-Paradise Lost!

हेइया हो,गोड़ उठाइके मूं पर मारो!

के हग दें,सगरे जुलमी ससुरो!

আরদেব না আর দেব না রক্তে বোনা ধান মোদের প্রাণ হো!

आर देबो ना,आर देबो नारक्ते बोना धान,देबो ना ,हेइया हो!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgC2MCPHH5M

Hei Samaalo - Salil Chowdhury

Swaraj:Rapidly growing Ayurvedic and Herbal Pie with religious Flavour!

फिल्म हैदर के जरिये हमने कश्मीर को देखा है।

पंजाब पर फिल्म देखने की जरुरत नहीं है।

अस्सी का दशक है,जहां फिर हम लौट रहे हैं।

Are we losing Punjab because of intolerance?Paradise Lost?

सवाल यह है कि क्या हम फिर आपरेशन ब्लू स्टार का विकल्प चुनने की राह पर है?

सवाल यह भी है कि क्या यह हिंदू राष्ट्र फिर सिखों का नरसंहार दोहराने पर आमादा है?

सैफई का जश्न समाजवाद नहीं!

और न क्षत्रप वंश वर्चस्व जनादेश!

बंगाल में भयंकर राजनीतिक हिंसा,

फासीवादी गठजोड़ फिर

महागठबंधन का चेहरा!

महागठबंधन का महाजिन्न भी विकल्प नहीं!

जिसका चेहरा फिर वही बिररिंची बाबा!

परिपक्व जनतंत्र में सरबत खालसा भी!

न अलगाववाद है और न राष्ट्रद्रोह!

आत्मनिर्णय का अधिकार भी

लोकतांत्रिक मानवाधिकार!

मसलों को संबोधित करना सबसे जरुरी तो सैन्य दमन तंत्र सबसे बड़ा,सबसे खतरनाक आतंकवाद, मनुस्मृति राष्ट्र!

https://youtu.be/wS97K_GXnoY

पलाश विश्वास

हेइया हो,गोड़ उठाइके मूं पर मारो!

के हग दें,सगरे जुलमी ससुरो!

धान देबो ना,रक्ते बोना धान,देबो ना ,हेइया हो!

''হে ই সামালো ধান হো, কাস্তেটা দাও শান হো, জান কবুল আর মান কবুল—আরদেব না আর দেব না রক্তে বোনা ধান মোদের প্রাণ হো!

" সলীল চৌধুরীর সুরারোপিত এ গানটি প্রথম গাওয়া হয়েছিল তখন, যখন বাংলা জুড়ে চলছিল রক্তে দোলা লাগা 'তেভাগা আন্দোলন'। '

कोस दर कोस बोली बदल जाई,यहींच हिंदुस्तान।देहात के लोग जो बतावत रहे,हमउ दाग दिहिस।संस्कृत हमारी मातृभाषा नहीं।

शासकों का विमर्श हमारा विमर्श नहीं और न उनका व्याकरण हमारा व्याकरण ह।न उनकी विधा हमारी विधा।माध्यम भी वैकल्पिक चाहि,हर हाल मा चाहि कि जनसुनवाई जारी रहे।

उनका रंगबरंगा समाचार बेमतलब।हम चीखों को दर्ज करै हो।

हमारे पुरख भूले रहिले के वेद पाठ से वंचित हुए तो नइका वेद रचना चाहि।मनुस्मृति का जबाव बहुजनस्मृति बा।

हमारे पुरख भूले रहिले के जाति व्यवस्था का जवाब जाति उन्मूलन ह।वर्गीय राजकाज का जवाब वर्गहीन शोषणा विहीन समता और न्याय।यहींच हमारा लक्ष्य।

यहींच हमारी मुक्ति।मोक्ष।

हमारी आजादी सहिष्णुता बहुलता।

यहींच पंचशील बुद्धमय भारत की विरासत।

यहींच आमाची मातृभाषा।आमाची संस्कृति।आत्मसम्मान।

कुलो संकट यहींच कि म्हारा देशमा जो प्रचंड शोर शराबा,भूत प्रेत ब्रिगेड का रंगीला तांडव दंगाई है,उसकी वजह कुछो आउर नइखे

मतबल कि गोआ के चुनांचे कि अपढ़ अधपढ़ राजकाज वर्ग जाति वंश वर्चस्व का एकाधिकारवादी अविराम आक्रमण से लहूलुहान बेजुबान जनता की चीखें कहीं दर्ज नहीं होतीं आउर जौण जां बइठलन ऐंठके तमामो मठाधीश,लूटतंत्र मा वे सारे महामहिम, महामहिमा ढेरो ढेर पादे ह।

पण ज्ञान विज्ञान खातिरे इस कटकटेला अंधियारे के कारोबार मा कोई स्पेस नइखे।यही कुलो असहिष्णुता बा।

यही कुलो नरसंहार ह बहुलता का।

सुन लो,बूझ लो मूक वधिर,भारतीय जन गण,भारतीय धर्म और संस्कृति,सभ्यता और मनुष्यता का कुलो बेड़ा गर्क यहींच।

का कहि,पकड़कर कलबुर्गी बना दें,खतरा यहीं त बुद्धिमान चतुर सुजान जीभ लपेट कर गाफला ह।टट्टी पेशाबो बंद ह।

हिंदू धर्म और भारतवर्ष दुनो इसी खातिर खतरे में बा के सबसे खतरनाक ब्रुटस ह आउर उ ब्रुटस ढेरो ढेर पादे ह।

मतलब के बाहरो से खतरा जेतना,भीतरे खतरा उससे कहीं जियादा।

ब्रुटस पर भरोसा खतरनाक ह,संभर जइयो!देश खतरे में।संभर जइयो!

नदीनारे न जइयो!

कि किस्सा यही जुलियस सीजर से लेकर कैनेडी लिंकन,इंदिरा राजीव मुजीब बेनजीर ह,जेम्सवा ने अंखवा मा उंगली किये रहे।

बाकीर किस्सा ससुरे कर्मचारी नौकरी पर नहीं होंगे तो कैसा वेतन और कैसी वेतनवृद्धि?

सावन के अंधे के लिए हरियाली ही हरियाली,लेकिन मौसम बदल गयो रे।

सरकार के लिए जनादेश अब बड़ा सरदर्द है,अर्थव्यवस्था को ठिकाने लगा दिया गया है।

आर्थिक अखबारों ने भी दावा कर दिया कि एकदम करीना कपूर की तरह केकवाक कैटवाक राइड है।सरकार अडिग है।

https://youtu.be/wS97K_GXnoY

My Name is James Bond! Smell ROT Within!Let me kiss and Ensure the safety of the Prime Minister first,Bond censored in India!

#Julius Caesar#Brutas# Greek tagedy # RSS #Shakespeare#Bajrangi Brigade# #Sovereignty#Democracy#Integrity#Unity#Indira Gandhi#1984#Plight of the Sikhs#Rajiv Gandhi #Srilanka #Mujib #Benzir#Sadat#Lincoln#Kennedy#Hinduta#Durga#Toharaia#Mahanta#Sadhwi #Babri Mosque# Advani# Rama #Riots #Godhra#Bhopal#Guajarat#Assam

ब्रुटस पर भरोसा खतरनाक ह,संभर जइयो!

कि किस्सा यही जुलियस सीजर से लेकर कैनेडी लिंकन,इंदिरा राजीव मुजीब बेनजीर ह,जेम्सवा ने अंखवा मा उंगली किये रहे!

भौते भौत पादै ह खतरनाक बाहुबलि दंगाई ब्रुटस!

