I just received word that Ayn Rand’s novels, along with my book “The Making of Modern Economics,” have been pulled from the shelves of the libraries at the University of the Philippines, a hotbed of Marxism. Here’s the story.
In 2002, a UP student named Francisco (a pseudonym) read “The Making of Modern Economics” (ME Sharpe, 2001). One of the most controversial chapters is chapter 6, “Marx Madness Plunges Economics into a New Dark Age.” The student was a member of a Communist front student organization at UP, but was so impressed with my critique of Marx that he typed the entire chapter into an email and sent it to all his Marxist friends and his sociology professor. As a result, they abandoned Marxism. in favor of free-market economics.
So far, so good. But here is the latest email from my “friend in the Philippines”: “Dear Mark: I donated a copy of ‘The Making of Modern Economics’ to the libraries of each of the four major universities here. Later, a friend of mine checked the library at the University of the Philippines and sure enough, it was there on the stacks. And had become a little dog-eared … meaning it had been read and read. Well, just yesterday she looked again – and it was gone! Also all Rand’s books have disappeared (they were in both the main library and the library of the College of Arts and Letters – gone from both). Also, the copy of your book had been heavily highlighted by the librarian – complete with annotated comments disputing what you said. Especially in the chapter on Marx. For example, where you talked about Marx’s theory of exploitation, ‘exploitation’ was crossed out with the comment: ‘not true’… As good Marxists (UP is riddled with them) they use the term “superstructure” instead. Apparently, both you and Rand are too radical and revolutionary for tender young Filipino minds – at least, according to their Marxist minders! – Best … Francisco.”
