Ayn Rand's We The Living, set in Petrograd (later named Leningrad), presents the struggle of Kira Argounova to live, as an individual, in the midst of a nascent collectivist dictatorship. Throughout the novel, this dictatorship is portrayed against the backdrop of a collapsing country, through an unrelenting barrage of revolutionary slogans, pronouncements, and speeches.

In these two lectures, John Ridpath will answer the critics who say that Ayn Rand's portrayal of the ideology of this revolution was unbalanced, fanciful, and extreme. By reviewing the century-long buildup, in Russia, of terrorist practices and rationalizations, John Ridpath will show that what finally happened is exactly what Ayn Rand portrayed, in general outlook and tone as well as in every gruesome detail.