यह अंध राष्ट्रवाद विश्वास घाती ब्रुटस का लूटतंत्र है।समझ लो।

अधर्म असहिष्णुता की यह सुनामी पितृसत्ता की बलात्कार सुनामी।समझ लो कि हाजतरफा बंद।मनुष्यता दफा रफा।

मातृसत्ता का आवाहन मूर्तिपूजा और मातृजाति दासी।

मनस्मृति का कुलो सार यहीं कि नागरिक मनवाधिकार निषिद्ध।

विमर्श की भाषा विधिसम्मत होनी चीहिए।विधि लेकिन प्राविधि यानी भाषिक तकनीक या विशुद्ध तकनीक नहीं है।

यह विधा ऐसी है, जिसके विकास के लिए शिक्षा दीक्षा पाठ उच्च शिक्षा और शोध की स्वायत्तता उतनी ही जरुरी है,जितनी अभिव्यक्ति की स्वतंत्रता और राष्ट्रीयता का अधिकार।

राष्ट्रीयता का अधिकार लोकतंत्र में संघीय शासन प्रणाली है जो संसदीय व्यवस्था भी है।

हमारे संविधान निर्माताओं ने गहन विचार विनिमय के बाद संघीय लोकतंत्र का विकल्प अपनाया है,एकाधिकारवादी आक्रामक एकात्म केंद्र का कतई नहीं।

हम इस सिलसिले में संघीयढांचे के बारे में बाबासाहेब का संविधान सभा में पहिला भाषण कोट किये रहे।फिर करब कोट।

समझ लो कि कयामत अभी बाकी है।रौरव नर्क बाकी ह।

जब हम पत्रकारिता में दाखिल हुए 1980 में तो शायद तूफान मेल से नई दिल्ली से मुगलसराय उतरकर अलस्सुबह धनबाद के मास्टरपाड़ा में जिन मदन कश्यप के डेरे पर हम पहुंचे,उनने उन दिनों लघुपत्रिका अंतर्गत प्रकाशित किया था और हम लोगों ने झारखंड आंदोलन के संदर्भ और प्रसंग में राष्ट्रीयता पर एक विशेषांक निकाला था।

जिसका फोकस आत्मनिर्णय का अधिकार था।

अब वस्तुनिष्ठ विमर्श के लिए ये संदर्भ और प्रसंग बेहद जरुरी है।बिना संदर्भ और प्रसंग के कोई भी व्याख्या अनर्थ है। संदर्भ और प्रसंग के मुताबिक सटीक व्याख्या ही तमसोमाज्योतिर्गमय है।

किसी शाखा की पाठशाला में इस वैज्ञानिक पाठ का चलन नहीं है।सारी व्याख्याएं,सारे प्रवचन इसीलिए अवैज्ञानिक और इतिहास के खिलाफ अंध राष्ट्रवाद का आवाहन।देश काल पात्र का अज्ञान।

इसीलिए पौराणिक,मिथक हवाले से यह मिथ्या वैदिकी उत्सव, गायत्री मंत्र जाप,योगाभ्यास,मूर्ति पूजा,तंत्र मंत्र ताबीज और तिलिस्म अंधियारा का कटकटेला अंधियारे का कारोबार।तमामो पासवर्ड आखिरकार खुल जा खुल जा सिमसिम है और कुलो जनता कासिम ह,अलीबाबा कोई नहीं।लाश के चालीस टुकड़े जरुर।

धर्म का अवैज्ञानिक पाठ और प्रवचन अधर्म का कार्निवाल यह।मुक्त बाजार और अबाध पूंजी को महोत्सव यह।

दिक्कत है कि बिना इतिहास के पाठ,बिना वैज्ञानिक दृष्टि,बिना लोक और परंपरा की समझ के जो संस्कृति के अपढ़ और अधपढ़ प्रवचन अनंत है,वही अंध राष्ट्रवाद है।

जो दरअसल राष्ट्रीयताओं की हत्या पर तुला है और उसी मुताबिक सैन्य दमनतंत्र में तब्दील राष्ट्र।

इसीलिए लोकतंत्र में अनिवार्यजनता की भागेदारी की बजाय सत्ता में भागीदारी के बहाने हर सूबे में वंश वर्चस्व।

नस्ली वंश वर्चस्व की मनुस्मृति ग्लोबल आर्डर का एजंडा यहींच नरसंहार।

बार बार भगवान का अवतार नहीं है अधर्म नाशे।अधर्म खातिरे अपदेवताओं और अपदेवियों का अधर्म अबहुं राजकाज हुई रहा।

हमउ बड़भाग लिये जनमे हो के कुलो पंद्रह साल की नाबालिग उम्र मा हाईस्कूल परीक्षा में मेरिट की खातिर जीआईसी नैनीताल में दाखिला हुआ रहा आउर वहींच अतल नीली नैनीझील की गहराइयों से निकरै ब्रह्मराक्षस का थान रहे जो जीआईसी मा पहली छमाही की हमारी परीक्षा कापी जांचे रहे आउर फटाक से गरदन पकड़कर धर लियो।उन्हींकी अग्निदीक्षा है कि नाही भय।भय नाई।

हमारे गुरुजी ने कहा हुआ है कि जरुरी नहीं कि सबकुछ पढ़ लिया जाये।बल्कि जरुरी यह ठैरा कि हर जरुरी चीज जरुर पढ़ ली जाये।

भाषाओं विधाओं के आर पार।सुकरात प्लेटो अरस्तू कोपरनिक्स के नक्शेकदम।वे ही हमारी पाठ तय किये रहे तमाम क्लासिक आउर कालजयी।वेहीं अंग्रेजी मा हमें धकेले रहे आउर हमेशा ख्याल रखा कि पांव वहींच मुंबईकर कि क्रीज से हिले नहीं एको इंच।गोबर पानी कीचड़ में धंसकर चाहे जेतना उड़ि सकै,उड़ो।अबहुं उनकी नजर है।

हमारे डैने दरअसल हमारे तमामो शिक्षकों और शिक्षिकाओं के डैने हैं आउर हम दरअसल उन्हींकी परिकथा जी रहे हैं।

उन्हींके ख्वाब दरअसल हमारे ख्वाब हैं।

उन्हींके मंत्र दरअसल चक्रव्यूह के तोड़।

कत्थक के तोड़।

पूरा नाच पूरा ताल पूरा कत्थक अभी बाकी।

हमारे गुरुजी ने कहा हुआ है कि जरुरी नहीं कि सबकुछ देख लिया जाये।बल्कि जरुरी यह ठैरा कि हर जरुरी चीज जरुर देख ली जाये।

हमारे गुरुजी ने कहा हुआ है कि जरुरी नहीं कि सबकुछ सुन लिया जाये।बल्कि जरुरी यह ठैरा कि हर जरुरी चीज जरुर सुन ली जाये।

संयम और पंचशील की यह परंपरा भारतवर्ष की बहुलता और सहिष्णुता है।जिसे हमने अधर्म और असहिष्णुता बना दिया है।

इसलिए विज्ञान निषिद्ध है और पूंजी प्रवाह अबाध,देश मुक्त बाजार।इसीलिए कारपोरेट योगाभ्यास,कारपोरेट प्रायोजित पूजा.जहां आस्था का कोई उत्सव नहीं है।लोक नहीं है।

मातृभाषा विलुप्तप्राय है।

व्यक्ति,परिवार और समाज का अवक्षय है।

संदर्भहीन प्रसंगविहीन प्रलाप का अविराम प्रवचन धर्मोन्मादी ध्रूवीकरण का यह मुक्तबाजारी उत्सव कार्निवाल बलात्कार सुनामी प्रलयंकर है।ईश्वर का मिथ्या मिथक।मिथकीय धर्म मुक्तबाजारी।

अंतर्गत के उस अंक में हमने एक चमार के बेटे का लिखा छापा था आत्मनिर्णय के अधिकार पर।उस चमार के बेटे को दुनिया जोसेफ स्टालिन कहती है।साम्यवादियों का वह मसीहा लेकिन अबाध पूंजी आउर एफोडीआई,निजीकरण और विनिवेश के मुक्तबाजार के लिए तानाशाह प्रचारित है।

चमार के उस बेटे स्टालिन ने रूस का सोवियत संघ बना दिया, तमाम राष्ट्रीयताओं को जोड़कर।राष्ट्रीयताओं के आत्मनिर्णय के अधिकार को मान्यता देकर।

गौरतलब है कि 1917 में जो ऱूसी अक्टूबर क्रांति हुई और जो सोवियत संघ बना,दोनों का विघटन हो गया है। हालांकि, बोल्शेविक विचार क्रांति और सोवियत संघ के विश्व बंधुत्व के सोवियत संघीय गणराज्य में स्टालिन के नेतृत्व में आत्मनिर्णय के अधिकार को मान्यता देकर जारतंत्र के बदले एकीकरण की प्रक्रिया के तहत जो सोवियत संघ का गठन हुआ,वह अब इतिहास है।

जिसके तहत राष्ट्रीय नीति बोल्शेविक। सोवियत की राष्ट्रीय नीति के तहत राष्ट्रीयताओं का विकास और इसी के तहत योगदान केंद्रीय सरकार में लेकिन संघीय ढांचा गणराज्यों का।

यह समानता के सिद्धांत पर आधारित।

राष्ट्रीय नीति बोल्शेविक और राष्ट्रों और नागरिकों और घोषणा पत्र में निहित आत्म-निर्णय के लिए राष्ट्रों के अधिकार (2 नवम्बर 1917) रूस के लोगों के नागरिक मौलिक अधिकारों और काम करने के अधिकारों की घोषणा हुई इसी बोल्शेविक नीति के तहत,जिसे स्टालिन ने अंजाम दिया।

