Anthem

Part 1

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Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! Anthem is still under copyright in Canada. Please do not put it on Canadian computers.

Caxton Printers, who used to own the United States copyrights to Anthem by Ayn Rand, as per an agreement with Pamphleteers, was VERY kind and VERY open about explaining the copyright of Anthem, and how it came to be not renewed in the U.S.; and we would like to add, on their behalf, that their copyrights are still in force for Anthem in Canada. Neither we nor they are in a current position to research the possible copyrights for other countries, so that is possibly still up in the air. It behooves me, since they have been so forthcoming about this-- to encourage you to buy the only hardcover edition available.

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Anthem

by Ayn Rand

March, 1998 [Etext #1250]

Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, anthm11.txt VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, [-anthm10a.txt-] {+anthm10b.txt+}

This Etext was prepared by an anonymous group of volunteers.

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Part 2

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This Etext was prepared by an anonymous group of volunteers.

by Ayn Rand

PART ONE-]

{+Chapter One+}

It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil. It is as if we were speaking alone to no ears but our own. And we know well that there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone. We have broken the laws. The laws say that men may not write unless the Council of Vocations bid them so. May we be forgiven!

But this is not the only sin upon us. We have committed a greater crime, and for this crime there is no name. What punishment awaits us if it be discovered we know not, for no such crime has come in the memory of men and there are no laws to provide for it.

It is dark here. The flame of the candle stands still in the air. Nothing moves in this tunnel save our [-hand-] {+hands+} on the paper. We are alone here under the earth. It is a fearful word, alone. The laws say that none among men may be alone, ever and at any time, for this is the great transgression and the root of all evil. But we have broken many laws. And now there is nothing here save our one body, and it is strange to see only two legs stretched on the ground, and on the wall before us the shadow of our one head.

The walls are cracked and water runs upon them in thin threads without sound, black and glistening as blood. We stole the candle from the larder of the Home of the Street Sweepers. We shall be sentenced to ten years in the Palace of Corrective Detention if it be discovered. But this matters not. It matters only that the light is precious and we should not waste it to write when we need it for that work which is our crime. Nothing matters save the work, our secret, our evil, our precious work. Still, we must also write, for--may the [-council-] {+Council+} have mercy upon us!--we wish to speak for once to no ears but our own.

Our name is Equality 7-2521, as it is written on the iron bracelet which all men wear on [-the-] {+their+} left wrists with their names upon it. We are twenty-one years old. We are six feet tall, and this is a burden, for there are not many men who are six feet tall. Ever have the Teachers and the Leaders pointed to us and frowned and said: "There is evil in your bones, Equality 7-2521, for your body has grown beyond the bodies of your brothers." But we cannot change our bones nor our body.

We were born with a curse. It has always driven us to thoughts which are forbidden. It has always given us wishes which men may not wish. We know that we are evil, but there is no will in us and no power to resist it. This is our wonder and our secret fear, that we know and do not resist.

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