June 20, 1946

  As the story progresses, the parasites are increasingly concerned with and afraid of natural phenomena and disasters. This is extremely significant and logical—they have lost control over nature. They are returning to the state of being helpless before nature. But man cannot exist at the mercy of nature—his basic essence (his “means of survival”) is the fact that he must exist by mastering nature, by controlling it for his purposes.

  It was the accumulation of the creators’ work that gave mankind protection from nature. (This point is an illustration of: “The creator’s concern is the conquest of nature.” The creator is concerned with nature and reason—his own will, thinking, actions, and purposes—not with men.) When mankind destroys or rejects the creators, when the parasites are in the saddle (those unable to use their independent rational judgment, therefore unable to deal with facts or nature), nature takes over once more and becomes an enemy, a menace, instead of a servant. And the world of the parasites has no means of defense. When man is free—man is the master and nature is his servant. When men are enslaved—nature becomes the master.

  Examples: every variation in natural phenomena and every possible disaster is dreaded, progressively more dreaded throughout the story—and the consequences are worse each time. The creators’ civilization had been making men progressively more independent of variations in natural phenomena, prepared against and able to deal with any eventuality. In agriculture, many variable conditions of nature were corrected artificially (fertilizer, irrigation, etc.) and it would take a major and rare disaster (such as extreme drought) to cause real hardships to men (and mankind was moving slowly to counteract even the major natural disasters). In transportation, men could travel and run trains in almost any weather, short of a flood or tornado. In their cities and buildings, men did not have to be concerned with natural variations at all—only in extreme, freak disasters, and then to a limited degree. And when an unusual disaster did strike—men recovered quickly (and the more quickly the more advanced their civilization). (Examples: the rebuilding of a railroad within a few days after a flood; the rebuilding of San Francisco after the earthquake.)

  Now, in the story, men are returning to fear of and dependence on nature. Their food (agriculture) depends more and more upon weather conditions. Show signs of the return to savage superstitions—prayers and rites, instead of rational action, science, and invention—a sign of sheer despair and helplessness. When a major disaster strikes (flood, earthquake, tornado, etc.) there is no recovery; the town or railroad line or factory has to be abandoned (always “temporarily”—but men begin to see that such “temporary” conditions are permanent). Therefore we see the return of the constant, cringing dread of natural disasters.

  (In connection with this—the Taggart Bridge.)

  This is the process of “the encroaching jungle”—the signs of the return to savagery in material life, since men have returned to the principles of savagery in their spiritual life.

  An interesting point to make is the parasite’s misunderstanding of the machine. Unthinking men ([including] any second-hander, parasite or collectivist, since they are the men who have rejected, suspended, or left undiscovered the concept of independent rational judgment) see a machine performing many tasks automatically, with perfect logic, which eliminates the need for the machine’s operator to think (in certain specific respects only). They then imagine that the machine is a mechanical, automatic substitute for thought; that the product of reason is a substitute for its source, that it can be preserved and used without its source, and that all one has to do is take over that product; then the unthinking man will become the equivalent of the thinker. (He will not need the thinker any longer, in fact, he must destroy the thinker in order to seize this substitute, the thinker’s product, the machine, which will then make him as good as the thinker.) That is the crucial mistake of the collectivists. Show that only intelligence can deal with automatic aids to intelligence. (They are only aids, not substitutes.) The greater the intelligence and ingenuity that went into the creation of a machine, the greater is the intelligence required to keep that machine functioning. Destroy the intelligence—and you will not be able to operate or keep the machine. Destroy the source—and you cannot keep its result. Destroy the cause—and you cannot have the effect.

  In society as a whole, the machines are not independent entities, finished and cut off from their creators, which will continue functioning by themselves. The machines are products of the creator’s energy, which are kept alive, kept functioning by a continuous flow of that energy (or intelligence); that energy is the spiritual fuel which the machines need in order to work, just as they need physical fuel; cut off the energy (the intelligence, the capacity of independent rational judgment) of the creators—and the machines stop dead; the machines will fall apart and disintegrate in the hands of the parasites, just like a dead body without the energy of life. The machines are extensions of man’s intelligence; they are aids to intelligence; when that which they were created to aid is gone, they are useless. Then they go, too. They cannot function on their own. They are not independent of intelligence.

  It is only the presence of creators that permits a fool to use a machine he does not understand and could not make, creators whose intelligence is free to keep the machines (and the whole world) going for everybody. The creators are the eternal motor, the continuously functioning “fountainhead.” When the parasites stop them—everything stops. (And the parasites destroy themselves.)

  This is important. Be sure to bring it out.

  In relation to the story, this is the basic reason and pattern of TT’s disintegration.

  To use any machine—an automobile, a Mixmaster, or a railroad system—one must know how to use it and for what purpose. The machine will not give you the knowledge or the purpose. The machine is a wonderful slave to take orders. But it cannot give you the orders. The collectivist, like the savage, expects the machine to give him orders and set a purpose for him, a purpose for its own function and for his. (Another collectivist reversal.)