संदर्भ शोषित लोगों (जनवरी 1918)।

नि: शुल्क और अनुल्लंघनीय घोषित मान्यताओं, सीमा शुल्क, लोगों की राष्ट्रीय और सांस्कृतिक संस्थाओं विकास इन्हीं नीतियों के तहत सोवियत राष्ट्र बना। वोल्गा और Crimea, साइबेरिया और Turkestan, काकेशस और Transcaucasia, न केवल रूस के अंग बने आत्मनिर्णय के इसअधिकार के तहत बल्कि विदेशियों की आस्था में तब्दील हुई सोवियत सरकार।

सोवियतसंघ का वजूद नहीं है लेकिन यह इतिहास का सबक है,सोवियत राष्ट्र का गठन और विघटन दोनों जबकि हमने विघटन के खिलाफ लड़ाई अभी शुरु नहीं की है और धर्मोन्मादी फासीवादी,जातिवादी विघटन के हम तेजी से शिकार हो रहे हैं।

इसी तरह महाबलि अमेरिका में कानून सर्वत्र एक सा नहीं है और न पैनल कोड एक सा है।अमेरिका हमारी वैशाली के गणराज्यों का उत्तरआधुनिक पाठ है,जहां पचास गणराज्यों का महासंघ है।

युनाइटेड स्टेट्स है वह पचास राज्यों का जिनका अलग अलग कानून है,उनके आत्मनिर्णय का अधिकार वहीं है,जो स्टालिन ने आजमाया हुआ है।

पंजाब में,कश्मीर में या मणिपुर में आत्मनिर्णय की मांग को आतंकवाद कहकर,अलगाववाद कहकर दमन की भाषा के तहत सैन्यतंत्र का विकल्प आजमाना लोकतांत्रिक भारत के लिए आत्मघाती है।

यह भारत के संविधान के तहत भारतीय लोकगण राज्य के संघीय ढांचे पर निर्मम कुठाराघात है।

इसी खातिर हमने जाने अनजाने खस्मीर,पंजाब और पूर्वोत्तर को आग के हवाले कर दिया है और वहां जन सुनवाई की कोई गुंजाइश बाकी देस की तरह वहां भी नहीं है।कानून का राज नहीं है।

मेरे देश के लोगों ,पंजाब में फिर अस्सी के दशक की भारी दस्तक है।मैकबैथ राजा हैं।राजकाज मैकबैथ का है।

फिल्म हैदर के जरिये हमने कश्मीर को देखा है।

पंजाब पर फिल्म देखने की जरुरत नहीं है।

क्योंकि फिर अस्सी का दशक है,जहां फिर हम लौट रहे हैं।

सवाल यह है कि क्या हम फिर आपरेशन ब्लू स्टार का विकल्प चुनने की राह पर है?

पंजाब में हुए हालिया शरबत खालसा पर राजनीतिक विवाद का स्वर लेकिन हमें ये ही संकेत दे रहा है कि हम पंजाब और पूरे देश को फिर आग के हवाले करने की तैयारी में हैं।सावधान।

हम जानते हैं कि मार्क्स और एंजेल्स ने औद्योगिक फश्चिमी यूरोप की उत्पदन प्रमाली के मद्देनजर कम्युनिस्ट मेनिफेस्टो की रचना की थी जिसके मुताबिक क्रांति अमेरिका और इंग्लैंड या फ्रांस जर्मनी और स्पेन इटली में होनी थी।

लेकिन क्रांति हो गयी कृषिजीवी रूस में किसान मजदूर मेहनतकश गोलबंदी से।लेनिन उसके शिल्पी रहे क्रांति हुई चीन में माओ के लंग मार्च के बाद,जहां महाप्राचीर अब खुली हुई है,बयार मुक्तबाजार।

सोवियत संघ नहीं रहा।तो वो चीन भी चीन नहीं रहा।

दुनिया पर फिर पूंजी और साम्राज्यवाद का विजय पताका फहराया।

विचारधारा की मृत्युघोषणा हुई रहे।

इतिहास की मृत्यु घोषणा हुई रहे।

मातृभाषा की मृत्यघोषणा हुई रहे।

विधाओं की मृत्युघोषणा हुई रहे।

आउर हमउ ग्लोबल आर्डर,शैतानी दुश्चक्र के मातहत उपनिवेश बानी।स्वर्ग से रसातल हुई रहा इंसानियत का यह मुल्क।

कवि मिल्टन अपने सूरदास की तरह नेत्रहीन इसी पीड़ा को आवाज देत रहे अपने पैराडाइज लास्ट में।कालजयी का मतलब यही कि सुकरात,प्लेटो,अरस्तू शेक्सपीअर,कालिदास,रवीद्रनाथ अब भी प्रासंगिक हैं।

Paradise Lost

by Milton

Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667.

Pandemonium the Palace of Satan rises, suddenly built out of the Deep: The infernal Peers there sit in Councel.

OF Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit

Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast

Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,

With loss of Eden, till one greater Man

Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat, [ 5 ]

Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top

Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire

That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed,

In the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth

Rose out of Chaos: Or if Sion Hill [ 10 ]

Delight thee more, and Siloa's Brook that flow'd

Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence

Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song,

That with no middle flight intends to soar

Above th' Aonian Mount, while it pursues [ 15 ]

Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.

And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer

Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure,

Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first

Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread [ 20 ]

Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss

And mad'st it pregnant: What in me is dark

Illumin, what is low raise and support;

That to the highth of this great Argument

I may assert Eternal Providence, [ 25 ]

And justifie the wayes of God to men.

Say first, for Heav'n hides nothing from thy view

Nor the deep Tract of Hell, say first what cause

Mov'd our Grand Parents in that happy State,

Favour'd of Heav'n so highly, to fall off [ 30 ]

From thir Creator, and transgress his Will

For one restraint, Lords of the World besides?

Who first seduc'd them to that foul revolt?

Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile

Stird up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv'd [ 35 ]

The Mother of Mankind, what time his Pride

Had cast him out from Heav'n, with all his Host

Of Rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring

To set himself in Glory above his Peers,

He trusted to have equal'd the most High, [ 40 ]

If he oppos'd; and with ambitious aim

Against the Throne and Monarchy of God

Rais'd impious War in Heav'n and Battel proud

With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power

Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie [ 45 ]

With hideous ruine and combustion down

To bottomless perdition, there to dwell

In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire,

Who durst defie th' Omnipotent to Arms.

Nine times the Space that measures Day and Night [ 50 ]

To mortal men, he with his horrid crew

Lay vanquisht, rowling in the fiery Gulfe

Confounded though immortal: But his doom

Reserv'd him to more wrath; for now the thought

Both of lost happiness and lasting pain [ 55 ]

Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes

That witness'd huge affliction and dismay

Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate:

At once as far as Angels kenn he views

The dismal Situation waste and wilde, [ 60 ]

A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round

As one great Furnace flam'd, yet from those flames

No light, but rather darkness visible

Serv'd onely to discover sights of woe,

Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace [ 65 ]

And rest can never dwell, hope never comes

That comes to all; but torture without end

Still urges, and a fiery Deluge, fed

With ever-burning Sulphur unconsum'd:

Such place Eternal Justice had prepar'd [ 70 ]

For those rebellious, here thir Prison ordain'd

In utter darkness, and thir portion set

As far remov'd from God and light of Heav'n

As from the Center thrice to th' utmost Pole.

O how unlike the place from whence they fell! [ 75 ]

There the companions of his fall, o'rewhelm'd

With Floods and Whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,

He soon discerns, and weltring by his side

One next himself in power, and next in crime,

Long after known in Palestine, and nam'd [ 80 ]

Beelzebub. To whom th' Arch-Enemy,

And thence in Heav'n call'd Satan, with bold words

Breaking the horrid silence thus began.

If thou beest he; But O how fall'n! how chang'd

From him, who in the happy Realms of Light [ 85 ]

Cloth'd with transcendent brightness didst out-shine

Myriads though bright: If he Whom mutual league,

United thoughts and counsels, equal hope

And hazard in the Glorious Enterprize,

Joynd with me once, now misery hath joynd [ 90 ]

In equal ruin: into what Pit thou seest

From what highth fall'n, so much the stronger prov'd

He with his Thunder: and till then who knew

The force of those dire Arms? yet not for those,

Nor what the Potent Victor in his rage [ 95 ]

Can else inflict, do I repent or change,

Though chang'd in outward lustre; that fixt mind

And high disdain, from sence of injur'd merit,

That with the mightiest rais'd me to contend,

And to the fierce contention brought along [ 100 ]

Innumerable force of Spirits arm'd

That durst dislike his reign, and me preferring,

His utmost power with adverse power oppos'd

In dubious Battel on the Plains of Heav'n,

And shook his throne. What though the field be lost? [ 105 ]

All is not lost; the unconquerable Will,

And study of revenge, immortal hate,

And courage never to submit or yield:

And what is else not to be overcome?

