Whereas he initially fools himself into believing that he is evil because he is different from his peers, he concludes at the end of the novel that his individuality and his exceptional mental and physical traits actually make him superior and capable. He learns that although his society has taught him that to be alone is evil and to work for others is good, he must actually work for himself and take pride in his self in order to achieve happiness. Otherwise known as individualism, egoism is the philosophy Equality 7-2521 discovers along with the word 'I' as the alternative to the damagingly radical altruism of Anthem. At the same time, as critics have mentioned, a reader of Anthem may usefully recall that Rand uses a very extreme form of collectivism to make her point, and that the solution to Anthem's society may be a moderate rather than an entirely individualist society. Eventually Equality 7-2521 rejects all tenants of collectivism. The central thrust of the novella involves Equality 7-2521's search for a philosophy alternative to collectivism and to its emphasis on the group and the state. Consequently, the society has regressed to the technology of the pre-Enlightenment era, repeating the Dark Age, and men such as Equality 7-2521 who could benefit their society are encouraged to waste their talents. The society is highly dystopian, and Ayn Rand suggests that groups of people never make decisions that are as far-sighted and progressive as those of individuals. The school system indoctrinates the state's children with the philosophy that instead of living to satisfy their own desires, they must live exclusively for their brothers, paralleling the Soviet use of 'comrade' for fellow citizens. In Equality 7-2521's society, collectivism has defeated more capitalist societies in the Great Rebirth, and as a result, every aspect of society is integrated into a rigid state system. While many contemporary philosophers claimed the Great Depression's relatively mild impact on the Soviet Union as proof of Communism's efficacy, and others assumed that Soviet Communism had become repressive due to the failings of its leaders, Rand concluded that collectivism had inherent flaws, which she sought to illuminate in Anthem.

However, in Russia, the Communists' rise to power had been bloody and entangled with totalitarian policies in the name of socialism. Such collectivist principles assumed that when everyone serves each other according to his ability, then everyone in the society will mutually benefit. The USSR had originated from the idea that Communism, an extreme version of socialism, would help the common people by collectivizing many aspects of life. Ayn Rand wrote Anthem approximately two decades after the events of the 1917 Russian Revolution, and the ills and misdoings of the Soviet government under Josef Stalin greatly influenced Rand's understanding of the value of collectivism.

Anthem by Ayn Rand