Who is John Galt?

Ayn Rand was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1905, the eldest of three daughters of Zinovy and Borisovna Rosenbaum. During the Russian Revolution of 1917 her life was changed by the coming of the Bolshevik party. Her father's pharmacy was confiscated by the Soviets so the family escaped to Crimea but this also fell to the Bolsheviks in 1921. During this time, Rand had been keeping an anti-Soviet diary, which she eventually had to burn. She returned to St. Petersburg to study at the University of Petrograd, and studied history and philosophy. Rand was granted a visa in 1925 to visit American relatives and in 1926 arrived in New York City. After a short while spent with her relatives in Chicago, she vowed never to return to the Soviet union.

Two of Rand's greatest works, The Fountainhead, published in 1943, and Atlas Shrugged, published in 1957, were and still are two of the greatest and most influencial books ever written. The Fountainhead refers to Rand's statement that "man's ego is the fountainhead of human progress". This book looks into the life of Howard Roark, a young architect who chooses to go his own way and do his own thing, so to speak. The problem is that he is incredibly talented but unable to succeed (at first) because he will not cater to the standard, even boring design structure of the top architects. He has imagination. It examines the individualism of a man not willing to give in to the common, or collective opinion.

Atlas Shrugged is an unbelievably amazing book. It should be required reading in our high schools. It's that important. The title comes from the Greek god Atlas who is holding the world on his shoulders, and insinuates the horrible outcome that would occur if he decided to stop holding up civilization.

The main characters in Atlas Shrugged who are "holding up civilization" are incredibly competent men and women. Hank Rearden, Francisco d'Anconia, Dagny Taggart, and the greatest of men, John Galt, who is the legendary inventory of a revolutionary motor. The irony is this is the character who vows to "stop the motor of the world". John Galt refuses to work according to the collectivist ways of socialism, so he and the other competent characters "go on strike". What happens when the very people who are holding up civilization decide to "shrug"?

Ayn Rand's eventual philosophy of Objectivism is based on individual, independent reality. As opposed to subjectivism, Objectivists gain their knowledge from "perception by measurement". The purpose of one's life is one's own happiness, or "rational self-interest". Capitalism is the only rational system.

Ayn Rand hated Communism. She saw her country and her family destroyed by it. I do not agree with all of the parts of Objectivism. For example, I am not an Atheist. However, one cannot discount Rand's ability to see things from a truly realistic, adult viewpoint. Her book, We The Living, is as close to her biography as she comes in a fictional writing. Try reading some of these great works. They are true eye-openers.