That Glory never shall his wrath or might [ 110 ]

Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace

With suppliant knee, and deifie his power,

Who from the terrour of this Arm so late

Doubted his Empire, that were low indeed,

That were an ignominy and shame beneath [ 115 ]

This downfall; since by Fate the strength of Gods

And this Empyreal substance cannot fail,

Since through experience of this great event

In Arms not worse, in foresight much advanc't,

We may with more successful hope resolve [ 120 ]

To wage by force or guile eternal Warr

Irreconcileable, to our grand Foe,

Who now triumphs, and in th' excess of joy

Sole reigning holds the Tyranny of Heav'n.

So spake th' Apostate Angel, though in pain, [ 125 ]

Vaunting aloud, but rackt with deep despare:

And him thus answer'd soon his bold Compeer.

O Prince, O Chief of many Throned Powers,

That led th' imbattelld Seraphim to Warr

Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds [ 130 ]

Fearless, endanger'd Heav'ns perpetual King;

And put to proof his high Supremacy,

Whether upheld by strength, or Chance, or Fate,

Too well I see and rue the dire event,

That with sad overthrow and foul defeat [ 135 ]

Hath lost us Heav'n, and all this mighty Host

In horrible destruction laid thus low,

As far as Gods and Heav'nly Essences

Can perish: for the mind and spirit remains

Invincible, and vigour soon returns, [ 140 ]

Though all our Glory extinct, and happy state

Here swallow'd up in endless misery.

But what if he our Conquerour, (whom I now

Of force believe Almighty, since no less

Then such could hav orepow'rd such force as ours) [ 145 ]

Have left us this our spirit and strength intire

Strongly to suffer and support our pains,

That we may so suffice his vengeful ire,

Or do him mightier service as his thralls

By right of Warr, what e're his business be [ 150 ]

Here in the heart of Hell to work in Fire,

Or do his Errands in the gloomy Deep;

What can it then avail though yet we feel

Strength undiminisht, or eternal being

To undergo eternal punishment? [ 155 ]

Whereto with speedy words th' Arch-fiend reply'd.

Fall'n Cherube, to be weak is miserable

Doing or Suffering: but of this be sure,

To do ought good never will be our task,

But ever to do ill our sole delight, [ 160 ]

As being the contrary to his high will

Whom we resist. If then his Providence

Out of our evil seek to bring forth good,

Our labour must be to pervert that end,

And out of good still to find means of evil; [ 165 ]

Which oft times may succeed, so as perhaps

Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb

His inmost counsels from thir destind aim.

But see the angry Victor hath recall'd

His Ministers of vengeance and pursuit [ 170 ]

Back to the Gates of Heav'n: The Sulphurous Hail

Shot after us in storm, oreblown hath laid

The fiery Surge, that from the Precipice

Of Heav'n receiv'd us falling, and the Thunder,

Wing'd with red Lightning and impetuous rage, [ 175 ]

Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now

To bellow through the vast and boundless Deep.

Let us not slip th' occasion, whether scorn,

Or satiate fury yield it from our Foe.

Seest thou yon dreary Plain, forlorn and wilde, [ 180 ]

The seat of desolation, voyd of light,

Save what the glimmering of these livid flames

Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend

From off the tossing of these fiery waves,

There rest, if any rest can harbour there, [ 185 ]

And reassembling our afflicted Powers,

Consult how we may henceforth most offend

Our Enemy, our own loss how repair,

How overcome this dire Calamity,

What reinforcement we may gain from Hope, [ 190 ]

If not what resolution from despare.

Thus Satan talking to his neerest Mate

With Head up-lift above the wave, and Eyes

That sparkling blaz'd, his other Parts besides

Prone on the Flood, extended long and large [ 195 ]

Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge

As whom the Fables name of monstrous size,

Titanian, or Earth-born, that warr'd on Jove,

Briareos or Typhon, whom the Den

By ancient Tarsus held, or that Sea-beast [ 200 ]

Leviathan, which God of all his works

Created hugest that swim th' Ocean stream:

Him haply slumbring on the Norway foam

The Pilot of some small night-founder'd Skiff,

Deeming some Island, oft, as Sea-men tell, [ 205 ]

With fixed Anchor in his skaly rind

Moors by his side under the Lee, while Night

Invests the Sea, and wished Morn delayes:

So stretcht out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay

Chain'd on the burning Lake, nor ever thence [ 210 ]

Had ris'n or heav'd his head, but that the will

And high permission of all-ruling Heaven

Left him at large to his own dark designs,

That with reiterated crimes he might

Heap on himself damnation, while he sought [ 215 ]

Evil to others, and enrag'd might see

How all his malice serv'd but to bring forth

Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shewn

On Man by him seduc't, but on himself

Treble confusion, wrath and vengeance pour'd. [ 220 ]

Forthwith upright he rears from off the Pool

His mighty Stature; on each hand the flames

Drivn backward slope thir pointing spires, and rowld

In billows, leave i'th' midst a horrid Vale.

Then with expanded wings he stears his flight [ 225 ]

Aloft, incumbent on the dusky Air

That felt unusual weight, till on dry Land

He lights, if it were Land that ever burn'd

With solid, as the Lake with liquid fire;

And such appear'd in hue, as when the force [ 230 ]

Of subterranean wind transports a Hill

Torn from Pelorus, or the shatter'd side

Of thundring Ætna, whose combustible

And fewel'd entrals thence conceiving Fire,

Sublim'd with Mineral fury, aid the Winds, [ 235 ]

And leave a singed bottom all involv'd

With stench and smoak: Such resting found the sole

Of unblest feet. Him followed his next Mate,

Both glorying to have scap't the Stygian flood

As Gods, and by thir own recover'd strength, [ 240 ]

Not by the sufferance of supernal Power.

Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime,

Said then the lost Arch-Angel, this the seat

That we must change for Heav'n, this mournful gloom

For that celestial light? Be it so, since he [ 245 ]

Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid

What shall be right: fardest from him is best

Whom reason hath equald, force hath made supream

Above his equals. Farewel happy Fields

Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrours, hail [ 250 ]

Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell

Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings

A mind not to be chang'd by Place or Time.

The mind is its own place, and in it self

Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n. [ 255 ]

What matter where, if I be still the same,

And what I should be, all but less then he

Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least

We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built

Here for his envy, will not drive us hence: [ 260 ]

Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce

To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:

Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n.

But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,

Th' associates and copartners of our loss [ 265 ]

Lye thus astonisht on th' oblivious Pool,

And call them not to share with us their part

In this unhappy Mansion, or once more

With rallied Arms to try what may be yet

Regaind in Heav'n, or what more lost in Hell? [ 270 ]

So Satan spake, and him Beelzebub

Thus answer'd. Leader of those Armies bright,

Which but th' Onmipotent none could have foyld,

If once they hear that voyce, thir liveliest pledge

Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft [ 275 ]

In worst extreams, and on the perilous edge

Of battel when it rag'd, in all assaults

Thir surest signal, they will soon resume

New courage and revive, though now they lye

Groveling and prostrate on yon Lake of Fire, [ 280 ]

As we erewhile, astounded and amaz'd,

No wonder, fall'n such a pernicious highth.

He scarce had ceas't when the superiour Fiend

Was moving toward the shoar; his ponderous shield

Ethereal temper, massy, large and round, [ 285 ]

Behind him cast; the broad circumference

Hung on his shoulders like the Moon, whose Orb

Through Optic Glass the Tuscan Artist views

At Ev'ning from the top of Fesole,

Or in Valdarno, to descry new Lands, [ 290 ]

Rivers or Mountains in her spotty Globe.

His Spear, to equal which the tallest Pine

Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the Mast

Of some great Ammiral, were but a wand,

He walkt with to support uneasie steps [ 295 ]

Over the burning Marle, not like those steps

On Heavens Azure, and the torrid Clime

Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with Fire;

Nathless he so endur'd, till on the Beach

Of that inflamed Sea, he stood and call'd [ 300 ]

His Legions, Angel Forms, who lay intrans't

Thick as Autumnal Leaves that strow the Brooks

In Vallombrosa, where th' Etrurian shades

High overarch't imbowr; or scatterd sedge

Afloat, when with fierce Winds Orion arm'd [ 305 ]

Hath vext the Red-Sea Coast, whose waves orethrew

Busiris and his Memphian Chivalry,

While with perfidious hatred they pursu'd

The Sojourners of Goshen, who beheld

From the safe shore thir floating Carkases [ 310 ]

And broken Chariot Wheels, so thick bestrown

Abject and lost lay these, covering the Flood,

Under amazement of thir hideous change.

He call'd so loud, that all the hollow Deep

Of Hell resounded. Princes, Potentates, [ 315 ]

Warriers, the Flowr of Heav'n, once yours, now lost,

If such astonishment as this can sieze

Eternal spirits; or have ye chos'n this place

After the toyl of Battel to repose

Your wearied vertue, for the ease you find [ 320 ]

To slumber here, as in the Vales of Heav'n?

