Today in Labor History April 1, 1649: Diggers occupied St. George's Hill, in Surrey, England, seizing land to hold in common and to grow food. Other Digger communities followed in Little Heath, Wellingborough, Buckinghamshire and other regions. The Diggers are sometimes seen as forerunners of modern anarchism. In 1966, members of the San Francisco Mime Troupe formed a Diggers group, handing out free food to hippies in Golden Gate Park. The original Diggers influenced the anti-roads and squatting movements in England and elsewhere. They inspired the Leon Rosselsen song, “The World Turned Upside Down,” seen in the Youtube video, above, performed by Billy Bragg. https://youtu.be/LK2ldle1kAk
🇬🇧 ⚡ 💧 🚧 🚜 ⛏️
UK gov wants hydrogen-powered farm and construction vehicles:
-Consultation opened today, 27 March
-Targets tractors, diggers & forklifts for use in the UK
Surely then, oppressing lords of manors, exacting landlords, and tithe-takers, may as well say, their brethren shall not breathe in the air, nor enjoy warmth in their bodies, nor have the moist waters to fall upon them in showers, unless they will pay them rent for it: as to say, their brethren shall not work upon earth, nor eat the fruits thereof, unless they will hire that liberty of them. For he that takes upon him to restrain his brother from the liberty of the one, may upon the same ground restrain him from the liberty of all four; viz. fire, water, earth, and air.
A man had better to have had no body, than to have no food for it; therefore this restraining of the earth from brethren by brethren, is oppression and bondage; but the free enjoyment thereof is true freedom.
Gerrard Winstanley, quoted in Ian Angus. The War Against the Commons
With pubs closed, my local was allowed to sell take-away to take care of some stock and make a little income, so we'd go in to get some ale to take home
The cask ale menu in my local - Digger's. Outstanding prices. Also the manager has just announced that he now has 665 different malt whiskies for sale and having difficulty finding space for the other 35 he wants too add.
Great pub, I would say the best whisky bar in the capital. If you are in Edinburgh over The Festival you should pay a visit.
Lothian Buses 1, 2, 3, 4, 25, 33, 34, 35 and 44 all take you there 😀
Anniversary of the 1932 Kinder Scout mass trespass on Sunday 23 April so here's Commoners Choir with From Below. If you want more related folk songs then there's Manchester Rambler by Ewan MacColl, and the rearranged version by John Tams, and Trespassers by the Young'uns (on their album Tiny Notes on Bandcamp). And there's a short, song filled, documentary about the Kinder Scout trespass by the Young'uns with Boff Whalley on youtube. If you can't find links for any of these let me know and I'll post them.
For every footprint on the land,
For all the banners and the banned,
Should we keep to the landlord’s plans? Hell no!
‘Cos real change comes from below.
Other historical mass trespasses include the 17th century Diggers who attempted to reclaim common land in Surrey, Kent, Northamptonshire, and Buckinghamshire (and they claimed in at least six further counties), where they were met with murderous violence from land-lords and the state. Their presence was erased so thoroughly that historians are unable to trace exactly where Diggers lived. Today St George's Hill is a 4 square km (965 acre) private gated community with some of the most expensive housing in the UK - in 2014 at least 72 properties, £282+ million of assets, were registered offshore in tax havens.
Before the Diggers squatted St George's Hill it was probably "Crown land" acquired by the monarchy through invasion, conquest, confiscation, English "clearances", the Harrying of the North, and evictions from newly enclosed "Crown land" such as "royal hunting forests". Which brings us back around to the 1932 Kinder Scout mass trespass on land kept exclusively by the ruling classes for hunting and intensive farming of birds for shooting. /end thread
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 will be a common treasury for all."
Nancy Kerr sings The World Turned Upside Down, by Leon Rosselson
Today in Labor History April 1, 1649: Diggers occupied St. George's Hill, in Surrey, England, seizing land to hold in common and to grow food. Other Digger communities followed in Little Heath, Wellingborough, Buckinghamshire and other regions. The Diggers are sometimes seen as forerunners of modern anarchism. In 1966, members of the San Francisco Mime Troupe formed a Diggers group, handing out free food to hippies in Golden Gate Park. The original Diggers influenced the anti-roads and squatting movements in England and elsewhere. They inspired the Leon Rosselsen song, “The World Turned Upside Down,” seen in the Youtube video, above, performed by Billy Bragg.