The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth: As Revealed in the Writings of Gerrard Winstanley, the Digger, Mystic and Rationalist, Communist and Social ReformerBerens, Lewis Henry
History
The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth: As Revealed in the Writings of Gerrard Winstanley, the Digger, Mystic and Rationalist, Communist and Social Reformer
Berens, Lewis Henry
Communism; Land use; Winstanley, Gerrard, 1609-
"But I do not entreat thee, for thou art not to be entreated. But
in the Name of the Lord, that hath drawn me forth to speak to thee,
I, yea I say, I command thee, _To let Israel go free, and quietly
to gather together into the place where I shall appoint; and hold
them, no longer in bondage_.... But if you will not, but
Pharaoh-like cry, _Who is the Lord that we should obey him?_ and
endeavour to oppose, then know, that He that delivered Israel from
Pharaoh of old is the same Power still, in whom we trust, and whom
we serve. For this, Conquest over thee shall be got, _not by Sword
or Weapon, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts._"
Such, then, were the first "official pronouncements" of the body of men
known in the History of England as the Diggers, whose proud privilege it
was to be the first in our native land, as against the rights of
property, boldly to proclaim the rights of man. Poor in worldly goods
they may have been, but they were rich in hope and in love, in broad
thoughts and elevating ideals, in a firm belief in the power and
ultimate triumph of the Inward Light of Equity and Reason, and in
unflinching resolution, not only to proclaim the steps necessary to
social salvation, but to adventure their lives and persons to lay the
foundations of a better, of a more equitable and beneficial, social
state than ever they knew. Certain it is that they were inspired by the
highest motives that impel men to action; hence even those who may deem
their views erroneous should not withhold from the men themselves their
meed of respect, admiration, and sympathy. To those who deem their views
true, we need make no appeal. Monuments are erected in stone, in marble,
or in gold, to those whose actions in peace or in war commend themselves
to their own generation; the monuments to those in advance of their
times and of our times, are to be found only in the hearts of thinkers.
It was but yesterday, after some two hundred and fifty years, that
public sentiment tolerated the erection of a public monument to the
memory of the man who delivered his country from under the tyranny of
Kings. Before another similar period has passed away, a similar tribute
may be paid to the memory of those who, during the same tumultuous but
inspiring times, would have saved all future generations of their
countrymen from under the tyranny of Land-Lords.
FOOTNOTES:
[90:1] British Museum, Press Mark, 1027, i. 16 (3). We say "mainly from
Winstanley's pen," for though the arguments are his, the style of the
pamphlet, with its long, involved, never-ending sentences, so unlike
Winstanley's crisp, epigrammatic, vigorous style, suggests to us that
the writing was probably left to some other member of his company, or
probably to a Committee appointed for the purpose.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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