The Ayn Rand Collective

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The Collective was a group of men and women who were close confidants, students, and proponents of Ayn Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism during the 50's and 60's.

At its height, the Collective consisted of:

The group (whose name was chosen ironically considering Objectivism's staunch commitment to individualism) originally started out as informal gathering of friends who met with Rand on weekends at her apartment in New York City to discuss philosophy. As the years went on, the Collective would proceed to play a larger, more formal role, helping edit Atlas Shrugged and promoting Rand's philosophy through the Nathaniel Branden Institute. Many Collective members gave lectures at the NBI in cities across the United States, while others wrote articles for its sister newsletters The Objectivist Newsletter (1962-65) and The Objectivist (1966-71).

In 1968 after a complex series of events resulting from the breakdown of a romantic affair between Rand and Nathaniel Branden, Rand expelled Branden from the Collective, followed by his ex-wife Barbara a short time later. In the subsequent years, the Collective slowly broke apart, with the remaining members either leaving or being expelled.

Leonard Peikoff eventually became the leading Collective survivor, and was designated as Ayn's "intellectual heir," a title once given to Branden. Following Rand's death in 1982 he founded the Ayn Rand Institute to promote Objectivist philosophy.


Alan Greenspan made mention of the Collective in his book titled The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World, published September 17, 2007:

(Ayn Rand) and her circle called themselves the Collective, an inside joke because collectivism was the polar opposite of their belief. They would meet at Rand's apartment on East Thirty-fourth Street at least once a week to discuss world events and argue into the early hours.

— Alan Greenspan, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World


Greenspan also comments about his conversations with Ayn Rand:

Talking to Ayn Rand was like starting a game of chess thinking I was good, and suddenly finding myself in checkmate.

— Alan Greenspan, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World


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[edit] References

Greenspan, A., The Age of Turbulence, 2007