In this radio program, Ayn Rand analyzes the 1968 student “rebellion” at Columbia University. Throughout her talk, Rand gives voice to a contrasting group of Columbia students that she believes should be heard — the Committee for Defense of Property Rights — by approvingly reading a series of statements they issued. These statements describe in detail the thuggish acts of the student “rebels,” argue that those acts are indistinguishable from the tactics of fascist groups in the 1930s, and critique the response of the university administration as appeasing and ineffectual.

Rand then adds her own observations and analyses, placing the Columbia protests in the context of other student “rebellions” of the 1960s. Assessing the philosophical principles of the students’ sympathizers, Rand argues that the political system actually advocated by the so-called New Left is fascism.