Ability, Individual, Collective

Rand, in Atlas Shrugged, is not incorrect to characterize 'From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs' as 'collectivist'. However, her associated opposition of 'Collective' to 'Individual' reflects only the lack in her system of an adequate Pluralist principle, i. e. one via which a Collective that consists of, rather than suppresses, Individuals can be generated. The possibility of such a 'Collective' is plainly connoted by each 'each' in the formulation. Furthermore, she is too short-sighted to recognize that "From each according to his abilities" entails the possibility of one's creation of a social role that expresses one's abilities, instead of, as in the case of her works, the subordination of the abilities of even distinctive individuals to established social roles, e. g. an 'engineer'.