  James Taggart knows neither how to run a railroad nor for what purpose it should be run. He thinks—“for the public good.” But the purpose of the railroad is not “the public good.” When the railroad (or any machine) stops serving the specific, individual good (or purpose) of any man connected with it (of those who run it and those who use it), it stops having any purpose at all; when there’s no purpose or end, there is no way to determine what means to use to achieve it; there is then no standard of means at all, therefore one can’t know what to do even at short range (the parasite’s range), even at any one given moment (the given moment must be determined by the long-range purpose, by the end, by its relation to the whole). Therefore, the whole system (or machine) stops.

  Stress this “purposelessness ” in the progressive steps of TT’s destruction.

  A sidelight on the parasite’s methods:

  Holding the productive ability of the creator down to the level of the parasite; the holding down of the strongest to the level of the weakest. Such as: union rules to the effect that better workers must not work faster or produce more than incompetent or weaker workers (“unfair competition”); the barber’s union that forbade ambitious barbers to keep their shops open on Sunday—it was “unfair” to the barbers who wished to loaf.

  This is an eloquent [illustration] of the fool’s idea of where wealth and production come from (he has no idea—he thinks it’s just there, to be “divided up”). The consequences to society as a whole and to the parasites themselves are obvious. Show specific examples of this and trace the results in concrete steps.

  For the plot construction, consider key activities of mankind (all connected with the railroad): food, clothing, shelter—as represented by wheat, cotton, lumber. Connect them with the story of TT.

  The three attitudes of the parasites toward the creators are: (1) “We don’t need you at all”; (2) “We need you—therefore you must serve us” (the appeal through weakness and pity); (3) “Never mind any reasons, or who’s right or wrong—we’ll just force you to serve us.” Show concrete illustrations and examples of all three attitudes.

  James Taggart alternates between (1) and (2) [in his attitude] toward Dagny (and everyone else). At the end, James Taggart and the rest of the parasites try to resort to (3) in regard to Galt.

  Hank Rearden is a constant victim of (1) and (2) from all his relatives and associates throughout the story.

  (You may need more, and more specific, examples and incidents of this.)

  Actually, the parasite’s attitude is: first, “Help me, because I’m weak and you’re strong, I need you so much”; then second, when he got what he wanted: “Don’t be so damn conceited, I don’t need you at all.” Here, the parasite got the effect and forgot the cause. In regard to his appeal, the parasite is humble and begs for charity—so long as the creator will not permit him anything else. The moment the creator is demoralized and disarmed through the creed of altruism, the parasite turns arrogant and demands help as his rightful due, as the creator’s duty. “Help me because I need you,” then becomes an order, a command—not a plea.

  The parasite considers himself defrauded of his personal property—the creator’s help. Thus the creator’s energy and its products are assumed to be the property of the parasite. Virtue—strength, intelligence, competence—has no property rights (to itself), but vice—weakness, stupidity, incompetence—has property rights (to virtue). Altruism does this. This is implicit in altruism, logically and consistently. But it is only the creators who make this possible by their acceptance of altruism. The responsibility here is that of the creators; it is up to them to stop the vicious procedure; they are the cause of their own destruction. (This is for Hank Rearden.)

  As to attitude (3)—it comes about when (1) and (2) have destroyed all sense, morality and decency in human relations. Then parasites come to (3)—to the belief in plain force, to the bestial arrogance of the criminal moron (“the drooling beast”). Without the groundwork laid and prepared by (1) and (2), the parasites would not think of (3), or would not dare to think of it. The plain criminal types, who exist in any society at any time, would be of no danger or consequence (certainly not spiritually), since they would be regarded and treated as what they are: the plain criminal, the anti-rational or sub-human.

  Keep this firmly in mind as a lead:

  By associating with the parasites and a world living on the principles of the parasites, the creators offer themselves up for unspeakable suffering, and achieve, in the net total result, the opposite of that which is their purpose. They suffer in order to be able to do their independent creative work—and only give their enemies the means to torture them and to destroy their work. (Their work survives or is achieved only to the extent to which their principles of independence are followed, actually or by default. And to have these principles followed even to that extent, the creators purchase that possibility by their own suffering.)

  This is what the creators must stop. Don’t give your enemies the means to destroy you. Don’t accept the enemy’s terms. You are the power. Deliver an ultimatum to the parasites: take my terms—or nothing. And my terms here mean: individualism, egoism, independence. [This means] the recognition of the primary life principle—the faculty of man’s independent rational judgment; the translation of this into concrete morality—the principle that each man exists only for his own sake (and can claim nothing from others); the translation of this morality into politics—a society of individualism and capitalism. The creators destroy themselves by any acceptance (complete or partial) of the creed of altruism.

