cy and liberty proceed from the Enlightenment.nThe issue is by no means so simple.nFor example, it is true, as I havenelsewhere attempted to show, that thenstructure of Lukacs’s Marxism wasnHegelian and in that sense romantic.nYet as Karl Mannheim wisely observed,nMarxism emerged during thenbourgeois epoch, and even as it acceptedncertain strands of irrationalism, itnremained firmly within the rationalistnworld. That was clear, Mannheim argued,nnot only when one examined then”automatic” Marxism of the SecondnInternational, but when one lookednclosely at Lukacs’s version. Hegel’sndialectical reason was not that of thenpositivists, but it possessed a powerfulnlogic of its own. It did not so muchndestroy the Enlightenment’s faith innreason, as it modified it. The troublenwith Hegel, Kern, and Lukacs, innMannheim’s view, was that their thinkingnwas not historical and irrationalnenough.nAt the same time, as Martin Jay hasnpointed out, the Frankfurt School theoristsnMax Horkheimer and TheodornAdorno maintained that “totalitarianismnwas less the repudiation of . . . thenvalues of the Enlightenment than thenworking out of their inherent dynamic.”nOne need not, of course, acceptnthe enfire argument those men presentednin order to agree with theirnconclusion. Perhaps one should put itnthis way. It was the Enlightenment thatnreplaced God with Man, Christiannprescription with rational morality.nSince that time, men have found itnnecessary to make and worship otherngods. Nazism and communism failed,ntherefore, not because they opposedndemocracy, but because they substitutednthemselves for the historic Faith.nLee Congdon is a professor of historynat James Madison University innHarrisonburg, Virginia.n42/CHRONICLESnLoving thenBitch-Goddessnby Don FedernJudgment Day: My YearsnWith Ayn Randnby Nathaniel BrandennBoston: Houghton Mifflin;n416 pp., $21.95nPaul Johnson’s book Intellectuals,npublished last year, chronicles thentransgressions of modern avatars ofnwisdom (among them Rousseau,nMarx, and Sartre) who, while professingna fervent devotion to humanity,nbehaved inhumanly toward those mostnmeriting their compassion — spouses,nlovers, family, friends, and associates.nAlthough the targets of Johnson’s causticnpen all were idols of the left, thenvolume would have been more crediblenhad its author included at least onenintellectual of the right. As NathanielnBranden amply illustrates, the prophetessnof laissez-faire capitalism wouldnhave been a worthy candidate. JudgmentnDay was written by Ayn Rand’snformer disciple and intellectual agent,nwho for twenty years played St. Paulnto her messiah, and for most of thatnperiod also played a more earthy role innmilady’s boudoir.nRand (1905-1982) was a novelistnand self-styled philosopher who expoundednher economic-pblitical-moralntheories in such best-selling novels asnAtlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead,nand in nonfiction works includingnThe Virtues of Selfishness andnCapitalism: The Unknown Ideal.nHad the Russian-born authornstopped after defending the free marketnand opposing collectivism, it wouldnhave been well and good. She wentnmuch further, however, attempting tonconstruct an ethical system based onnthe idea of the individual as the highestnhuman value. Capitalism became notnmerely utilitarian or a matter of justicenbut a moral ideal. In human relationships,nselfishness was extolled. Hernview of government bordered on anarchy.nThe Randian philosophy gainednadherents in the 60’s and beyond, mostnamong callow collegians who believednreality could best be apprehended innworks of fiction. Nathaniel Brandenn(ne Nathan Blumenthal of Toronto)nnnwas one of these. While still a teenager,nBranden read The Fountainheadnthe way a yeshiva student studies Talmudnand sent a philosophical fan letternto the author. The two eventually met,nand a strange, symbiotic relationshipnevolved.nInitially Rand was Branden’s mentornand patron; later he became her intellectualnadvance man, founding an institutento disseminate her ideas vianlectures, tapes, and publications. Eventually,nthe greatest philosopher of reasonnsince Aristotle (her own words)ndecided it was only fitting that the mostnheroic man and woman in the contemporarynworld should share the delightsnof Eros, as a complement to the communionnof their spirits.nNotwithstanding that each was marriednto another, this superman andnsuperwoman became lovers, untilnBranden tired at last of a physicalnrelationship with a woman twenty-fivenyears his senior and developed a seriousncase of the hots for a comely Objectivistnwench, who was rational and heroicn(also pneumatic). When Rand learnednof the affair, the earth shook with hernOlympian rage and Branden was castninto outer darkness: removed from hisnoffices of trust, shorn of emoluments,nand branded “irrational.” All personalnassociation between herself and thenbetrayer was terminated.nJudgment Day is Branden’s belatednattempt at self-justification. In it henprovides an intimate view of the greatnwoman and her court (called the “innerncircle”), from which we may infer anlady who made Lillian Hellman seemnpositively charming by comparison —nMargaret Hamilton with a philosophicalnsystem in place of a broomstick. Asnany who witnessed her withering contemptnfor questioners who challengednher during Ford Hall Forum appearancesncan attest, this was not a lady tonbe trifled with.nCasual observers could be blindednby the glare of contradictions. Thenexponent of reason (whose works exaltednindependent judgment and criticalnanalysis) demanded cult-like obediencenfrom her followers. Life with Ayn —nthe champion of individualism parnexcellence — included worshipful studynof the master’s canon, self-criticismnsessions for errant disciples, denunciations,nstar chamber proceedings, andnexpulsions (and excommunications).n