CAPITALISM

In these papers collected from her cultist Objectivist News-Letter, the white goddess of laissez-faire capitalism continues the fervent dialogue between herself and those minds most at ease in the 19th century. The super-capitalists of her novels suggest that the return to free enterprise she demands would be something like a gorilla house without bars. Miss Rand herself, while scoring points against the use of violence, the mixed economy of western countries and the communist-ruled regimes of the east, reminds us that nobody reads history as she does (for example, calling the Nazis a socialist movement, an absurd interpretation in the light of events; or tagging Nelson Rockefeller a wrecker of capitalism which is comparable to classifying Al Capone as a gangbuster). After her attack on the statism of current governments, her cry for a radical capitalism is that of a doctor who, having diagnosed the spreading cancer, now hopes for a return to the original tumor. Her followers, such as Nathaniel Branden and Robert Hessen who also contribute essays to this volume, will no doubt disagree. This is for the faithful only—those who flaunt dollar signs rather than sense.