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{{Short description|Group of Protestant agrarian socialists in 17th-century England}}
{{other uses}}
{{EngvarB|date=June 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Infobox political party
| name             = True Levellers
| leader           = [[Gerrard Winstanley]]
| logo             = Levellers declaration and standard.gif
| caption          = Woodcut from a Levellers document by [[William Everard (Digger)|William Everard]]
| colorcode        = red
| founded          = 1649
| dissolved        = 1651
| split            = [[Levellers]]
| ideology         = [[Agrarianism]]<br/>[[Utopian socialism]]<br/>[[Classical radicalism|Radicalism]]<br>[[Precursors to anarchism#Early Protestantism|Proto-Anarchism]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Woodcock |first=George |date=2011 |title=Anarchism: A History Of Libertarian Ideas And Movements |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/Anarchism.html?id=8oEskgEACAAJ&source=kp_book_description |publisher=Literary Licensing |page=42-46 |isbn=1258001608 |access-date=2025-08-26}}</ref><br/>[[Republicanism]]<br/>[[Universal suffrage]]<br/>[[Populism]]
| position         = [[Left-wing politics|Left-wing]]<ref>{{cite web |last=Milner |first=Graham |date=2009-10-30 |title=The Levellers and the 1640s English Revolution |url=https://links.org.au/levellers-and-1640s-english-revolution |website=links.org |publisher=Links |access-date=2025-03-01}}</ref>
| religion         = [[English Dissenters|Dissenter]] [[Protestantism]]
| country          = England
}}
{{Christian socialism sidebar|history}}
The '''Diggers''' were a group of religious and political dissidents in England, associated with a political ideology and programme resembling what would later be called [[agrarian socialism]].<ref name="Collected citations 1">{{harvp|Campbell|2009|p=129}}; {{harvp|Winstanley|Jones|2002}}; {{harvp|Stearns|Fairchilds|Lindenmeyr|Maynes|2001|p=290}}; {{harvp|Johnson|2013}}</ref> [[Gerrard Winstanley]] and [[William Everard (Digger)|William Everard]], amongst many others, were known as '''True Levellers''' in 1649, in reference to their split from the [[Levellers]], and later became known as ''Diggers'' because of their attempts to farm on [[common land]]. Due to this and to their beliefs, the Diggers were driven from one county after another by the authorities.

The Diggers tried (by "levelling" [[land (economics)|land]]) to reform the existing [[social order]] with an agrarian lifestyle based on their ideas for the creation of small, [[egalitarian]] rural communities.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Feigenbaum |first=Anna |date=2024-06-05 |title=The Long History of Protest Camps |url=https://commonslibrary.org/the-long-history-of-protest-camps/ |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}}</ref>  They were one of a number of [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformist]] [[English Dissenters|dissenting groups]] that emerged around this time. Their belief in economic equality was drawn from {{Bibleverse|Acts of the Apostles|4:32}}, which describes a community of believers that "had all things in common" instead of having personal property.

== Theory ==
In 1649, [[Gerrard Winstanley]] and 14 others published ''The True Levellers Standard Advanced'',{{sfn|Winstanley|Jones|2002}} a pamphlet and manifesto in which they called themselves "True Levellers" to distinguish their ideas from those of the [[Levellers]].<ref name="Empson, 2017">{{cite magazine |magazine=International Socialism |title=A common treasury for all: Gerrard Winstanley's vision of utopia |issue=154 |date=5 April 2017 |first=Martin |last=Empson |url=https://isj.org.uk/a-common-treasury-for-all/ |access-date=12 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211007013718/https://isj.org.uk/a-common-treasury-for-all/ |archive-date=7 October 2021 |url-status=live |language=en}}</ref> Once they put their idea into practice and started to cultivate [[common land]], both opponents and supporters began to call them "Diggers". The Diggers' beliefs were informed by Winstanley's writings which envisioned an ecological interrelationship between humans and nature, 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".<ref>{{cite book |last=Grant |first=Neil |title=Hamlyn Children's History of Britain: From the Stone Age to the Present Day |edition=2nd Revised |publisher=Dean |date=1992 |page=144}}</ref> With this the Diggers sought to establish a communistic utopia.{{sfn|Woolrych|2002|pp=449–450}}

