Atlas Shrugged or Undirstadan in Icelandic was published in Elin Gudmundsdottir’s translation by Almenna bokafelagid, AB, 26 November 2012. It is the second Rand novel that AB has published. The first one was The Fountainhead or Uppsprettan which Thorsteinn Sigurlaugsson translated and appeared in 2011. We the Living, in Icelandic Kira Argunova, will be published in 2013: It was serialised in Icelandic by an unknown translator in the daily Morgunbladid in 1949.

The American philosophy professor Douglas Rasmussen gave a lecture on Rand’s message on the occasion of the publication of Atlas Shrugged, in the House of National Culture 26 October. The chairman of the Icelandic Ayn Rand Society, Asgeir Johannesson, also gave a short talk. The Society was founded 1 October 2012 in order to promote Rand’s ideas in Iceland. On the board are, with Asgeir, Bjorgvin Gudmundsson, editor of Vidskiptabladid, Internet expert Fridbjorn Orri Ketilsson, radio host Frosti Logason, investor and author Gunnlaugur Jonsson, graduate student and journalist Maria Margret Johannsdottir (who christened her first child Kira, after the main character in We the Living), mathematician Thorarinn Sigurdsson and economic consultant Thorlindur Kjartansson.

This edition of Atlas Shrugged has already generated much media attention in Iceland, not surprisingly, as it is one of the most popular and influential novels of all times. It has sold in about eight million copies worldwide since its original publication in 1957. The Icelandic Ayn Rand Society organised a meeting about Rand’s political ideas 11 November 2012. Speakers included Bjorgvin Gudmundsson, Gisli Hauksson, chairman of the board of RNH, Gunnlaugur Jonsson, Asgeir Johannesson, Thorarinn Sigurdsson and Thorlindur Kjartansson. The meeting was chaired by David Thorlaksson, the chairman of Young Independents.

Frosti Logason

Viðskiptabladid reported the publication of Atlas Shrugged and the lecture by Douglas Rasmussen 3 November. It also published an article on Ayn Rand, her life and her works, 10 November. Frettabladid, on its cultural page, published 30 October an interview about Rand with Frosti Logason. He said that he had, as a University student, become intrigued by the strong emphasis which Rand put on freedom and individual responsibility; the idea that man could not relegate his responsibilities to a higher being or to the authorities, but that he had to choose for himself. Asked whether Rand’s support for capitalism was not less relevant after the financial debacle of 2007–8, Frosti Logason responded: “If there had been liberty in the spirit of Ayn Rand, banks would have been responsible for their own affairs and then they would not have taken the big risks that they took. It is in stark contrast to Rand’s ideas that taxpayers and central banks should pick up the bill for the recklessness of individual banks. She would never have accepted this.”

Helgi Vifill Juliusson

Morgunbladid published 13 November a very favourable review of Atlas Shrugged by journalist Helgi Vifill Juliusson. “One of the most attractive messages of the book is that we have to think independently, for ourselves. Thought is an individual act, even though it is desirable to acquire as much knowledge as possible,” Juliusson wrote. Rand’s novel was discussed extensively 23 January 2013 on the popular weekly television programme about literature, Kiljan, run by the Icelandic Broadcasting Service. Literary critic Frida Bjork Ingvarsdottir said that the novel was interesting and challenging, while she did not agree with the message. Another discussant, Throstur Helgason, described the experience of reading the book as if hit by a steamroller, leaving it open whether this was meant as a complaint or a compliment.

One of the regular columnists at the Landsbankinn Opinion Page on the bank’s website, Californian investor Mark Spitznagel, has written there, 21 March 2012, on the international financial crisis and the relevance of Rand’s ideas. Here is a part of the English original:

So, why is this time different? The answer lies in Ayn Rand’s rhetorical invocation of despair in her 1957 epic Atlas Shrugged: “Who is John Galt?” Simply put, when the state seizes the incentives and drivers of capital investment, owners of capital go on strike. Rand portrays innovative industrialists as akin to Atlas in Greek mythology, carrying on his back a dystopian world of growing and overbearing collectivist government. The hero, John Galt, calls for them all to shrug, to “stop the motor of the world” by withdrawing from their productive pursuits, rather than promoting a world in which, under the guise of egalitarianism, incentives have been usurped in order to protect the politically connected from economic failure. Today, Rand’s fictional world has seemingly become a reality – endless bailouts and economic stimulus for the unproductive at the expense of the most productive, and calls for additional taxation on capital investment. The shrug of Rand’s heroic entrepreneurs is to be found today within the tangled ciphers of corporate and government balance sheets.

The book is on offer directly from the publisher, Almenna bokafelagid, at only 3,824 ISK. The Icelandic edition of The Fountainhead can also be bought there at the same price.

Ms. Kate Hoey, Labour MP for the London district of Vauxhall, gave a talk at a well-attended meeting of Icewise on the “Dangers of Joining the EU” Monday 19 November. She said that the British people were fed-up with EU membership. A small elite in Brussels, out of touch with ordinary Europeans, was steadily increasing its power. It was for her incomprehensible that the Icelanders wanted to join, at the same time as opinion polls showed that almost 65% of the British wanted to leave the union. If the Icelanders joined the EU, they would have to be very concerned about their fisheries. The British felt powerless with their 67 delegates to the European Parliament, and as a member state Iceland could expect to get one delegate. Ms. Hoey also said that in the United Kingdom there was widespread support for a referendum on EU admission. “Let us no longer be Little Europeans. Let us instead be real internationalists,” she added. The leading daily Morgunbladid published 20 November an account of her talk, and published a taped interview with her on its website.

Here, Kate Hoey’s talk can be accessed on Youtube, as well as the introduction (in Icelandic) by Skafti Hardarson and concluding remarks by Hallur Hallsson and Jon Kristinn Snaeholm (also in Icelandic). While RNH did not organise this event, it fully supports it as a part of the joint project with AECR on “Europe, Iceland and the Future of Capitalism”.

Hannes H. Gissurarson gives his talk on Churchill. Photo: Arni Sigurdsson.

Professor Hannes H. Gissurarson gave a talk about “Winston Churchill the Statesman” at a luncheon meeting of the Icelandic Churchill Club Saturday 17 November. He pointed out that Churchill was firmly planted in the Anglo-Saxon tradition of liberty under the law, whose noblest achievements were the 1688 Bloodless Revolution in England and the 1776 American Revolution: their aim had been to circumscribe power and to ensure individual rights. Professor Gissurarson discussed some of the most famous quotations attributed to Churchill and traced them to other sources. A legend in his own lifetime, Churchill was often misquoted.

According to Professor Gissurarson, the rise of Hitler, opposed by Churchill, was certainly resistible. Machiavelli had said that in the fight against the wolves, the statesman had to possess the strength of the lion and the cunning of the fox, and these two qualities Churchill had combined: he had also recognised the wolves, Hitler and Stalin, for what they were. Another topic discussed by Professor Gissurarson was the British Empire. While it could be criticized for much, it should not be forgotten that it brought the rule of law to many countries. Often it was vastly better than the alternatives, either cruel domestic despots, or the Japanese and German Empires which competed with it in the 20th Century. When the British left India, it was partitioned in a bloody way, with tens of millions of people losing their homes. Did the Indian elite then rule the country better than the Raj? It was interesting that the inhabitants of Hong Kong did not want to part with British rule in 1997. Finally, Professor Gissurarson discussed the episode in the election campaign of 1945 when Churchill, under the influence of F. A. von Hayek, warned against central planning: But the British electorate was not ready for that message.

Churchill: Slides