Buried beneath layers of history lies the story of Gerrard Winstanley. Who was he? He was no king or general. Gerrard Winstanley was a radical thinker. He dared to challenge the very foundations of English society.
Gerrard Winstanley lived during the tumultuous times of the English Commonwealth. He was born in Wigan in 1609. He experienced personal hardship when his business failed. This led him to question the existing social order.
In London, Winstanley apprenticed as a merchant tailor. He became a freeman of the Merchant Tailors’ Company. But the First English Civil War wrecked his business. He was bankrupt in 1643.
What made Gerrard Winstanley so radical? He advocated for a complete overhaul of society. He wanted to abolish private property. He wanted to redistribute land to the common people. Winstanley believed the earth was a common treasury for all. No one should rule over another.
Winstanley led the True Levellers or Diggers. They were a group that took direct action. In 1649, they occupied common lands. They began to cultivate them. They distributed the food freely. They challenged the privatization of land. They pulled down hedges. They filled in ditches. The Diggers aimed to create a communal way of life.
Local landowners were alarmed. They hired armed men. These men beat the Diggers. They destroyed their colony. The Digger experiment in Surrey failed in 1650. Winstanley did not give up.
He continued to write. He continued to advocate for land redistribution. Winstanley published “The Law of Freedom in a Platform” in 1652. He argued for a society without property or wages. He envisioned a communistic society structured on non-hierarchical lines.
Later in life, Gerrard Winstanley may have become a Quaker. He seemed to believe in Christian Universalism. Everyone would be reconciled to God. In 1657, he received property in Ham Manor in Cobham. He became involved in local parish affairs. He served as waywarden, overseer of the poor, and churchwarden.
Gerrard Winstanley died in 1676. Legal disputes vexed him concerning a small legacy. His ideas lived on. His legacy inspired later generations of socialists and activists. His name appears on the Alexander Garden Obelisk in Moscow. It lists outstanding thinkers and personalities.
In 1999, the British activist group The Land is Ours celebrated the Digger movement’s anniversary. They marched and reoccupied St. George’s Hill. Since 2010, the Wigan Diggers’ Festival has been held annually.
Gerrard Winstanley’s words still resonate today. He challenged the status quo. He championed equality. He fought for a fairer world. He inspires us to question. He encourages us to strive for a better future. His radical vision remains relevant.