The True Levellers advocated for an early form of public health insurance and communal ownership in opposition to individual ownership.{{sfn|Stearns|Fairchilds|Lindenmeyr|Maynes|2001|p=290}}<ref name="Empson, 2017"/> They rejected the perceived immorality and [[Promiscuity|sexual liberalism]] of another sect known as the [[Ranters]], with Gerrard Winstanley denoting them as "a general lack of moral values or restraint in worldly pleasures".<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 September 2012 |title=English Dissenters: Ranters |url=http://www.exlibris.org/nonconform/engdis/ranters.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120901224037/http://www.exlibris.org/nonconform/engdis/ranters.html |archive-date=1 September 2012 |access-date=25 October 2022}}</ref><ref name="declaration">{{cite web |url=http://www.rogerlovejoy.co.uk/philosophy/diggers/diggers3.htm |title=A Declaration by the Diggers of Wellingborough – 1650 |website=www.rogerlovejoy.co.uk |access-date=21 March 2018 |archive-date=7 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807191532/http://www.rogerlovejoy.co.uk/philosophy/diggers/diggers3.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

== Practice ==

=== St George's Hill, Weybridge, Surrey ===
[[File:Gerrard Winstanley memorial - geograph 6433963.jpg|thumb|upright|right|A memorial to [[Gerrard Winstanley]], located close to [[Weybridge railway station]], was unveiled in December 2000.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.diggerstrail.org.uk/assets/documents/surrey-diggers-trail-leaflet.pdf |title=Surrey Diggers Trail |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=3 March 2005 |publisher=[[Elmbridge Museum]] |access-date=14 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924233023/https://www.diggerstrail.org.uk/assets/documents/surrey-diggers-trail-leaflet.pdf |archive-date=24 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6433963 |title=Gerrard Winstanley Memorial Stone |last=Davis |first=Sean |date=20 February 2007 |publisher=Geograph UK |access-date=14 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210914184352/https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6433963 |archive-date=14 September 2021}}</ref>]]
The Council of State received a letter in April 1649 reporting that several individuals had begun to plant vegetables in common land on [[St George's Hill]], [[Weybridge]] near [[Cobham, Surrey]]{{sfn|Woolrych|2002|pp=449–450}} at a time when harvests were bad and [[food prices]] high.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The English Republic 1649–1660 |last=Barnard |first=Toby |author-link=Toby Barnard |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |year=1982 |isbn=978-0582080034}}</ref> Sanders reported that they had invited "all to come in and help them, and promise them meat, drink, and clothes". They intended to pull down all [[enclosure]]s and cause the local populace to come and work with them. They claimed that their number would be several thousand within ten days. It was at this time that ''The True Levellers Standard Advanced'' was published.{{sfn|Winstanley|Jones|2002}}

Where exactly in St. George's Hill the Diggers were is a matter of dispute. Sanders alleges that they worked "on that side of the hill next to Campe Close".<ref name="auto">{{Cite book |title=Winstanley and the Diggers, 1649–1699 |last=Bradstock |first=Andrew |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |year=2000}}</ref> George Greenwood, however, speculated that the Diggers were "somewhere near Silvermere Farm on the Byfleet Road rather than on the unprofitable slopes of St. George's Hill itself".<ref>{{Cite book |title=Brave Community |last=Gurney |first=John |publisher=[[Manchester University Press]] |year=2007 |pages=138}}</ref>

Winstanley remained and continued to write about the treatment they received. The harassment from the [[lord of the manor]], Francis Drake{{efn|Not the famous [[Francis Drake]], who had died more than 50 years before.}}, was both deliberate and systematic: he organised gangs in an attack on the Diggers, including numerous beatings and an arson attack on one of the communal houses. Following a court case, in which the Diggers were forbidden to speak in their own defence, they were found guilty of being sexually liberal Ranters (though in fact Winstanley had reprimanded Ranter [[Laurence Clarkson]] for his sexual practices).{{sfn|Laurence|1980|p=57}}{{sfn|Vann|1965|p=133}} If they had not left the land after losing the court case then the army could have been used to enforce the law and evict them; so they abandoned Saint George's Hill in August 1649, much to the relief of the local [[Fee simple|freeholders]].

