MONOCULTURE | A Recent History

Rand argues that capitalism is “a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned”. The only function of the government in capitalist society is the protection of individual rights, by banning “physical force from human relationships”. Rand regarded capitalism as the only moral social system, and the only one that enables each individual to fully realise their potential. However, according to Rand, it was still an unknown ideal, something to be achieved. The book, which consists of essays from different years, offers a justification of capitalism, and attempts to depict capitalism’s true meaning, history, economic function and morality. An ardent critic of socialism and the welfare state, she argues that a political and economic system, which provides the government with the power to plan the whole economy does not guarantee financial security, but only “the descent of the entire nation to a level of miserable poverty”. Rand concludes that capitalism can only be achieved by rejecting altruism and defending man’s right to exist for one’s own sake.