In this podcast, Joe Russell explains the history of the Levellers and the Diggers, and discusses what we can learn from these heroic revolutionary movements to help us in the struggle for socialism today.
Over 350 years ago, the masses in England turned the world upside down, carrying out one of the first of the bourgeois revolutions. This shows how English history – contrary to the story we are constantly told – is not one glorious, uninterrupted march of conservative progress and moderation.
In this great revolution, two movements – the Levellers and the Diggers – developed that went far beyond the confines of capitalism. With their vision and demands, they laid the foundations for the traditions of communism in England.
