camps, to escape moral responsibility by wailing: "But I didn't mean this!"

"Those who want slavery should have the grace to name it by its proper name. They must face the full meaning of that which they are advocating or condoning; the full, exact, specific meaning of collectivism, of its logical implications, of the principles upon which it is based, and of the ultimate consequences to which these principles will lead.

"They must face it, then decide whether this is what they want or not."

Ayn Rand
April, 1946

The first Edition of Anthem appeared in 1937. If even 10% of the British Collective had heeded its message and refused to support its government's war, WW2 could not have taken place. Will you let history repeat itself?