=== Little Heath near Cobham ===
Some of the evicted Diggers moved a short distance to [[Little Heath, Surrey|Little Heath]] in Surrey.{{sfn|Woolrych|2002|pp=449–450}} {{Convert|11|acre|ha|sigfig=2}} were cultivated, six houses built, winter crops harvested, and several pamphlets published. After initially expressing some sympathy for them, the local lord of the manor of [[Cobham, Surrey|Cobham]], Parson [[John Platt (parson)|John Platt]], became their chief enemy. He used his power to stop local people helping them and he organised attacks on the Diggers and their property. By April 1650, Platt and other local landowners succeeded in driving the Diggers from Little Heath.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=https://elmbridgemuseum.org.uk/network/6-the-aftermath-of-the-diggers-at-little-heath/ |title=Little Heath – Surrey Diggers Trail |website=Surrey Diggers Trail |publisher=Elmbridge Museum|access-date=11 September 2024 }}</ref><ref name="auto"/>

=== Wellingborough, Northamptonshire ===

This community was probably founded as a result of contact with the Surrey Diggers. In late March 1650, four emissaries from the Surrey colony were arrested in Buckinghamshire bearing a letter signed by the Surrey Diggers including Gerrard Winstanley and Robert Coster inciting people to start Digger colonies and to provide money for the Surrey Diggers. According to the newspaper ''A Perfect Diurnall'' the emissaries had travelled a circuit through the counties of [[Surrey]], [[Middlesex]], Hertfordshire, [[Bedfordshire]], Buckinghamshire, [[Berkshire]], Huntingdonshire and Northamptonshire before being apprehended.<ref name="Thomas">{{cite journal |author-link=Keith Thomas (historian) |first=Keith |last=Thomas |title=Another Digger Broadside |journal=Past and Present |issue=42 |year=1969 |pages=57–68 |doi=10.1093/past/42.1.57 |jstor=650182}}</ref>

On 15 April 1650 the Council of State ordered Mr Pentlow, a [[justice of the peace]] for Northamptonshire, to proceed against "the Levellers in those parts" and to have them tried at the next Quarter Session.<ref>{{cite book |title=Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1650 |location=London |date=1876 |page=106}}</ref>

=== Iver, Buckinghamshire ===
Another colony of Diggers connected to the Surrey and Wellingborough colony was set up in [[Iver]], Buckinghamshire about {{Convert|14|mi|km}} from the Surrey Diggers colony at St George's Hill.<ref name="Thomas" /> The Iver Diggers' "Declaration of the grounds and Reasons, why we the poor Inhabitants of the Parrish of Iver in Buckinghamshire&nbsp;..."<ref>[http://phoenixandturtle.net/excerptmill/hopton.htm#iver A Declaration of the Grounds and Reasons (Iver)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328035809/http://phoenixandturtle.net/excerptmill/hopton.htm#iver |date=28 March 2008 }} from Hopton, Andrew, ed. ''Digger Tracts, 1649–50''. London: Aporia, 1989. (transcribed by Clifford Stetner)</ref> revealed that there were further Digger colonies in Barnet in Hertfordshire, Enfield in Middlesex, Dunstable in Bedfordshire, Bosworth in Leicestershire and further colonies at unknown locations in [[Gloucestershire]] and [[Nottinghamshire]]. It also revealed that after the failure of the Surrey colony, the Diggers had left their children to be cared for by parish funds.

