Group - We the Living

We the Living is the first novel published by the American novelist Ayn Rand. It was also Rand's first expression against communism. First published in 1936, it is a story of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Ayn Rand observes in the foreword to this book that We the Living was the closest she would ever come to writing an autobiography. Her working title for the novel had been "Airtight." We the Living was first completed in 1934, but, despite the support it received from H.L. Mencken, it was rejected by several publishers, until 1936, when George Platt Brett of Macmillan Publishing agreed to publish her book. Brett said "he did not know if they would make money on it or not, but that it was a novel that should be published." The story takes place from 1922 to 1925, in post-revolutionary Russia. Kira Argounova, the protagonist of the story, is the younger daughter of a bourgeois capitalist. An independent spirit with a will to match, she rejects any attempt by her family or the nascent Socialist State to cast her into a mold. At the beginning of the story, Kira returns to Petrograd along with her family, after a prolonged exile from the assault of the revolutionaries. Kira's father had been the owner of a textile factory, which had been seized and nationalized. The family, having given up all hopes of regaining their past possessions after the emphatic victories of the Red Army in the last four years, is resigned to its fate, as it returns to the city in search of livelihood. It finds, to its dismay, that their expansive mansion has likewise been seized, and converted to living quarters for several families. Left with nowhere to go, the family moves into Kira's aunt Marussia's apartment. The severity of life in the newly socialized Russia is biting and cruel, especially for the people belonging to the now-stigmatized middle class. Kira's uncle Vasili has also lost his family business to the state, and has been forced to sell off his possessions, one at a time, for money (which has lost much of its value owing to steep inflation rates). Money has ceased to be a major representative of "wealth and power". Private enterprises have been strictly controlled, and licenses to run them allotted only to those "enjoying the trust" of the proletariat. Food is rationed. Only laborers of nationalized businesses and students in state-run educational institutions have access to ration cards. The family of five survives on the ration cards allotted to the two younger members of the family, who are students.