A Vision for Today, from Yesterday:

A poor man named Gerrard Winstanley wrote the following

words in

April, 1649 as he and a handful of other poor folks called

the Diggers tried to restore a

small part of England

to the common treasury with their own hands. Their struggle

to create a

spiritual communal society under the noses of the landlords

and their

Cromwellian army met with the same result that happens

whenever faith stands

unarmed before men with guns.

But Winstanley and the Diggers live on, and his few

words not only capture the essence of my life’s calling,

but remind me how the Thing we are fighting has rampaged

and done its genocide on our people on both sides of the

Atlantic.

I hope this reminder will unite us all more with a vision

of a world made equal, and one - and thereby stir us into

action - and check out the great Billy Bragg song based on

their tale! (below):

In the

beginning of time the great creator Reason made the Earth

to be a common

treasury, and not one word was spoken that one branch of

mankind should rule

over another; and the reason is this, that every single

man, male and female,

is a perfect creature of himself, and thus none is subject

to another …

Yet

selfish imagination did alienate man against himself, and

did set up one man to

teach and rule over another, and expel his fellow from his

natural right to the

whole earth and its fruits. And hereupon the earth was

hedged into enclosures

by the false rulers, who stole the earth for themselves and

made their fellows their

slaves and servants.

And that earth that is within creation, made a common

storehouse for all, is now bought and sold, and kept in the

hands of a few, and

thereby the great creator is dishonored, as if he were a

respecter of persons,

delighting in the comfortable livelihood of some, and

rejoicing in the

miserable poverty of others. For in the beginning it was

not so …

But when

the earth becomes a common treasury again, as it must,

owned by none and shared

by all, then this enmity of all against all shall cease,

and none shall war

against another or seek to dominate others, nor desire more

of the earth than

another.

St. George's Hill, Surrey, England, April 10, 1649

Billy Bragg singing "The Diggers":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK2ldle1kAk&feature=related

Lyrics:

In 1649

To St George's Hill

A ragged band they called the Diggers

Came to show the people' s will

They defied the landlords

They defied the laws

They were the dispossessed

Reclaiming what was theirs.

We come in peace, they said

To dig and sow

We come to work the land in common

And to make the waste land grow

This earth divided

We will make whole

So it can be

A common treasury for all.

The sin of property

We do disdain

No one has any right to buy and sell

The earth for private gain

By theft and murder

They took the land

Now everywhere the walls

Rise up at their command.

They make the laws

To chain us well

The clergy dazzle us with heaven

Or they damn us into hell

We will not worship

The God they serve

The God of greed who feeds the rich

While poor men starve.

We work, we eat together

We need no swords

We will not bow to masters

Or pay rent to the lords

We are free men

Though we are poor

You Diggers all stand up for glory

Stand up now.

From the men of property

The orders came

They sent the hired men and troopers

To wipe out the Diggers' claim

Tear down their cottages

Destroy their corn

They were dispersed -

But still the vision lingers on.

You poor take courage

You rich take care

The earth was made a common treasury

For everyone to share

All things in common

All people one

We come in peace

The order came to cut them down.