The Diggers

I attended a really interesting sermon yesterday about the Diggers (in honour of Labour Day). The Diggers were (and I quote from Wikipedia) "an English group of Protestant Christian agrarian communists". Cool.

The leader was fellow called Gerrard Winstanley, and the movement was part of a response to the end of the First English Civil war in 1649, which resulted in the beheading of King Charles I. Not surprisingly, after an event such as this there were a number of groups attempting to forge a new path, and the True Levellers (as opposed to just the Levellers), who also became known as the Diggers, were one of them.

The became known as the Diggers because, simply, they began to dig and cultivate common land near Surrey. Food was expensive, and the Diggers planned to take down all enclosures and have the local people come and work with them. The plan was, unfortunately, unsuccessful, and the Diggers were both attacked physically and taken through the court system.

Perhaps the Diggers were ahead of their time (as the speaker suggested). They didn't last long, and the movement had ended by 1651. (I reference Wikipedia for much of this information, so I hope it is correct!)

However, I was inspired by the concept that we can apply these principles to present day. We do see urban gardening, and significant food production, in cities; however, in the suburbs (at least my neighbourhood), not nearly so much. I am trying to figure out why this is, and will reflect on this in future posts.
Currently, though, I have promised my kids a trip to the park, and they are eager to go.

Regarding the Diggers, Steve Sinnicks of Hamilton, a great labour singer/songwriter, has written a great song about them.

You can take a look at his website at www.sinnicks.com/index.html.

Happy Labour Day!