Or in this abject posture have ye sworn

To adore the Conquerour? who now beholds

Cherube and Seraph rowling in the Flood

With scatter'd Arms and Ensigns, till anon [ 325 ]

His swift pursuers from Heav'n Gates discern

Th' advantage, and descending tread us down

Thus drooping, or with linked Thunderbolts

Transfix us to the bottom of this Gulfe.

Awake, arise, or be for ever fall'n. [ 330 ]

They heard, and were abasht, and up they sprung

Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch

On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread,

Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake.

Nor did they not perceave the evil plight [ 335 ]

In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel;

Yet to thir Generals Voyce they soon obeyd

Innumerable. As when the potent Rod

Of Amrams Son in Egypts evill day

Wav'd round the Coast, up call'd a pitchy cloud [ 340 ]

Of Locusts, warping on the Eastern Wind,

That ore the Realm of impious Pharaoh hung

Like Night, and darken'd all the Land of Nile:

So numberless were those bad Angels seen

Hovering on wing under the Cope of Hell [ 345 ]

'Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding Fires;

Till, as a signal giv'n, th' uplifted Spear

Of thir great Sultan waving to direct

Thir course, in even ballance down they light

On the firm brimstone, and fill all the Plain; [ 350 ]

A multitude, like which the populous North

Pour'd never from her frozen loyns, to pass

Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous Sons

Came like a Deluge on the South, and spread

Beneath Gibralter to the Lybian sands. [ 355 ]

Forthwith from every Squadron and each Band

The Heads and Leaders thither hast where stood

Thir great Commander; Godlike shapes and forms

Excelling human, Princely Dignities,

And Powers that earst in Heaven sat on Thrones; [ 360 ]

Though of thir Names in heav'nly Records now

Be no memorial blotted out and ras'd

By thir Rebellion, from the Books of Life.

Nor had they yet among the Sons of Eve

Got them new Names, till wandring ore the Earth, [ 365 ]

Through Gods high sufferance for the tryal of man,

By falsities and lyes the greatest part

Of Mankind they corrupted to forsake

God thir Creator, and th' invisible

Glory of him that made them, to transform [ 370 ]

Oft to the Image of a Brute, adorn'd

With gay Religions full of Pomp and Gold,

And Devils to adore for Deities:

Then were they known to men by various Names,

And various Idols through the Heathen World. [ 375 ]

Say, Muse, thir Names then known, who first, who last,

Rous'd from the slumber, on that fiery Couch,

At thir great Emperors call, as next in worth

Came singly where he stood on the bare strand,

While the promiscuous croud stood yet aloof? [ 380 ]

The chief were those who from the Pit of Hell

Roaming to seek thir prey on earth, durst fix

Thir Seats long after next the Seat of God,

Thir Altars by his Altar, Gods ador'd

Among the Nations round, and durst abide [ 385 ]

Jehovah thundring out of Sion, thron'd

Between the Cherubim; yea, often plac'd

Within his Sanctuary it self thir Shrines,

Abominations; and with cursed things

His holy Rites, and solemn Feasts profan'd, [ 390 ]

And with thir darkness durst affront his light.

First Moloch, horrid King besmear'd with blood

Of human sacrifice, and parents tears,

Though for the noyse of Drums and Timbrels loud

Thir childrens cries unheard, that past through fire [ 395 ]

To his grim Idol. Him the Ammonite

Worshipt in Rabba and her watry Plain,

In Argob and in Basan, to the stream

Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such

Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart [ 400 ]

Of Solomon he led by fraud to build

His Temple right against the Temple of God

On that opprobrious Hill, and made his Grove

The pleasant Vally of Hinnom, Tophet thence

And black Gehenna call'd, the Type of Hell. [ 405 ]

Next Chemos, th' obscene dread of Moabs Sons,

From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild

Of Southmost Abarim; in Hesebon

And Horonaim, Seons Realm, beyond

The flowry Dale of Sibma clad with Vines, [ 410 ]

And Eleale to th' Asphaltick Pool.

Peor his other Name, when he entic'd

Israel in Sittim on thir march from Nile

To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe.

Yet thence his lustful Orgies he enlarg'd [ 415 ]

Even to that Hill of scandal, by the Grove

Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate;

Till good Josiah drove them thence to Hell.

With these came they, who from the bordring flood

Of old Euphrates to the Brook that parts [ 420 ]

Egypt from Syrian ground, had general Names

Of Baalim and Ashtaroth, those male,

These Feminine. For Spirits when they please

Can either Sex assume, or both; so soft

And uncompounded is thir Essence pure, [ 425 ]

Not ti'd or manacl'd with joynt or limb,

Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones,

Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose

Dilated or condens't, bright or obscure,

Can execute thir aerie purposes, [ 430 ]

And works of love or enmity fulfill.

For those the Race of Israel oft forsook

Thir living strength, and unfrequented left

His righteous Altar, bowing lowly down

To bestial Gods; for which thir heads as low [ 435 ]

Bow'd down in Battel, sunk before the Spear

Of despicable foes. With these in troop

Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd

Astarte, Queen of Heav'n, with crescent Horns;

To whose bright Image nightly by the Moon [ 440 ]

Sidonian Virgins paid thir Vows and Songs,

In Sion also not unsung, where stood

Her Temple on th' offensive Mountain, built

By that uxorious King, whose heart though large,

Beguil'd by fair Idolatresses, fell [ 445 ]

To Idols foul. Thammuz came next behind,

Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd

The Syrian Damsels to lament his fate

In amorous dittyes all a Summers day,

While smooth Adonis from his native Rock [ 450 ]

Ran purple to the Sea, suppos'd with blood

Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the Love-tale

Infected Sions daughters with like heat,

Whose wanton passions in the sacred Porch

Ezekiel saw, when by the Vision led [ 455 ]

His eye survay'd the dark Idolatries

Of alienated Judah. Next came one

Who mourn'd in earnest, when the Captive Ark

Maim'd his brute Image, head and hands lopt off

In his own Temple, on the grunsel edge, [ 460 ]

Where he fell flat, and sham'd his Worshipers:

Dagon his Name, Sea Monster, upward Man

And downward Fish: yet had his Temple high

Rear'd in Azotus, dreaded through the Coast

Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon [ 465 ]

And Accaron and Gaza's frontier bounds.

Him follow'd Rimmon, whose delightful Seat

Was fair Damascus, on the fertil Banks

Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams.

He also against the house of God was bold: [ 470 ]

A Leper once he lost and gain'd a King,

Ahaz his sottish Conquerour, whom he drew

Gods Altar to disparage and displace

For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn

His odious off'rings, and adore the Gods [ 475 ]

Whom he had vanquisht. After these appear'd

A crew who under Names of old Renown,

Osiris, Isis, Orus and their Train

With monstrous shapes and sorceries abus'd

Fanatic Egypt and her Priests, to seek [ 480 ]

Thir wandring Gods disguis'd in brutish forms

Rather then human. Nor did Israel scape

Th' infection when thir borrow'd Gold compos'd

The Calf in Oreb: and the Rebel King

Doubl'd that sin in Bethel and in Dan, [ 485 ]

Lik'ning his Maker to the Grazed Ox,

Jehovah, who in one Night when he pass'd

From Egypt marching, equal'd with one stroke

Both her first born and all her bleating Gods.

Belial came last, then whom a Spirit more lewd [ 490 ]

Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love

Vice for it self: To him no Temple stood

Or Altar smoak'd; yet who more oft then hee

In Temples and at Altars, when the Priest

Turns Atheist, as did Ely's Sons, who fill'd [ 495 ]

With lust and violence the house of God.

In Courts and Palaces he also Reigns

And in luxurious Cities, where the noyse

Of riot ascends above thir loftiest Towrs,

And injury and outrage: And when Night [ 500 ]

Darkens the Streets, then wander forth the Sons

Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.

Witness the Streets of Sodom, and that night

In Gibeah, when the hospitable door

Expos'd a Matron to avoid worse rape. [ 505 ]

These were the prime in order and in might;

The rest were long to tell, though far renown'd,

Th' Ionian Gods, of Javans Issue held

Gods, yet confest later then Heav'n and Earth

Thir boasted Parents; Titan Heav'ns first born [ 510 ]

With his enormous brood, and birthright seis'd

By younger Saturn, he from mightier Jove

His own and Rhea's Son like measure found;

So Jove usurping reign'd: these first in Creet

And Ida known, thence on the Snowy top [ 515 ]

Of cold Olympus rul'd the middle Air

Thir highest Heav'n; or on the Delphian Cliff,

Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds

Of Doric Land; or who with Saturn old

Fled over Adria to th' Hesperian Fields, [ 520 ]

And ore the Celtic roam'd the utmost Isles.

