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THE EDUCATION OF AYN RAND, 1905–1943
is individual. So is all parenthood. So is every creative process.” 59 The
Political Sphere was the opposite of the Creative Sphere and must be
extremely limited in scope lest it destroy individual creativity.
Closely related to the two spheres was Rand’s next dyad, of Active
Man and Passive Man. Even as she set them up as polar opposites, Rand
recognized that “in every one of us there are two opposite principles
fi ghting each other: the instinct of freedom and the instinct of security.”
But both man and societies could be defi ned as either active or
passive, and there was “a strange law in their relationship.” 60 If society
was geared toward the needs of the Passive Man, the Active Man would
be destroyed; yet if society responded to the needs of the Active Man,
he would carry along both Passive Man and all of society as he rose.
Therefore modern humanitarians were caught in a paradox: in restricting
the Active to benefi t the Passive, they undercut their basic goal.
This clash between Active and Passive even structured world history,
according to Rand. When the Active Man was ascendant, civilization
moved forward, only to succumb to the lure of the security needed by
the Passive Man. It was a cycle of light and dark that had continued
for centuries, and now Rand saw another round dawning in America:
“[W]hen a society allows prominence to voices claiming that Individual
Freedom is an evil—the Dark Ages are standing on its threshold. How
many civilizations will have to perish before men realize this?” 61
Active and Passive Man were, at base, variations on the concepts of
creator and the second-hander that underlay Rand’s developing novel.
Now appearing in nonfi ction form, the same ideas gave Rand a class
theory of sorts. She was quick to emphasize that the passive type of man
was not necessarily a member of the working classes or the “so-called
downtrodden.” In fact, working men understood quite well the nature
of individual effort and initiative. The highest concentration of collectivists
would be found in two other classes, Rand ventured: the secondgeneration
millionaires and the Intellectuals. Most intellectuals were
second-raters with a lust for power, she alleged. It was they who had
helped Stalin, while the millionaires helped Hitler, aided by “the lowest
elements” in both cases. She concluded, “Tyrannies come from above
and below. The great middle is the class of Freedom.” 62
Here was the clearest infl uence of the Willkie campaign on her
thinking. Before, Rand had spoken only of the superior man and his
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