Example Of Collectivism In Anthem

Collectivism, noun, the practice or principle of giving a group priority over each individual in it. Emphasis on collective rather than individual action or identity. Some collectivist societies are bent on having all things equal and leave no room for individual thought. Most people in this society would gladly go along with whatever the leaders say because they know best. Some people have written books based on this idea of a equal society. One of these books is a novelette called Anthem by Ayn Rand and the society that is ruling in Anthem uses collectivism to rule the world. The concept of collectivism in Anthem is justified by the leaders who believe that in order to have equality the people cannot have any individual thought and that thinking their own thoughts is a sin. Many times …show more content…
The Council justifies a collectivist society because they believe that an equal society means a peaceful society. The Council justifies collectivism by not allowing anyone to converse because free speaking could lead to free thinking. Because the Council believes that free thinking is a sin people aren’t able to express their thoughts to others. In Anthem the main character, Equality 7-2521, writes, “It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see.” (17). Since Equality wrote something that isn’t approved by the Council he could be in trouble. In many cases throughout the book Equality does many things that would be a sin in the Council’s eyes. Even though Equality knows that what he is doing is a sin, he still does it because he knows that it would serve a greater purpose. Another reason why collectivism is justified is because the people only know what the Council tells them. Once a child is born they are immediately taken away to a house with other babies. After they turn 5 years old they start school for 10 years and they only do the