== Response ==
[[Oliver Cromwell]] and the [[Grandee#Grandee (New Model Army)|Grandees']] attitude to these groups was at best ambivalent and often hostile.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bernstein/works/1895/cromwell/ |first=Eduard |last=Bernstein |author-link=Eduard Bernstein |title=Cromwell and Communism |date=1930 |access-date=12 December 2019 |language=en |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200212022541/https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bernstein/works/1895/cromwell/ |archive-date=12 February 2020}}</ref>

== Influence ==
The [[Diggers (theater)|San Francisco Diggers]] were a community-action group of activists and Street Theatre actors operating from 1966 to 1968, based in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of [[San Francisco]].

Since the revival of [[anarchism]] in the British [[Road protest in the United Kingdom|anti-roads movement]], the Diggers have been celebrated as precursors of land [[squatting]] and [[Communalism (Bookchin)|communalism]].
On 1 April 1999, the 350th anniversary of the Diggers' occupation of the English Civil War on the same hill, [[The Land Is Ours]] organised a rally, then occupied land at [[St. George's Hill]] near [[Weybridge]], [[Surrey]].

In 2011, an annual festival began in [[Wigan]] to celebrate the Diggers. In 2012, the second annual festival proved a great success and the sixth took place in 2016.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wigandiggersfestival.org/ |title=Wigan Diggers' Festival |website=Wigan Diggers' Festival |access-date=21 March 2018}}</ref> In [[Wellingborough]], a festival has also been held annually since 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.diggersfestival.org.uk/about |title=About the Diggers |website=The Wellingborough Diggers' Festival |access-date=7 November 2018 |archive-date=7 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107185502/http://www.diggersfestival.org.uk/about |url-status=dead }}</ref> Bolton Diggers were established in 2013 and have promoted the [[commons]] as a foil to [[privatisation]]. They have established community food gardens, cooperatives and the Common Wealth café, a pay-what-you-want café using surplus food from supermarkets.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://theboltonnews.co.uk/news/11205688.Up_to_40_people_per_day_visit_free_soup_kitchen_in_Bolton_town_centre/ |title=Up to 40 people per day visit free soup kitchen in Bolton town centre |website=The Bolton News |date=12 May 2014 |access-date=21 March 2018}}</ref> The Manchester Urban Diggers, which operate out of [[Platt Fields Park|Platt Fields Gardens]], takes its name and ethos from the historical diggers, and supports developing [[food sovereignty]] through "educational services and growing fruit, vegetables and herbs to make available to the local community".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-10-01 |title=Platt Fields Market Garden: A glimpse of green amidst the gray |website=The Mancunion |url=https://mancunion.com/2022/10/01/platt-fields-market-garden-a-glimpse-of-green-amidst-the-gray/ |access-date=2023-07-28 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