All these and more came flocking; but with looks

Down cast and damp, yet such wherein appear'd

Obscure some glimps of joy, to have found thir chief

Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost [ 525 ]

In loss it self; which on his count'nance cast

Like doubtful hue: but he his wonted pride

Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore

Semblance of worth, not substance, gently rais'd

Thir fainting courage, and dispel'd thir fears. [ 530 ]

Then strait commands that at the warlike sound

Of Trumpets loud and Clarions be upreard

His mighty Standard; that proud honour claim'd

Azazel as his right, a Cherube tall:

Who forthwith from the glittering Staff unfurld [ 535 ]

Th' Imperial Ensign, which full high advanc't

Shon like a Meteor streaming to the Wind

With Gemms and Golden lustre rich imblaz'd,

Seraphic arms and Trophies: all the while

Sonorous mettal blowing Martial sounds: [ 540 ]

At which the universal Host upsent

A shout that tore Hells Concave, and beyond

Frighted the Reign of Chaos and old Night.

All in a moment through the gloom were seen

Ten thousand Banners rise into the Air [ 545 ]

With Orient Colours waving: with them rose

A Forest huge of Spears: and thronging Helms

Appear'd, and serried shields in thick array

Of depth immeasurable: Anon they move

In perfect Phalanx to the Dorian mood [ 550 ]

Of Flutes and soft Recorders; such as rais'd

To hight of noblest temper Hero's old

Arming to Battel, and in stead of rage

Deliberate valour breath'd, firm and unmov'd

With dread of death to flight or foul retreat, [ 555 ]

Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage

With solemn touches, troubl'd thoughts, and chase

Anguish and doubt and fear and sorrow and pain

From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they

Breathing united force with fixed thought [ 560 ]

Mov'd on in silence to soft Pipes that charm'd

Thir painful steps o're the burnt soyle; and now

Advanc't in view, they stand, a horrid Front

Of dreadful length and dazling Arms, in guise

Of Warriers old with order'd Spear and Shield, [ 565 ]

Awaiting what command thir mighty Chief

Had to impose: He through the armed Files

Darts his experienc't eye, and soon traverse

The whole Battalion views, thir order due,

Thir visages and stature as of Gods, [ 570 ]

Thir number last he summs. And now his heart

Distends with pride, and hardning in his strength

Glories: For never since created man,

Met such imbodied force, as nam'd with these

Could merit more then that small infantry [ 575 ]

Warr'd on by Cranes: though all the Giant brood

Of Phlegra with th' Heroic Race were joyn'd

That fought at Theb's and Ilium, on each side

Mixt with auxiliar Gods; and what resounds

In Fable or Romance of Uthers Son [ 580 ]

Begirt with British and Armoric Knights;

And all who since, Baptiz'd or Infidel

Jousted in Aspramont or Montalban,

Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond,

Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore [ 585 ]

When Charlemain with all his Peerage fell

By Fontarabbia. Thus far these beyond

Compare of mortal prowess, yet observ'd

Thir dread commander: he above the rest

In shape and gesture proudly eminent [ 590 ]

Stood like a Towr; his form had yet not lost

All her Original brightness, nor appear'd

Less then Arch Angel ruind, and th' excess

Of Glory obscur'd: As when the Sun new ris'n

Looks through the Horizontal misty Air [ 595 ]

Shorn of his Beams, or from behind the Moon

In dim Eclips disastrous twilight sheds

On half the Nations, and with fear of change

Perplexes Monarchs. Dark'n'd so, yet shon

Above them all th' Arch Angel: but his face [ 600 ]

Deep scars of Thunder had intrencht, and care

Sat on his faded cheek, but under Browes

Of dauntless courage, and considerate Pride

Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast

Signs of remorse and passion to behold [ 605 ]

The fellows of his crime, the followers rather

(Far other once beheld in bliss) condemn'd

For ever now to have thir lot in pain,

Millions of Spirits for his fault amerc't

Of Heav'n, and from Eternal Splendors flung [ 610 ]

For his revolt, yet faithfull how they stood,

Thir Glory witherd. As when Heavens Fire

Hath scath'd the Forrest Oaks, or Mountain Pines,

With singed top thir stately growth though bare

Stands on the blasted Heath. He now prepar'd [ 615 ]

To speak; whereat thir doubl'd Ranks they bend

From wing to wing, and half enclose him round

With all his Peers: attention held them mute.

Thrice he assayd, and thrice in spight of scorn,

Tears such as Angels weep, burst forth: at last [ 620 ]

Words interwove with sighs found out thir way.

O Myriads of immortal Spirits, O Powers

Matchless, but with th' Almighty, and that strife

Was not inglorious, though th' event was dire,

As this place testifies, and this dire change [ 625 ]

Hateful to utter: but what power of mind

Foreseeing or presaging, from the Depth

Of knowledge past or present, could have fear'd,

How such united force of Gods, how such

As stood like these, could ever know repulse? [ 630 ]

For who can yet beleeve, though after loss,

That all these puissant Legions, whose exile

Hath emptied Heav'n, shall fail to re-ascend

Self-rais'd, and repossess thir native seat?

For mee be witness all the Host of Heav'n, [ 635 ]

If counsels different, or danger shun'd

By me, have lost our hopes. But he who reigns

Monarch in Heav'n, till then as one secure

Sat on his Throne, upheld by old repute,

Consent or custome, and his Regal State [ 640 ]

Put forth at full, but still his strength conceal'd,

Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall.

Henceforth his might we know, and know our own

So as not either to provoke, or dread

New warr, provok't; our better part remains [ 645 ]

To work in close design, by fraud or guile

What force effected not: that he no less

At length from us may find, who overcomes

By force, hath overcome but half his foe.

Space may produce new Worlds; whereof so rife [ 650 ]

There went a fame in Heav'n that he ere long

Intended to create, and therein plant

A generation, whom his choice regard

Should favour equal to the Sons of Heaven:

Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps

Our first eruption, thither or elsewhere: [ 655 ]

For this Infernal Pit shall never hold

Cælestial Spirits in Bondage, nor th' Abyss

Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts

Full Counsel must mature: Peace is despaird, [ 660 ]

For who can think Submission? Warr then, Warr

Open or understood must be resolv'd.

He spake: and to confirm his words, out-flew

Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs

Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze [ 665 ]

Far round illumin'd hell: highly they rag'd

Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped arms

Clash'd on thir sounding Shields the din of war,

Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heav'n.

There stood a Hill not far whose griesly top [ 670 ]

Belch'd fire and rowling smoak; the rest entire

Shon with a glossie scurff, undoubted sign

That in his womb was hid metallic Ore,

The work of Sulphur. Thither wing'd with speed

A numerous Brigad hasten'd. As when Bands [ 675 ]

Of Pioners with Spade and Pickax arm'd

Forerun the Royal Camp, to trench a Field,

Or cast a Rampart. Mammon led them on,

Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell

From heav'n, for ev'n in heav'n his looks and thoughts [ 680 ]

Were always downward bent, admiring more

The riches of Heav'ns pavement, trod'n Gold,

Then aught divine or holy else enjoy'd

In vision beatific: by him first

Men also, and by his suggestion taught, [ 685 ]

Ransack'd the Center, and with impious hands

Rifl'd the bowels of thir mother Earth

For Treasures better hid. Soon had his crew

Op'nd into the Hill a spacious wound

And dig'd out ribs of Gold. Let none admire [ 690 ]

That riches grow in Hell; that soyle may best

Deserve the precious bane. And here let those

Who boast in mortal things, and wond'ring tell

Of Babel, and the works of Memphian Kings

Learn how thir greatest Monuments of Fame, [ 695 ]

And Strength and Art are easily out-done

By Spirits reprobate, and in an hour

What in an age they with incessant toyle

And hands innumerable scarce perform.

Nigh on the Plain in many cells prepar'd, [ 700 ]

That underneath had veins of liquid fire

Sluc'd from the Lake, a second multitude

With wondrous Art found out the massie Ore,

Severing each kind, and scum'd the Bullion dross:

A third as soon had form'd within the ground [ 705 ]

A various mould, and from the boyling cells

By strange conveyance fill'd each hollow nook,

As in an Organ from one blast of wind

To many a row of Pipes the sound-board breaths.

Anon out of the earth a Fabrick huge [ 710 ]

Rose like an Exhalation, with the sound

Of Dulcet Symphonies and voices sweet,

Built like a Temple, where Pilasters round

Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid

With Golden Architrave; nor did there want [ 715 ]

Cornice or Freeze, with bossy Sculptures grav'n,

The Roof was fretted Gold. Not Babilon,

Nor great Alcairo such magnificence

Equal'd in all thir glories, to inshrine

Belus or Serapis thir Gods, or seat [ 720 ]

Thir Kings, when Ægypt with Assyria strove

In wealth and luxurie. Th' ascending pile

Stood fixt her stately highth, and strait the dores

Op'ning thir brazen foulds discover wide

Within, her ample spaces, o're the smooth [ 725 ]

And level pavement: from the arched roof

Pendant by suttle Magic many a row

Of Starry Lamps and blazing Cressets fed

With Naphtha and Asphaltus yeilded light

As from a sky. The hasty multitude [ 730 ]

Admiring enter'd, and the work some praise

And some the Architect: his hand was known

In Heav'n by many a Towred structure high,

Where Scepter'd Angels held thir residence,

And sat as Princes, whom the supreme King [ 735 ]

Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,

Each in his Hierarchie, the Orders bright.

