Filmed in World War II.
Censored by Mussolini.
Lost for 26 years.
Restored with Ayn Rand.
Now, We the Living (1942) is coming to Australian cinemas.
“We The Living is a one-of-a-kind film, brought back - through the work of heroes - from the brink of extinction.
Since its masterful, painstaking restoration by Duncan in 2022, it has premiered around the world, selling out cinemas from Kyiv to New York. Now, it will sell out cinemas here.
We are honoured to bring this historic masterpiece to an Australian audience for the first time.”
- Maxim Bishev | Founder, ACO
“Here’s a film of real humanity, a glorious piece of romantic drama.”
- Paul LePetit, Sunday Telegraph
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“Anyone who fights for the future, lives in it today.”
- Ayn Rand
The Australian Centre for Objectivism was founded to advance Objectivism in Australia though educational and cultural engagement.
We promote the study and application of Ayn Rand’s philosophy through university initiatives, regular city meetups, and public events - building a lasting institutional presence for Objectivism in Australia.
Photo: © Leonard Peikoff, photograph by Talbot
New Intellectuals Wanted!
“Who are to be the New Intellectuals? Any man or woman who is willing to think. All those who know that man's life must be guided by reason, those who value their own life and are not willing to surrender it to the cult of despair in the modern jungle of cynical impotence, just as they are not willing to surrender the world to the Dark Ages and the rule of collectivist brutes.”
Ayn Rand, For the New Intellectual
Support the advancement of Objectivism in Australia today
Your support will connect Australian students with the ideas and literature of Ayn Rand, fund special events, support original content creation, and help secure a distinct Objectivist voice in Australia’s intellectual culture.
What is Objectivism?
Ayn Rand was once famously asked to summarise her philosophy while standing on one foot. She embraced the challenge and replied:
“Metaphysics: objective reality. Epistemology: reason. Ethics: self-interest. Politics: capitalism.”
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Reality is an objective absolute that exists independently of anyone’s consciousness. Everything that exists has a definite identity and is a part of this reality. There is no “other” reality, universe or dimension outside of existence. All entities act in accordance with their nature. A thing cannot act against its nature (this would require it to be not what it is, which would be a contradiction).
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Our means of perception are inerrant and function automatically, supplying the raw material from which we form all our knowledge. Reason - “the faculty which identifies and integrates the material provided by man’s senses” - does not function automatically and must be directed by choice and in a state of focus. If one chooses to think and follows an objective method of cognition, one may achieve conceptual knowledge. Only individual minds can think - there are no collective brains. The purpose of knowledge is ultimately the advancement of one’s own life.
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The objective requirements of every individual’s life are the source - and the standard - of all his/her values.
Values do not exist apart from individuals; values do not come from any mystical source, such as God, nor from any social source, such as society.
Objectivism advocates egoism - the view that each individual should be the moral beneficiary of his/her own actions. Altruism (self-sacrifice) is evil.
Objectivism recognises that what is, in fact, to one’s own benefit can only be determined by reason - and not by fear, revelation, or emotional whim.
Rand defined “happiness” as “the state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of values.”
The achievement of one’s own happiness is the highest moral purpose of one’s life.
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Capitalism is “the political-economic system based on the recognition of individual rights”. Unlike all other systems, capitalism protects individual rights by banning the initiation of force from all human relations. Under capitalism, each individual is free to act on the judgement of his/her own mind to produce values. One trades with others, who produce different values, by voluntary consent and to mutual benefit.