=== Influence on literature and popular culture ===
* In 1966, a faction of the [[San Francisco Mime Troupe]] formed a Diggers group in the [[hippie]] community in the [[Haight–Ashbury]] district of San Francisco. A strongly anti-establishment group, they handed out free food in [[Golden Gate Park]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Barry |last=Miles |year=2003 |title=Hippie |publisher=Sterling Press |isbn=1402714424 |page=106}}</ref>
* "The World Turned Upside Down" by [[Leon Rosselson]], 1975, a song about the Diggers and their activities on St. George's Hill in 1649; this song was also performed by numerous other artists, including:
** [[Dick Gaughan]] on his album ''[[Handful of Earth]]'', 1981
** [[The Barracudas]] on their album ''Endeavour to Persevere'', 1984<!--
no source, no indication of notability: ** Out of the Rain on their album ''A Common Treasury'', 1985-->
** [[Billy Bragg]] on his ''[[Between the Wars (EP)|Between the Wars]]'' EP, 1985
** [[Chumbawamba]] on the b-side of their single ''Timebomb'', 1993
** [[Four to the Bar]] on ''[[Another Son]]'' in 1995
** [[Attila the Stockbroker]] with Barnstormer on ''The Siege of Shoreham'', 1996
** [[Oysterband]] on their albums ''Shouting End of life'' and ''Alive and Shouting'', 1995 and 1996
** [[Karan Casey]] (formerly of the Irish band [[Solas (group)|Solas]]), on her album ''Songlines'', 1997
** [[Clandestine (band)|Clandestine]], a Houston-based Celtic group, on their album ''To Anybody at All'', 1999<!--
no source, no indication of notability: ** [[The Fagans]], an Australian folk group, on their album, ''[[Turning Fine]]'', 2002
** Seattle Celt-rock band Coventry on the album ''Red Hair and Black Leather'', 2005
** Vancouver punk bank [[The Rebel Spell]] on the album "[[Beautiful Future]]", 2011-->
** [[Ramshackle Glory]] on the album "[[Live the Dream]]", 2016<!--
no source, no indication of notability: ** [[Melanie Gruben]] on the EP "[[Like a Tide Upon the Land]]", 2023.-->
* ''[[Winstanley (film)|Winstanley]]'', a fictionalised 1975 film portrait of the Diggers, directed by [[Kevin Brownlow]], was based upon the novel ''Comrade Jacob'' by [[David Caute]].
* ''As Meat Loves Salt'' by [[Maria McCann]], Harcourt, 2001 ({{ISBN|015601226X}}) deals in part with the founding and destruction of a fictional Digger colony at Page Common near London.
* [[Caryl Churchill]]'s 1976 play ''[[Light Shining in Buckinghamshire]]'', named after the Digger pamphlet and set in the [[English Civil War]], charts the rise and fall of the Diggers and other social ideas from the 1640s.<!--
no source, no indication of notability: * Jonathon Kemp's 2010 play ''The Digger's Daughter'' tells the tale of the Diggers and quotes much of Winstanley's teaching directly.-->
* [[Charlie Kaufman]]'s 2020 novel ''[[Antkind]]'' references Winstanley and the Diggers. A character called "Digger" is given a copy of ''The True Levellers Standard Advanced'' in order to motivate her to revolt against an oppressive government.

