From: stecher@atlas.socsci.umn.edu (Jack Stecher)
Newsgroups: alt.philosophy.objectivism
Subject: Re: what i think of ayn rand
Date: 26 Jan 93 21:22:58 GMT
Organization: Department of Economics, Univ of Minn

In article <93025.135012RMACMIL@auvm.american.edu> Robert B. MacMillan <RMACMIL@auvm.american.edu> writes:
>after having read the fountainhead, i can honestly say that i think she
>is one of the most talented writers in the western world.
>that was my first opinion.  my second is that she has the shittiest most
>reprehensible, pseudo-fascist philosophy i have ever had the misfortune to
>read.  i am glad she's dead.
>help, someone, please recommend me something that will make me feel different
>about this cold-hearted bitch who can write like no one i've ever seen...

(1)  "I'm glad she's dead," you say?  As in, you wish those with whom you
disagree would drop dead?  You object to one's expressing one's views and
arguing for it?  Interesting.  Gee, I hesitate to try to make you feel
"different" (presumably you mean "differently"); to do so is to invite
a threat.

(2)  "Pseudo-fascist?"  A brief history of fascism:

The term itself is a reference to the fasces, the Roman symbol consisting of
a bundle of sticks surrounding an axe.  The idea was strength in unity.
Indeed, fascism was a collectivist movement, an outgrowth of the radical
trade unionism, or syndicalism, of Georges Sorel.  Some quotes from the
supporters of fascism:

"_Lavoro Garantito_, that means no man in Italy is to have any anxiety about
finding a job.

"_Le Possibilita della richezza_, is plural, `Science has multiplied the
means of producing plenty, and science prodded on by the will of the State
should solve the other problem, that of distributing the abundance, and
putting to an end the brutal paradox of grinding poverty amid plenty."
			--Ezra Pound, "Nothing is Without Efficient Cause,"
                            Letter sent Autumn 1934 to the editor of _The
                            Criterion_, Reprinted in _Jefferson and/or
                            Mussolini_ (NY: Liveright, 1936), p. 5.

"WHY ITALY?

"ITALY, for the very simple reason that after the great infamy there was no
other clot of energy in Europe capable of opposing ANY FORCE WHATEVER to the
infinite evil of the profiteers and the sellers of men's blood for money."
                        --Ezra Pound, _Jefferson and/or Mussolini_, p. 61.

"Marx found [labor] was needed for `everything,' and that from it proceeded
all value."
                       --Pound, op. cit., p. 63.

"When enough exists, means should be found to distribute it to the people
who need it."
                       --Pound, op. cit., p. 69.

"When _potentian production (possible production) of anything is sufficient
to meet everyone's needs it is the business of the government to see that
_both_ production _and_ distribution are achieved."
                       --Pound, op. cit., p. 69.

"Power is necessary to some acts, but neither Lenin nor Mussolini show
themselves primarily as men thirsting for power."
                       --Pound, op. cit., p. 99.

"The colossal percentage of real power which is contained IN THE FINANCIAL
POWER of the country was in the hands of _irresponsible persons_...,
caring not one jot nor one tittle about the public weal.  Possibly, in fact
probably, excited by the idea of profits for himself and his shareholders."
                      --Pound, op. cit., p. 123.

"...is it to be supposed that Mussolini has regenerated Italy, merely for
the sake of reinfecting her with the black death of the capitalist monetary
system?"
                      --Pound, op. cit., p. 128.

Since you're probably tired of Ezra Pound, here are some from Angelo Flavio
Guidi, head of the Press Office of the Fascisti League of North America,
and Italian correspondent for the New York Herald.  My source is Kirby
Page, ed., _A New Economic Order_ (NY: Harcourt, Brace, and Company, 1930).

"To Il Duce the larger good has always been his country, and in any conflict
between nation and individual he has felt justified in sacrificing the
latter."
                      --Guidi, pp. 37-8.

"Italian newspapers do not publish accounts of suicide, marital infidelity,
crime, and the like.  The government believes in the suppression of such
things for the good of the people as a whole."
                      --Guidi, p. 42.

"The _Instituto Nazionale della Assicurazioni_ has done a wonderful piece of
work, and the Italian laboring classes are no longer in fear of unemployment,
accident, or old age."
                     --Guidi, p. 43.

Okay, how about from Il Duce himself:

"In their ideological struggle against plutocracy and capitalism, the Axis
Powers had, to a certain extent, the same objectives as the Russian regime."
                   --Mussolini, German memo of Goering-Mussolini talk of
                     16 April 1939, _Documents on German Foreign Policy,
                     1918-45_, Series D, vol VI (Washington: Dept of State),
                     pp. 259-60.  Cited by William L. Shirer, _The Rise and
                     Fall of the Third Reich_, p. 642.

"Anti-individualistic, the Fascist conception is for the individual only in
so far as he coincides with the State, universal consciousness and will of
man in his historic existence."
                   --Mussolini, _Enciclopedia Italiana_, cited by Ian S.
                     Munro, _Through Fascism to World Power_, p. 306.
                     (I no longer have the book, but your library should if
                     you need a more complete citation.)

"Liberalism denied the State in the interests of the particular individual;
Fascism reaffirms the State as the only true expression of the individual."
                   --Ibid.

"within the orbit of the State, with ordinate functions, the real needs,
which gave rise to the Socialist movement and to the forming of labour
unions, are emphatically recognised in the Corporative System, which
conciliates every interest in the unity of the State."
                   --Mussolini, _Enciclopedia Italiana_, cited by Munro,
                     pp. 306-7.

So, like, how does this match Rand's position that one ought to treat others
as individuals capable of leading their own lives, and that one ought to lead
one's life rather than force others to do things for oneself?  (Forgive my
simplification.)
--
Altruism does not mean mere kindness or generosity, but the sacrifice of the
best among men to the worst, the sacrifice of virtues to flaws, of ability to
incompetence, of progress to stagnation--and the subordinating of all life
and of all values to the claims of anyone's suffering.