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WHO IS JOHN GALT? 1957–1968
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craftsmanship, her insight into the dynamics of free markets. Students
and younger readers thrilled to her heroic characters and were overjoyed
to discover the comprehensive and consistent philosophy of
Objectivism. The aftermath of the book’s publication taught Rand that
she was truly on her own. Her path to intellectual prominence would
not be typical, conventional, or easy. In retrospect, it seems obvious:
Rand would do it her way.
Taken at the level of a story, Atlas Shrugged is a moral fable about the
evils of government interference in the free market. The novel is set
in a dystopian world on the brink of ruin, due to years of liberal policymaking
and leadership. The aggrandizing state has run amok and
collectivism has triumphed across the globe. Rand’s decaying America
resembles the Petrograd of her youth. The economy begins to crumble
under the pressure of socialist policies, and food shortages, industrial
accidents, and bankruptcies become commonplace. Gloom and dread
pervade the country. Fatalistic and passive, citizens can only shrug
and ask the empty question, a catchphrase of the novel, “Who is John
Galt?”
Rand shows us this world through the eyes of two primary characters,
Dagny Taggart and Hank Rearden. Both are gifted and inventive
business owners who struggle to keep their enterprises afl oat despite
an ever-growing burden of government regulation. Starting off as business
partners, the single Dagny and married Hank soon become lovers.
Strong, handsome, and dynamic, Dagny and Hank contrast sharply
with Rand’s villains, soft and paunchy government bureaucrats and corrupt
business owners who seek favors from the politicians they have
bought. Dagny and Hank’s enemies begin with laws that restrict competition,
innovation, and cross-ownership of businesses, and by the end of
the novel have nationalized railroads and the steel industry. In a detail
reminiscent of Soviet show trials, when the government expropriates
private property it forces the owners to sign a “gift certifi cate” framing
the action as a patriotic donation.
Rebelling against this strangulation by the state, the creative minds of
America go “on strike,” and throughout the course of the story all competent
individuals in every profession disappear. Until they are granted
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