Nor was his name unheard or unador'd

In ancient Greece; and in Ausonian land

Men call'd him Mulciber; and how he fell [ 740 ]

From Heav'n, they fabl'd, thrown by angry Jove

Sheer o're the Chrystal Battlements: from Morn

To Noon he fell, from Noon to dewy Eve,

A Summers day; and with the setting Sun

Dropt from the Zenith like a falling Star, [ 745 ]

On Lemnos th' Ægean Ile: thus they relate,

Erring; for he with this rebellious rout

Fell long before; nor aught avail'd him now

To have built in Heav'n high Towrs; nor did he scape

By all his Engins, but was headlong sent [ 750 ]

With his industrious crew to build in hell.

Mean while the winged Haralds by command

Of Sovran power, with awful Ceremony

And Trumpets sound throughout the Host proclaim

A solemn Councel forthwith to be held [ 755 ]

At Pandæmonium, the high Capital

Of Satan and his Peers: thir summons call'd

From every Band and squared Regiment

By place or choice the worthiest; they anon

With hunderds and with thousands trooping came [ 760 ]

Attended: all access was throng'd, the Gates

And Porches wide, but chief the spacious Hall

(Though like a cover'd field, where Champions bold

Wont ride in arm'd, and at the Soldans chair

Defi'd the best of Paynim chivalry [ 765 ]

To mortal combat or carreer with Lance)

Thick swarm'd, both on the ground and in the air,

Brusht with the hiss of russling wings. As Bees

In spring time, when the Sun with Taurus rides,

Pour forth thir populous youth about the Hive [ 770 ]

In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers

Flie to and fro, or on the smoothed Plank,

The suburb of thir Straw-built Cittadel,

New rub'd with Baum, expatiate and confer

Thir State affairs. So thick the aerie crowd [ 775 ]

Swarm'd and were straitn'd; till the Signal giv'n.

Behold a wonder! they but now who seemd

In bigness to surpass Earths Giant Sons

Now less then smallest Dwarfs, in narrow room

Throng numberless, like that Pigmean Race [ 780 ]

Beyond the Indian Mount, or Faerie Elves,

Whose midnight Revels, by a Forrest side

Or Fountain some belated Peasant sees,

Or dreams he sees, while over-head the Moon

Sits Arbitress, and neerer to the Earth [ 785 ]

Wheels her pale course, they on thir mirth and dance

Intent, with jocond Music charm his ear;

At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.

Thus incorporeal Spirits to smallest forms

Reduc'd thir shapes immense, and were at large, [ 790 ]

Though without number still amidst the Hall

Of that infernal Court. But far within

And in thir own dimensions like themselves

The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim

In close recess and secret conclave sat [ 795 ]

A thousand Demy-Gods on golden seats,

Frequent and full. After short silence then

And summons read, the great consult began.

Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line

The Right to Self-determination is Our Revolutionary Policy

First Published: The Call, Vol. 3, No. 4, January 1975.

Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba

Copyright: This work is in the Public Domain under the Creative Commons Common Deed. You can freely copy, distribute and display this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit the Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line as your source, include the url to this work, and note any of the transcribers, editors & proofreaders above.

One of the guiding principles of the October League has always been its support for the right of self-determination for all oppressed nations.

In its founding statement of political unity, the OL states: "The U.S. is a multi-national state. That is, within the borders of the U.S. there exist several oppressed nations and national minorities. It is the resolute duty of the proletariat to support and unite with the struggles of these nations and national minorities, to resolutely uphold in practice the right of all oppressed nations to self-determination (including the right to secede and establish its own independent state), and to defend all other democratic rights."

The term, "the right to self-determination" has been used by different groups and individuals to mean many different things, often spreading confusion about this revolutionary principle. "Self-determination" has been used by the revisionists in the Communist Party U.S.A. for example, to mean everything from certain groups "doing their own thing" to Black people getting liberal politicians elected.

What is the real view of communists on the right of self-determination? How is the right of self-determination carried out in practice? This article will attempt to examine these questions.

The right of self-determination has always been put forth by communists in a very concrete way in the interests of building unity among the working people of different nations as well as between the working class as a whole and the movements for national liberation. To understand its full meaning, we must first look at the historical development of nations as we know them today.

Nations in the modern sense, developed with the rise of capitalism and its victory over feudalism. With capitalism came commodity production and the need of the capitalists to capture the home market. In order to carry out commodity production in place of the outmoded, backward feudal production, the old organization of society into feudal kingdoms had to be broken up and replaced with politically united, independent territories, whose people spoke the same language. Without a common language, no extensive commerce on the massive scale necessary for large-scale commodity production would be possible. No broad grouping of the population into all its various classes could take place and the necessary close connection between the seller of the commodities and the market would be impossible without the organization of society into nations.

Therefore, if we want to talk scientifically about the meaning of the right of self-determination of nations, we must see it as an expression of the development of national movements trying to form themselves into independent separate states separate from alien national bodies.

ENTIRE WORLD DIVIDED

As capitalism has developed and moved to its highest stage, imperialism, the nations that had developed capitalism first completely carved up and dominated the entire world. Domination of the colonies in order to plunder their raw materials and cheap labor, is a characteristic feature of the system of imperialism. As Lenin wrote: "Colonial possession alone gives the monopolies complete guarantee against ail contingencies in the struggle against competitors..." He added, "The more capitalism is developed, the more strongly the shortage of raw materials is felt, the more intense the competition and the hunt for sources of raw materials throughout the whole world, the more desperate the struggle for the acquisition of colonies." (Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism)

By the time World War I took place, the entire world had been divided between a handful of big imperialist powers on the one hand and the great masses of people in the oppressed nations on the other. War became the only way for imperialism to redivide the world among the great powers. Imperialism brought about a change in the national question and a change in the meaning of the right of self-determination.

Whereas previously, the national question primarily involved the formation of newly developing capitalist nations in place of the old feudal forms of organization, under imperialism, the national question developed into a question of liberating the oppressed peoples in the colonies from the yoke of imperialism. From simply being a particular and internal question of inequality within each country, the national question became a world problem and a worldwide struggle linked to the rise of socialism and socialist revolution, rather than capitalism.

As J.V. Stalin wrote: "Leninism broadened the conception of self-determination, interpreting it as the right of the oppressed peoples of the dependent countries and colonies to complete secession, as the right of nations to independent existence as states." (Foundations of Leninism)

In viewing the national question within the borders of the U.S. and particularly the struggle against national oppression of the Afro-American, Chicano, Puerto Rican, Asian-American, Native American Indian and other peoples in its various forms, it is important to see that these struggles are all component parts of the world-wide struggle against imperialism and colonialism. Some of these questions, for example the Afro-American question, are examples of oppressed nations right within the borders of the U.S. Others, including the Puerto Rican question and Afro-Americans outside the deep South, are questions of oppressed national minorities. The Indian question is a special national question due to the fact thai the Native American peoples developed as peoples, before the rise of capitalism, into pre-national forms. But all these questions are a part of the general national and colonial question in the world and are questions of anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist struggle. In his "Preliminary Draft Thesis on the National and Colonial Question" Lenin listed the question of the "Negroes in America" along with the other major national liberation struggles in the world, as part of the National and Colonial Questions.

NOT ADVOCATING SECESSION

By upholding the right of self-determination for the Afro-American and other oppressed nations, we are not necessarily advocating separation of these nations from the oppressor nation. While defending the RIGHT of these nations to separate and form their own independent political states, we at the same time examine each case in particular to find the solution to the national question that will link it most closely with the overall struggle for socialism. As Lenin said: "The right of nations to self-determination implies exclusively the right to independence in the political sense, the right to free political separation from the oppressor nation. Specifically, this demand for political democracy implies complete freedom to agitate for secession and for a referendum on secession by the seceding nation. This demand therefore, is not the equivalent of a demand for separation, fragmentation and the formation of small states."

Lenin also pointed out that the demand for the right of self-determination "implies only a consistent expression of struggle against all national oppression." (The Socialist Revolution and the Right of Nations to Self-Determination) In each case, he explained, the question of secession vs. federation would have to be dealt with on the basis of which choice would unite the working class and further the cause of socialism, which in the final analysis is the only system that can fully emancipate the oppressed nations.

