The Theme Of Equality In Ayn Rand's Anthem

When life is dictated by yourself, that is free will, when life is dictated by others, that is collectivism. If people choose to help others, then that is free will, if people are forced to help others, then that is socialism. In Anthem nobody has a free choice, the government chooses everything for them, they are told what jobs they can do, when they can eat, when they are allowed to talk to others and at what specific time they are allowed to talk to others. Nobody is allowed to have a different opinion, and the only thoughts permitted are the ones permitted by the council. The life depicted by Ayn Rand in Anthem is justified by the thought that the only way for everyone to be truly equal is to sacrifice all freedoms of creativity, speech,

The idea that men can share all things however collectively however, requires laws and a strong government to enforce the laws that force men to share. This type of society is generally a communistic society. In Anthem Equality discusses how the “Old Ones” speak of a time where they had “wagons without horses, and lights which burned without flame,” (page 19) however men eventually realized what they considered “The Great Truth which is this: that all men are one and there is no will save the will of all men together” (page 20).This “truth” can be drawn in comparison to Russia throughout a large portion of the twentieth century when it was a communist society where all men were forced to work for the collective whole. Nobody was allowed to refer to people as her or she, mr. or mrs. but they were simply referred to as “comrade,” technologically they did not advance nearly as much as neighboring countries, and everything was owned by the collective whole, instead of private property. There society was justified by the attempt to make everyone the same, nobody could have a different opinion, everything belonged to a collective society, and nothing was

Ayn Rand lived in a society where people were forced to think, and act the same, one of the very first of its time in fact. All of these laws in an attempt to make all men equal. Given her life and the time frame of when this book was written she was likely referencing Anthem when she wrote “The Soul of a Collectivist” along with her experiences living in Soviet Russia when she gives almost a step by step guideline of how to achieve absolute control over men. While I was capitalist and believed we would turn into a socialist country the more we kept adapting these ideas of people being forced to give money, I never truly thought of how far it could possibly go if we continued down this path. This society was completely equal, completely collective, and because of these things, nobody was able to achieve greatness and were the equivalent of a machine set out to do daily work. As long as society accepts and adapts to the belief in absolute equality, by forcing laws that make men give more money, celebrating mediocrity, and not allowing people the freedom of choice, the closer society gets to turning into a society