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Ayn Rand 11pp Revised AMS "The Cold Civil War" For LA Times Newspaper- 900+ Words in Her Hand!
Ayn Rand 11pp Revised AMS "The Cold Civil War" For LA Times Newspaper- 900+ Words in Her Hand!
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Description:

Ayn Rand
n.p., July 12, 1962
Ayn Rand 11pp Revised AMS "The Cold Civil War" For LA Times Newspaper- 900+ Words in Her Hand!
AMS

An 11pp autograph manuscript by Russian-American writer Ayn Rand (1905-1982), signed by her at the top as part of the manuscript title, "The Ayn Rand Column." Measuring 8.5" x 11", n.p., July 12, 1962. Boldly written in blue ink, featuring Rand's copious holograph edits in pink colored pencil and graphite. The manuscript's total word count comes to 903, but when taking into consideration those crossed out, the total is most likely much higher. Exhibits expected handling wear and light, even toning. A partially rusted staple mark is present on the first page, with staple holes present on all subsequent pages. Else near fine, and a remarkable example of Rand's writing and editing at work. Housed in an attractive custom presentation case, measuring 9" x 11.75" x .5" overall.

A similar manuscript of her November 18, 1962 column "Post-Mortem, 1962"- submitted to and published by the "Los Angeles Times"- sold at our December 11, 2024 auction for $21,250 including the buyer's premium.

In 1962, Rand accepted an invitation to write a weekly column for the Los Angeles Times. The column covered a wide range of topics and became enormously popular. Despite this success, Rand found that she could not keep up with the demands of a weekly serial and regretfully discontinued it after one year. The present manuscript is a draft of her column, "The Cold Civil War", written for the July 22, 1962 edition of the newspaper.

In full, and separated by paragraphs for ease of reading:

"A 'mixed economy' is a society in the process of committing suicide. If a nation cannot survive half-slave, half-free, consider the condition of a nation in which every social group becomes both the slave and the enslaver of every other group. Ask yourself how long such a condition can last and what is its inevitable outcome. When government controls are introduced into a free economy, they create economic dislocations, hardships and problems, which- if the controls are not repeated- necessitate further controls, which necessitate still further controls, etc. Thus a chain reaction is set up: the victimized groups seek redress by imposing controls on the profiteering groups, who retaliate in the same manner, on an ever widening scale.

A man who is tied cannot run a race against men who are free: he must either demand that his bonds be removed or that all the other contestants be tied as well. If men choose the second, the economic race slows down to a walk, then to a stagger, then to a crawl- and then they all collapse at the goal posts of a very Old Frontier: the totalitarian state. No one is the winner but the government. This process is known as 'a declining rate of economic growth.' We are nearing the climax of this process and can watch it in the daily headlines. Every group in turn is beginning to show signs of panic, sensing its peril. But what policy do they all follow? When Secretary Goldberg announced, during the steel industry's contract negotiations, that the government had arrogated to itself the exclusive right to 'define and assert the national interest' in issues of collective bargaining- labor leaders protested swiftly and properly. George Meany declared: 'When he says the role of the government is to assert the national interest, he is infringing on the rights of free people and free society.' What was industry's answer? The N. A. M. [National Association of Manufacturers] issued a cautious protest, with the following advice: 'The real remedy is to subject labor organizations to legal restrictions on the attainment and use of monopoly power.' Instead of seeking an alliance against their common enemy, and attempting to break the chains of the antitrust laws, which are choking it, industry was demanding that these laws be extended to chain the only powerful contestant who is still semi-free.

When the doctors began their desperate fight against socialized medicine, George Meany was among those present at Mr. Kennedy's circus in Madison Square Garden, inaugurating the propaganda drive, for the enslavement of the medical profession. Organized labor supports 'Medicine,' giving, apparently, no thought to the fact that once the professions are enslaved, there will be no conceivable way for labor to retain any freedom. While the doctors are putting up a heroic and, so far, successful fight- proving that it can be done- the root of future defeats is in their own camp. The voices of most of their official spokesmen, such as the A.M.A., are almost as cautious [and] middle-roadish as the voice of the N. A. M. They seem to treat the issue exclusively as a narrow problem of their own profession, carefully avoiding any reference to wider political principles or issues. The significant exception to that policy is the attitude of the doctors in New Jersey who acted like men and declared that they would not cooperate with their own enslavement. If any representatives of industry raised their voices in support of the medical profession, I have not heard them. As to the voices of the press, they were predominately on the side of the government.

Some time ago, when Mr. Kennedy suggested, vaguely and tentatively, that newspapers ought to withhold such news as might be contrary to the 'public interest,' the newspapers were properly alarmed and expressed opposition to that hint. But when Mr. Minow proposed to censor TV and radio by means of license-revoking, most of the press hailed him as a courageous crusader for culture and art. When Mr. Kennedy forced the steel industry to obey his wishes, without any legal authority to do so by threatening to use the enormous destructive, undefined and undefinable powers of the antitrust laws- many people, including some of the… liberals, grasped the authoritarian nature of that performance. A great shudder of apprehension ran throughout the country, culminating in the stock market crash. But has anyone proposed the revision, clarification or repeal of the antitrust laws to eliminate their grant of arbitrary powers to the government? No. Several bills are coming up, proposing to enlarge those powers. Such is the nature of that 'cold civil war' which is known as a 'mixed economy.' While every social group is destroying every other, the government waits on the sidelines, merely playing favorites and growing. No matter who loses any particular battle, only totalitarian statism can win that war.

What is needed now is the emergence of men, within all social groups, who would rise above the worm's eye view of their immediate problems to a bird's eye view of the total situation. Such men would be statesmen, rather than politicians (the difference consists of the ability to grasp political principles). They would compute the terrible price of seeking governmental favors, they would see their common danger- and, perhaps, would initiate a process, not of chaining one another, but of trading de-control for de-control. No statist bureaucrat could withstand a united front of that kind."

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 8.5" x 11"
  • Medium: AMS

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $299 $20
$300 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $2,999 $200
$3,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 + $5,000