Dggrs

The original Diggers were a group of English agrarian communists, founded by Gerrard Winstanley as "True Levellers" in 1649, who later became known as "Diggers" due to their activities.

The Diggers tried (by "levelling" real property) to reform the existing social order with an agrarian lifestyle based on their ideas for the creation of small egalitarian rural communities. They were one of a number of nonconformist dissenting groups that emerged around this time.

In 1649 Gerrard Winstanley and 14 others published a pamphlet in which they called themselves the True Levellers, to distinguish their ideas from those of the Levellers (a political movement of the time). Once they put their idea into practice and started to cultivate common land, they became known as "Diggers" by both opponents and supporters. The Diggers' beliefs were informed by Winstanley's writings, which envisioned an ecological interrelationship between humans and nature, and acknowledging the inherent connections between people and their surroundings. Winstanley declared that "true freedom lies where a man receives his nourishment and preservation, and that is in the use of the earth."

During the mid- and late 1960s, the name was again by the San Francisco Diggers, who opened stores that simply gave away their stock, and provided free food, medical care, transport, and temporary housing. They also organized free music concerts and works of political art. Some of their happenings included the Death of Money Parade, Intersection Game, Invisible Circus, and Death of Hippie/Birth of Free.   Read More »