Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Rand’s birth, the International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL) has launched a project titled the “Year of Ayn Rand” Book Project.
From ISIL’s description:
Current Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is unusually popular with the Russian populace with about 70% public support. He is considered a patriot in Russia, as well as in his home city of St. Petersburg ? and the probability of his re-election in 2004 is quite high.
Being concerned about his historical legacy, it is widely thought that he will try to introduce significant changes in both the economic and ideological policies of the country.
But he is distrustful of western authors and philosophers and wants to come up with something uniquely Russian. Thus Ayn Rand and her Objectivism, with such obvious Russian roots, could very well satisfy this demand for a new ideology ? and could shape the ideological and philosophical foundation of the Russian-speaking world for many years to come.
Inroads have already been made with the introduction of the Russian edition of Rand’s Atlas Shrugged to Putin’s top economic advisor Andre Illarionov by myself (Jaroslav Romanchuk) and Dmitry Kostygn at a Moscow book fair. Illarionov subsequently published strong endorsements of Rand in The Moscow Times (and Wall Street Journal).
The Book Project
The long-term goal of the project is to introduce the works of Ayn Rand and her philosophy to Russian-speaking countries, and to make these ideas a part of the intellectual mainstream of the culture. To accomplish this, we intend to print and sell millions of copies of Rand’s works throughout the Russian-speaking world.
Cross-posted to Improved Clinch.