On this day in 1649 he and about 30 Levellers, or "Diggers," marched on the commons of St George's Hill in Surrey and "sowed the ground with parsnips, carrots and beans." Other Digger groups reclaimed land from the gentry in Kent, Surrey, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire. The gentry was, let's say, nonplussed.
Oliver Cromwell reportedly said, "What is the purport of the levelling principle but to make the tenant as liberal a fortune as the landlord. I was by birth a gentleman. You must cut these people in pieces or they will cut you in pieces."
Response was swift: the Diggers were ordered beaten; their homes, crops and tools destroyed. Within a year, the Diggers were finished. Or maybe, just biding their time. And you know what? That time may be now.
Because if things really are this bad, then the Diggers' philosophy may be humanity's best last chance to salvage something like a sustainable culture, even on a local level. [thanks to Kathy]
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