Communism v. Capitalism

As I am reading Atlas Shrugged, I am beginning to see a pattern amongst the people in the book. They could be split into two categories: those who believe in fair, free, competition and those who want control of the market place through government intervention. Several policies in the book help to highlight these two categories of people.  The first policy is the Anti ‘Dog-Eat-Dog’ rule, which essentially states that new companies are forbidden to compete in areas where a long-standing company exists. The policy is said to be proposed in the interest of protecting the “public welfare”. The example of this rule’s limitations was the limiting and shutting down of the Phoenix-Durango, which sets up the eventual demise of prosperity in the Colorado area.  This is clearly not in the best interest of the public but rather in the best interest of Taggart Transcontinental.  The second policy is the “Equalization of Opportunities”, which states that no company can become a monopoly because society’s market is only able to function with the proper amount of competition. The consequence of this is that the market doesn’t determine a superior company but rather government requires competition to exist.  Thus the characters can be divided based on their support of these policies. People who supported these policies, such as Orren Boyle, James Taggart, Balph Eubank, and Dr. Pritchett, seemed to represent the fundamental principles of communism or command market. The government trying to control and plan the market place so that everyone can have an “equal” share is the basis of the Communist Manifesto.  Therefore if Orren Boyle represents communism than Dagny Taggart and Henry Rearden, who are against the policies, must represent capitalism. Capitalism is represented in their work ethic and mindset. They believe in working for their money and the passion and challenge that come with fair competition. Through these characters and their response to these policies, Ayn Rand is trying to represent the differences between capitalism and communism.