Diggers Occupy St George's Hill (1649)
Thu Apr 01, 1649
Image: A drawing of the Diggers digging in the commons, attacked by cavalry. Unknown author and year. A caption on the image quotes Gerrand Winstanley: "England is not a free people, till the poor that have no land, have a free allowance to dig and labour the commons..." [Spartacus-Educational]
On this day in 1649, a group of commoners began sowing vegetables on St George's Hill in Surrey, England. Their movement became known as the Diggers, agrarian proto-communist dissidents who opposed enclosure during the English Civil War.
The Diggers arose during a time of social upheaval - England was in the midst of a civil war between the Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell, and the Crown. While the Parliamentarians conflicted with royalist aristocracy, it did not represent commoners; only property owners could vote.
During the civil war, other dissenting groups came into prominence. Among them were the Levellers, often seen as proto-liberal, which supported extending suffrage to all male heads of households, regardless of property ownership. The Diggers (who called themselves the "True Levellers"), meanwhile, opposed the seizure of land by private individuals, and sought to preserve and utilize common land for the benefit of the common people.
According to British historian J.F.C. Harrison, on April 1st, 1649 a small group of about thirty to forty people began to dig and plant the common land on St George's Hill in Surrey. Over the first few days, their numbers on the hill quickly swelled as they attracted sympathizers.
Soon, however, the protesters found themselves under violent assaults from mobs coordinated by local landowners. The leaders of the Levellers attempted to distance themselves from the "True Levellers", making a statement in opposition to the expropriation of estates.
Two leaders of the Diggers, Gerard Winstanley and William Everard, were ordered to appear before the Council of State in London, where they argued that the land had been granted by God to the common people, and that they were simply claiming the commons in the name of the poor. They further expressed hope that more people would follow their example.
On the same day, the group published a pamphlet outlining their beliefs, entitled "The True Levellers Standard". The pamphlet described private property as the original sin and war as a means which was used to defend the system of property. New Model Army commander Thomas Fairfax considered the men harmless, declining to persecute them further.
While St. George's Hill would face regular evictions, the Diggers would persistently return as rebellions appeared in other areas during 1649-50. The Diggers would eventually be defeated and driven from the lands via military force in April 1650. Many surviving Diggers, such as Winstanley, continued to advocate for land redistribution.
The continuing process of enclosure was a major part of the transition from feudalism towards capitalism. However, the legacy of the Diggers would not be forgotten, as ownership of land remained an important issue for the poor.
The Diggers would later come to be recognized as proto-socialist, proto-communist or proto-anarchist, and served as an inspiration for radicals in the centuries that followed. The "Diggers' Song", a folk ballad commemorating them, is still sung to this day, and was covered by anarcho-punk band Chumbawumba in 1988.
During the 1960s, an influential radical theatre collective in San Francisco named themselves after the Diggers. In 1975, a film entitled "Winstanley" was released about the movement.
In 1999, 300 people, organized under the banner "The Land is Ours", reoccupied St Georges Hill on the 350th anniversary of the Diggers' commune.
