The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth

yone to do to another as he would have another do to him.... If any goes about to build up Commonwealth's Government upon Kingly principle

eems to us, this pamphlet is in every way worthy. It reveals a most momentous step in the development of Winstanley's mind; for in it we see him move from the misty regions of cosmological, metaphysical, and theistical speculations to the somewhat firmer ground of social thought. From the time of its publication, Winstanley leaves the former almost untouched, concentrates his mind almost exclusively

st have raged everywhere around him, is to be found in his condemnation of Capital Punishment, which may here find a fitti

, He that sheds man's blood b

an, by any law whatsoever.... For if I kill you, I am a murderer; if a third come to kill me for murdering you, he is a murderer of me; and so murder hath been called Justice, when it is but the curse.... Therefore, O thou proud flesh that dares hang or kill thy fellow-creatures that are equal to thee

at "He is now coming to reign, and the isles and nations of the Earth shall all come in unto Him"; that "He will rest everywhere, for this blessing will fill all places." But he reminds them that "the swords and counsels of the flesh shall not be seen in this work; the arm of the Lord only shall bring these mighty th

man lived in his Maker." And how man fell from this high estate by following the promptings of self-love, covetousness, or the desires of the flesh, to which he attributes all the misery and suffering men bring upon themselves, and which

n cont

s from seeking nourishment from their Mother Earth. So that though a man was bred up in a Land, yet he must not work for himself where he would, but for him who had bought part of the Land, or had come to it by inheritance of his deceased parents, and called it h

keynote of all his subsequent writings, as that of those of many other later students of social problems, from John Locke,71:1

milar to those that are to-day resounding throughout t

hall never have their liberty, nor the Land be ever freed from troubles, oppressions, and complainings, by reason whereof the Creator of all things is continually

e chapter he formulates his soci

curse of bondage, sorrow, and tears. But when the Earth becomes a Common Treasury, as it was in the beginning, and the Ki

the Creation, every man, indeed, being a perfect Creation of himself. And so this second Adam, Christ the Restorer, stops or dams up the running of those stinking waters of self-interest, and causes the

hasises the differences of the views of the ethical-minded man and the

be Magistrates to rule over the poor; and that the poor should be servants, nay, rather slaves, to the rich. But the spiritual man, which is Christ, doth judge according to the lig

he co

eedom and love in the strength of the Law of Righteousness in him, not under straits of poverty, nor bondage of tyranny one to another, might all rejoice together in righteousness, and so glorify their Maker. For surely this must dishonor the Maker of all men, that some men should be oppressing tyrant

ds rejoici

ighteous men, who assume a lordship over others, declaring themselves thereby to be men of the basest spirits. Even so, when the spreading of wisdom and truth fill

l government out of other men's hands and keep it in their own heart, as we feel this to be a burden of our age. But it is to be done by the univer

mind at the time he first arrived at his fundamental conclusions, which he

e this all abroad. Likewise I heard these words-Whosoever it is that labors in the earth-for any person or persons that lift up themselves as Lords and Rulers over others, and that

n cont

were with me, and I was filled with abundance of quiet peace and secret joy. And since that time those words have been lik

meaning of this revelati

n the time of Israel's restoration, now beginning, when the King of Righteousness himself shall be Governor in every man, none then shall work for hire, neither shall any give hir

ircumstances,

s to labor with him in love, working together, and eating bread together, as

re least in accord with the dictates of righteousness, equity, and reason are so often the most profuse, and reminding these that-"The talking of love is no love

is now declared. If you labor the earth and work for others that live at ease and follow the ways of the flesh, eating the bread which you get by the sweat of your brow, not of their own, know this, t

as to the future, which, as we shall see

and manner, how He will have us that are called common people manure and work upon the common lands, I will then go forth and declare it by my action, to eat my bread by the sweat of my brow, without either giving or taking

rich: proposals, be it remembered, which, if acted on, would have altered the whole future economic history of Great Britain. Before judging of their efficacy, we should bear in mind that at the time he was writin

ich still hold fast to this propriety of Mine and Thine, let them labor their own lands with their own hands. And let the common pe

of Individualism and Communism, as a system of social union, might best be

in righteousness, and those to whom the Lord gives the blessing, let them be the people that shall inherit the Earth. Whether they that hold a civil propriety, saying, This

s that if his propo

ying, This is mine; and the poor upon the Commons, saying, This is ours, the Earth and its fruits are common. And who can be offended at the poor for doing this? None

hath not revealed this in vain," he summarises the whole train o

e Earth is the Lord's, it is not to be confined to particular interests.... Did the light of Reason make the Earth for some men to engross up into bags and barns, that others might be oppressed with poverty? Surely Reason did not make that law. For the Earth is the Lord's; that is, the spreading Power of Rig

lts of the prevailing system in the

ll her children, yet many die of want, or live under a heavy burden of poverty all their days. And this

hree steps Winstanley deemed essential for both individual and social

s of hope for England to

rt and manifest himself within you. This is to cast off the shadow of learning, to reject covetous, subtile, proud flesh that deceives all by the hearsay and trad

r of the fruits of the Earth, and, as it was in the light of Reason first made, so let it be in action amongst all, a Common Treasury, none enclosing or hedging in any part of the Ear

to rob and steal through poverty; henceforth let them quietly enjoy land to work upon, that everyone may enjoy the benefit of his Creation, and eat his own bread with the sweat of his own brows. For surely this particular propriety of mine and thine hath brought in

ticulars I have mentioned, the Creation would thereby be lift up out of

ion of the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life, and reaffirms his basic contention that "All the strivings that are in mankind are for the Earth: Who shall have it? Whether some particular persons shall have it, and the rest have none; or whether the Earth shall be made a

a government will g

all the Earth, and th

eason pure, who will

without deeds, is j

r speak from hearsay or imagination." This pamphlet is very scarce. There is no copy in the British Museum or in any other of the London Public Libraries, nor in the Bodleian. The Jesus College Library, Oxford, however, is fortunate enough to possess a cop

chapter which, as the conservative Hallam observes, "would be sufficient, if a

nd Patrick Edward Dove, see J. Morrison Davidson's Four Pre

is Agraria

ultivates, and can use the product of, so much is his

." Published by Giles Calvert. This pamphlet, too, is very scarce. There is no