The White Movement in The Soviet Union & Velvet Revolution: Novel Anthem

In the novel Anthem by Ayn Rand, the author gives us a main character that goes by the name of Equality 7-2521. This character lives in a Communist country where they have to follow all the rules provided by the Council of Vocations. If any of these rules are broken within the State then consequences will be enforced immediately. This is not what we as humans need in our daily lives. Although structure and order are essential to humans living in a cohesive manner, we still need to have our own identity and strive to fulfill our own needs and happiness. In order to achieve these wants and needs, we need to be free of choice to pursue these goals. There are historical events where people in our world wanted individualism and the right to pursue their own happiness. The events from a historical perspective that support Rand’s opposition to communism include the June 4th incident in Tiananmen Square, the White movement in the Soviet Union in 1918, and the Velvet Revolution. These events mirror events that occurred in the novel.

In the novel Anthem, we learn that the overall living style was very strict and that people’s actions had to be proper where Equality 7-2521 lived. They could not say or think certain things or else they would be punished. We see it right at the beginning of the novel when it states:

“It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil. It is as if we were speaking alone to no ears but our own. And we know well that there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone. We have broken the laws. The laws say that men may not write unless the Council of Vocations bid them so. May we be forgiven!”

This opening can be related to a historical incident that happened in the summer of 1989 in Beijing, China. The Tiananmen Square protest was a statement against the reforms in the 1980s that occurred in China. A good portion of these reforms would only benefit only a few select people but would disaffect the majority of the people in China. Many students were unhappy with all these cuts and were calling for democracy, greater accountability, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech, even though these goals varied across these range of students. This can be related to events in the novel when Equality 7-2521 discovers that deep inside him he does not agree with the rules that have been forced upon him by his society. He wants to do and learn other things rather than just be a street sweeper his whole life. He hides in a tunnel three hours a day for two years to self-teach himself pertaining to education and eventually he discovers electricity. He finally has had enough and decides to go to the World Council of Scholars to show them what he has discovered because it is a great invention and that it should be okay that he was doing this on his own. As the novel progresses, it is evident that Equality 7-2521 has discovered that by reading books and through self-education that the Councils have been treating him and his brothers in a non-human manner. They do not have the right to choose or to freedom of speech - which every human should have the right to do. This goes to show we as humans should always have our rights and freedoms to act upon in order to pursue our own personal happiness. People will go to extreme measures to obtain these rights, whether it is to run off on our own like Equality 7-2521 does in the book or protest in a square with a million people starving themselves to get their points across like they did in Tiananmen Square.

Another historical event that we can relate to the novel is the White Movement in the Soviet Union. This was an anti-communist movement and their goal were to put an end to the idea of everyone being the same because they did not think it was fair to everyone. If the communist system were to be a part of their society, people would not be able to be themselves and would not be able to do the things they would want to do because they would have to follow the communist rules. Equality 7-2521 has the same idea near the end of the book when he talks about how he plans to end the communist system to free his brothers and sisters when he states, “For the coming of that day I shall fight, I and my sons and my chosen friends. For the freedom of Man. For his rights. For his life. For his honor”.

Equality 7-2521 has now come to realize how wrong these Councils are treating his brothers and his friends and how they have brainwashed them into following all their rules. He wants them to experience his happiness that he has found from becoming a free man and realizing the rights he has. He is ready to teach his brothers these rights that they are entitled to and free them from their torture and misery.

In the book Equality 7-2521 talks about how they have no choice to do as a future job; only the Council of Vocations chooses their jobs for them that they would have to do for the rest of their lives.

“The Council of Vocations came in on the first day of spring, and they sat in the great hall. And we who were fifteen and all the teachers came into the great hall. And the Council of Vocations sat on the high dias, and they had but two words to speak to each of the students. They called the students’ names, and when the student stepped before them, the Council said: ‘Carpenter’ or ‘Doctor’ or ‘Cook’ or ‘Leader. ’ Then each Student would raise their right arm and sidy: ‘The will of our brothers be done’”.

A similar thing was happening in Czechoslovakia in 1989. The Communist government had a desire to implement a Planned Economy and the people were not very happy about this. They protested against it. They protested from November 17th till November 30th when the Communist party in power stated that they would step down and let somebody else run the country. The people were happy to hear this because the Planned Economy no longer existed. Similar to when Equality 7-2521 and International 4-8818 went into the tunnel they found and studied many things. They were not happy being assigned the jobs of being street sweepers because they felt like they were not reaching their highest potential. Going to the tunnel to study the various things they were studying and learning new things more and more made them both very happy. It gave them a sense that they could do more than what they were being told that they could do - just like the Planned Economy of Czechoslovakia.

In conclusion, happiness is our ultimate goal in life and we should not be living by somebody else's set rules of what we can or cannot think or do. We need to seek and find happiness on our own terms in order to reach our goal of happiness. We also have to know we have rights that we are given to live the freest lives as possible. This is why communism will never work as we see from the examples given in the Tiananmen Square protest, the White movement, and the Velvet revolution. The overall idea of communism is admirable to reduce class structure but it cannot hide the fact that it takes away the freedoms of an individual which allows one to agree with Rand and her negative slant on communism.

Works Cited

1. https://www.anderson5.net/cms/lib02/SC01001931/Centricity/Domain/222/Anthem%20by%20Ayn%20Rand.pdf
2. “Anti-Communism.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 Feb. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-communism.
3. “Velvet Revolution.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Jan. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet_Revolution.
4. “1989 Tiananmen Square Protests.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Feb. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests.