"What makes it interesting to me is the notion of a strike by the intelligentia. (Has that ever happened?)"
When owners "strike" it's sometimes called a "lockout." But then the chieftain calling for the lockout depends on the labor of private security thugs or cops (to police his property), so he's still not independent from the work of subordinates. (Too bad they can't find Rand's fictional energy source!)
In Argentina when "ATtlas shrugged" it was called "owners abandon their factories." In many cases, workers seized the abandoned property and ran things collectively. Other times, striking owners are called "absentee landlords" -- real Ubermensch types there!
In Spain in the 30s and elsewhere workers didn't wait for owners to "go on strike" -- they expedited the process by chasing owners out.
Strikes of the intelligentsia -- which Rand seems to confuse often with industry leaders in Hollywood are sometimes called by writers -- writers' strikes. These happen quite a bit.
-B.