  June 21, 1946

  Civilization (which means everything made by men, not nature—all physical wealth, all ideas and spiritual values) was made by man’s intelligence. It can be used and maintained only by man’s intelligence. (And this applies to any part of it, any product—industry, machines, art, anything.) It has to vanish when intelligence vanishes. But intelligence is an attribute of the individual; it functions individually, it cannot function under compulsion ; it cannot be tied to the decisions of others and, therefore, is destroyed in a collectivist society. That is why collectivism cannot produce or survive.

  Besides, the intelligent man does not live for others. The higher the intelligence, the greater the self-sufficiency. (Your need of others can be used as a measure of your intelligence—in inverse ratio.)

  As a clue to the net effect: The book could be dedicated “to all those who think that material wealth is produced by material means.”

  Minor note: Since the material is an expression of the spiritual, the physical state of the world in the story (their physical assets, capital goods, means of production, tools, machines, buildings, etc.) must be a reflection of men’s spiritual state: incompetent, weak, falling apart, disintegrating, uncertain and senselessly contradictory, maliciously evil, dull, gray, monotonous—above all, decaying.

  Re: looting. The primitive form of looting is to seize the end products of the work of others, consume them and then look for another victim. This is the pattern of the plain criminal, the most primitive savage tribes, and the early Asiatic nomadic invasions, such as Attila or Genghis Khan. The modern form is to loot the means of production and try to carry on (which is only a variation of the same thing, actually more stupid, more vicious, and less practical). This is the pattern of Soviet Russia.

  What makes it less practical is the fact that grabbing an industry and expecting it to run without intelligence is like grabbing an automobile and expecting it to run without gas. It rests on a savage’s misunderstanding of the nature of production, his ignorance of the fact that intelligence is the energy that keeps the tools going, that tools cannot go by themselves, and that intelligence can neither be taken over nor forced.

  If the primitive looter left his victims alive, he at least left them alone to start production again—he took over the product, not the means of production (the chief of which is freedom). The modern collectivist looter takes over the product and the means. He enslaves men. He seizes and stops the source. Therefore, after he has consumed the existing accumulated wealth, no more can be produced, neither for him nor for his victims. This is how he destroys the world and himself.

  So the pattern of disintegration in the story must be the increasing consumption of capital assets, without replacements. (Here the last emergency of taking up old rails fits quite well.)

  A savage invader also enslaved the conquered population (which is taking over man as the means of production); but then he established a slave society, which could just barely exist, in the most primitive way, without intelligence. You cannot enslave intelligence—only brute, physical force, only muscle power. Actual looters, such as the nomadic tribes, grabbed property and departed. Now the modem collectivist is attempting the impossible; he is not a slave master, in the ancient sense of a slave economy, an economy that produced something by means of slaves; he is actually a perpetual looter, and what he wants to loot, continuously, is the source of production—man’s intelligence. This can’t be done.

  The Pattern of the Railroads’ Growth

  The basic scientific invention: the steam engine.

  The application of this invention to transportation: the designing of a steam locomotive.

  The parallel growth of two elements (two lines of endeavor, integrated by one purpose): the entrepreneurs who organize railroads, the inventors who improve the technical equipment.

  Main developments here: 1. Enterprise: branching into new territories, laying out new lines, acquiring better equipment, giving better and more service cheaper, planning better organization of the whole system.

  2. Invention: scientific progress in an immense number of lines, the four main ones being: track (rails, ties, grade, tunnels, bridges, terminals), motive power (engines: steam, oil, electric, diesel-electric), rolling stock (cars, brakes), signals (telegraph, radio, semaphores, automatic safety devices).

  Main purposes: speed, safety, economy, comfort, reliability.

  Results: the creation of new territories, the birth of new industries and growth of all industries due to rapid transportation permitting exchange of raw materials for production and exchange of produced goods over vast regions, opening up huge new markets.

  The Reverse: The Pattern of Disintegration

  As the parasites take over a huge, working system, the first thing to stop is progress. No improvements made, no new lines opened, no new inventions accepted (or made).

  Lack of judgment makes Taggart incapable of grasping the needs of the system. Routine makes him keep lines, activities, and procedures no longer necessary; this is a drain on the system and hampers the needed activities.

  When the smallest thing goes wrong, he has no idea how to repair it—like a moron operating a dishwasher when he wouldn’t know and couldn’t think of how to wash dishes by hand; if one small screw falls out, he has no idea how to mend it. Taggart is a moron in relation to TT—a moron with an immense, complex machine. His smallest attempt at “mending” only grows into major destruction of the machine.

  Lack of judgment makes Taggart adopt new policies (when forced to by obvious trouble) that are disastrous and only aggravate the trouble (by transferring it to other points and problems).

  Unnecessary branches are kept going for irrelevant reasons at great expense and effort. Needed branches curtail their services, dislocating needed industries, while the unneeded ones are artificially kept alive for political and other second-hand reasons.