He compared the right of self-determination with the right of divorce, showing that equality in marriage necessitated the right of divorce, while equality among nations necessitated the right of self-determination. "To accuse those who support freedom of self-determination, i.e., freedom to secede, of encouraging separatism," Lenin said, "is as foolish and hypocritical as accusing those who advocate freedom of divorce of encouraging the destruction of family ties." (The Right of Nations to Self-Determination)

With the development of the U.S. into an advanced capitalist (imperialist) country and the conclusion of the bourgeois-democratic revolution, the emancipation of the oppressed nations and nationalities within the borders of the U.S. became completely bound up with the working class struggle for socialism. Despite the illusions being spread by the revisionists of the CPUSA and various petty bourgeois 'nationalists, that national oppression can be ended under capitalism, the truth is that capitalism is the basis for national oppression. As Mao Tsetung wrote: "The evil system of colonialism and imperialism arose and throve with the enslavement of Negroes and the trade in Negroes, and it will surely come to its end with the complete emancipation of the Black people." (Statement in Support of Afro-Americans in Their Just Struggle Against Racial Discrimination by U.S. Imperialism)

The concrete question of secession or federation of an oppressed nation can only be examined in the context of which will push the class struggle for socialism forward. Sometimes a national movement within a country can objectively hinder or weaken the overall revolutionary struggle, or be used by reactionaries to break the unity of the revolutionary movement. In such cases, the working class and its leadership is under no obligation to support such a separatist movement. Speaking of such a possibility, Lenin said: "The several demands of democracy, including self-determination are not an absolute, but only a small part of the general-democratic (now: general socialist) world movement. In individual concrete cases, the part may contradict the whole; if so, it must be rejected. It is possible that the republican movement in one country may be merely an instrument of the clerical or financial-monarchist intrigues of other countries; if so, we must not support this particular, concrete movement..." (Discussion of Self-Determination Summed Up) Lenin pointed out however, that even with this possibility, it would be "ridiculous to delete the demand" for self-determination from the party's program. An example of a national movement being used by the imperialists for their own gains was the Bangla Desh secessionist movement which was inspired by the Soviet social-imperialists and the Indian expansionists in order to dismember Pakistan, further oppress the Bengali people and surround China. It is for these reasons that communists around the world refused to support such a movement.

Whether or not the people of the oppressed nation favor secession or federation at any given period, it is still the duty of the working class of the oppressor nation to raise the slogan of the right of self-determination. This serves as a guarantee to the oppressed nation that the working class will not take the same chauvinist stand as the capitalists and it furthers the cause of anti-imperialist unity. Lenin pointed out that: "It is our right and duty to treat every Social-Democrat (Communist – ed.) of an oppressor nation who fails to conduct such propaganda as a scoundrel and an imperialist. This is an absolute demand, even where the chance of secession being possible and 'practicable' before the introduction of socialism is only one in a thousand." (The Discussion of Self-Determination Summed Up)

The right of self-determination can not be put off until "after socialism." This view of "waiting for socialism" is put forth by the Trotskyites of various stripes in order to liquidate the national question. The right of self-determination is raised now in order to build unity and to rally the people in the liberation struggle. The movement against national oppression is the closest ally of the working class and objectively is directed against imperialism. By consistently upholding the right of self-determination in practice, the working class shows the people of the oppressed nation that its program of struggle NOW and under socialism starts with the fight for an end to all national oppression.

Of course socialism is the only system that creates the conditions for an end to national oppression but socialist revolution alone is no guarantee that this oppression will end. Rather, power in the hands of the working class means, only that no class can profit from national oppression and that the basic conditions for that oppression are being eliminated. Lenin said that, "Just because the proletariat has carried but a social revolution it will not become holy and immune from errors and weaknesses. But it will be inevitably led to realize this truth by possible errors (and selfish interest–attempts to saddle others)." Lenin further pointed out that nationalism of the oppressed nation will not immediately disappear either. He said: "National antipathies will not disappear so quickly: the hatred–and perfectly legitimate hatred–of an oppressed nation for its oppressor will last for a while; it will evaporate only after the victory of socialism and after the final establishment of completely democratic relations between nations. If we are to be faithful to socialism, we must even now educate the masses in the spirit of internationalism, which is impossible in the oppressor nations without advocating freedom of secession for oppressed nations." (Discussion of Self-Determination Summed Up)

While upholding the right of self-determination and the right of an oppressed nation to secede (separate^ and establish its own government in its historic homeland, we must also deal with the question of the people of the oppressed nation who have been dispersed from their homeland and scattered through the oppressor nation. An example of this dispersal can be seen with the history of the Afro-American people of whom millions were forced off the land and driven into the industrial centers of the U.S. Outside the Black Belt South, their area of historic development as a nation, these Afro-Americans constitute an oppressed national minority along with many others. Concentrated in ghettoes and barrios, these oppressed national minorities are the victims of intense discrimination and sometimes even worse national oppression than those members of the oppressed nations remaining in the Black Belt, Mexico or Puerto Rico. Here some form of autonomy and self-rule must be fought for as well as an overall struggle for full democratic rights as part of the general class demands of the working class.

The fight for the right of self-determination is closely linked to the struggle for democratic rights in general. While the fight for democratic rights is for equality and democratization of society in general, the right of self-determination is the crowning point of that struggle and the highest expression of democracy between nations. Whereas the struggle for democratic rights is basically a fight for reforms, the struggle for self-determination is one that cannot be won without the revolutionary winning of state power. In raising the demand for democratic rights, for example the right of Black students to attend integrated schools in Boston, we also link this demand to the right of self-determination in order to show that the roots of national oppression in Boston lie in the oppression of the Afro-American people as a nation, with full rights to self-determination in the Black Belt. We link this struggle in much the same way that the economic struggle of the workers must be linked to the fight for socialism. In this sense, the right of self-determination is the highest form of democratic rights of an oppressed nation. Stalin pointed out: "But the persons constituting a nation do not always live in one compact mass; they are frequently divided into groups, and in that form are interspersed among alien national organisms. It is capitalism which drives them into various regions and cities in search of a livelihood. But when they enter foreign national territories and there form minorities these groups are made to suffer by the local national majorities in the way of restrictions on their language, schools, etc. Hence national conflicts." (Marxism and the National Question)

At the time Stalin wrote these words, there were some, like the Jewish Bundists who were putting forth the idea of "cultural autonomy" or the cultural separation of the different nationalities in separate schools, social organizations, and political parties, etc. Stalin pointed out that in such cases as this, some form of regional autonomy, based on territory must be carried out as well as the general fight for democratic rights in all spheres of society. At times when self-determination is not applicable (i.e. where full national development never took place) or where the people of the oppressed nation reject secession, regional autonomy can be implemented as the basis to bring about unity and equality.

To show the difference between cultural autonomy and regional autonomy, Stalin said, "The advantage of regional autonomy consists, first of all, in the fact that it does not deal with a fiction bereft of territory, but with a definite population inhabiting a definite territory. Next it does not strengthen national barriers; on the contrary, it breaks down these barriers and unites the population in such a manner as to open the way for division of a different kind, division according to classes."

In the People's Republic of China such a program has been instituted and the more than 50 formerly oppressed nationalities (some numbering less than 1,000 people) all received some form of regional autonomy. While remaining part of the People's Republic of China, they have the power of local self-government and the development of their national language, culture and schools in these areas. In the U.S. this is one part of the communist program on the national question and the right of self-determination. In areas like Harlem, South Side of Chicago, Watts, etc.. Afro-Americans must have some form of regional, district or community autonomy. This also applies to other nationalities facing similar conditions of oppression, for example, Native Americans.

In conclusion, the right of self-determination is a basic component part of the communist program of the October League on the national question. It must also become a component part of the program of the new communist party when it is formed. We cannot accept those who call for "unity" in a new party, but who refuse to uphold in practice, the right of self-determination of Afro-American people and all other oppressed nations.

The right of self-determination, while not an abstract call for separation of nations or the breaking up of big countries into small ones, is put forth as a guarantee of democracy and political power for the long oppressed peoples of the oppressed nations and national minorities. When raised by the workers of the oppressor nation, it represents an act of solidarity with the national liberation movements and a sign that they have made a clean break with their own capitalist class. When raised by the people of the oppressed nation, it serves as a rallying cry for revolution against imperialism and its reactionary policies.

The right of self-determination must be applied to the concrete conditions in each country with the unity of the class struggle and the fight against imperialism and the need for working-class leadership in the forefront. It is only on these revolutionary Marxist-Leninist principles that a genuine multi-national communist party can be built and that the alliance between the workers' movement and the national liberation struggles can be firmly cemented.

SELF-DETERMINATION FOR ALL OPPRESSED NATIONS!

WORKERS AND OPPRESSED NATIONS UNITE!

https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-3/ol-self-det.htm