== Writings ==
* ''Truth Lifting up its Head above Scandals'' (1649, dedication dated 16 October 1648), Gerrard Winstanley
* ''The New Law of Righteousness'' (26 January 1649), Gerrard Winstanley
* ''The True Levellers Standard ADVANCED: or, The State of Community opened, and Presented to the Sons of Men'' William Everard, John Palmer, John South, John Courton. William Taylor, Christopher Clifford, John Barker. Gerrard Winstanley, Richard Goodgroome, Thomas Starre, William Hoggrill, Robert Sawyer, Thomas Eder, Henry Bickerstaffe, John Taylor, &c. (20 April 1649)
* ''A DECLARATION FROM THE Poor oppressed People OF ENGLAND, DIRECTED To all that call themselves, or are called Lords of Manors, through this NATION...'' Gerrard Winstanley, John Coulton, John Palmer, Thomas Star, Samuel Webb, John Hayman, Thomas Edcer, William Hogrill, Daniel Weeden, Richard Wheeler, Nathaniel Yates, William Clifford, John Harrison, Thomas Hayden, James Hall. James Manley, Thomas Barnard, John South, Robert Sayer, Christopher Clifford, John Beechee, William Coomes, Christopher Boncher, Richard Taylor, Urian Worthington, Nathaniel Holcombe, Giles Childe (senior), John Webb, Thomas Yarwel, William Bonnington. John Ash, Ralph Ayer, John Pra, John Wilkinson, Anthony Spire, Thomas East, Allen Brown, Edward Parret, Richard Gray, John Mordy, John Bachilor, William Childe, William Hatham, Edward Wicher, William Tench. (1 June 1649).
* ''A LETTER TO The Lord Fairfax, AND His Councell of War, WITH Divers Questions to the Lawyers, and Ministers: Proving it an undeniable Equity, That the common People ought to dig, plow, plant and dwell upon the Commons, with-out hiring them, or paying Rent to any''. On the behalf of those who have begun to dig upon [[#St George's Hill, Weybridge, Surrey|George-Hill]] in Surrey. Gerrard Winstanly (9 June 1649)
* ''A Declaration of The bloudie and unchristian acting of William Star and John Taylor of Walton'' (22 June 1649), Gerrard Winstanley
* ''An Appeal To the House of Commons; desiring their answer: whether the common-people shall have the quiet enjoyment of the commons and waste land; ...'' (11 July 1649), Gerrard Winstanley, John Barker, and Thomas Star
* ''A Watch-Word to the City of London, and the Armie'' (26 August 1649), Gerrard Winstanley
* ''To His Excellency the Lord Fairfax and the Counsell of Warre the Brotherly Request of those that are called Diggers sheweth'' (December 1649), John Heyman, An. Wrenn, Hen. Barton, Jon Coulton (in the behalf of others called the Diggers), Robert Cosler, John Plamer, Jacob Heard (in ''[[The Clarke Papers]]'' volume 2, [1894])
* ''To My Lord Generall and his Councell of Warr'' (8 December 1649), Gerrard Winstanley (in ''The Clarke Papers'' volume 2, [1894])
* ''The Diggers Song'' (circa 1649,1650) (in ''The Clarke Papers'' volume 2, [1894]), attributed to Gerrard Winstanley by the historian [[C. H. Firth]], the editor of ''The Clarke Papers''.
* ''The Declaration and Standard of the Levellers of England, delivered in a speech to His Excellency the Lord Gen. Fairfax, on Friday last at White-Hall ...'', William Everard
* ''Several Pieces gathered into one volume'' (1650, Preface dated 20 December 1649), A second edition of five of Gerrard Winstanley's works printed for Giles Calvert, the printer for nearly all the Diggers writings.<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Loewenstein |year=2001 |title=Representing revolution in Milton and his contemporaries: religion, politics, and polemics in radical Puritanism |edition=illustrated |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=0521770327 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vaXBpoTLMecC&pg=PA315 315]}}</ref>
* ''A New-yeers Gift FOR THE PARLIAMENT AND ARMIE: SHEWING, What the KINGLY Power is; And that the CAUSE of those They call DIGGERS'' (1 January 1650), Gerrard Winstanley
* ''Englands Spirit Unfoulded or an incouragement to take the Engagement ...'' (Ca. February or March 1650), Jerrard {{sic}} Winstanley.
* ''A Vindication of Those Whose Endeavors is Only to Make the Earth a Common Treasury, Called Diggers'' (4 March 1650), Gerrard Winstanley
* ''Fire in the Bush'' (19 March 1650), Gerrard Winstanley
* {{lang|enm|An appeale to all Englishmen, to judge between bondage and freedome, sent from those that began to digge upon George Hill in Surrey; but now are carrying on, that publick work upon the little heath in the parish of Cobham...}}, (26 March 1650), Jerard {{sic}} Winstanley [and 24 others]
* A Letter taken at Wellingborough (March 1650), probably written by Gerrard Winstanley.<ref>{{cite book |first=Gerrard |last=Winstanley |author-link=Gerrard Winstanley |year=2009 |title=The complete works of Gerrard Winstanley |volume=2 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0199576067 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tQJhvdhf1fMC&pg=PA430 430] }}</ref>
* An Humble Request, to the Ministers of both Universities, and to all Lawyers in every Inns-a-court (9 April 1650), Gerrard Winstanley
* ''Letter to [[Lady Eleanor Davies]]'' (4 December 1650), Gerrard Winstanley
* ''The Law of Freedom in a Platform, or True Magistracy Restored'' (1652), Gerrard Winstanley{{sfn|Woolrych|2002|pp=449–450}}

== See also ==
* [[Christian anarchism]]
* [[Christian communism]]
* [[Christian socialism]]
* [[Pre-Marxist communism]]
==Notes==
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Bibliography ==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Campbell |editor-first=Heather M. |year=2009 |title=The Britannica Guide to Political Science and Social Movements That Changed the Modern World |publisher=The [[Rosen Publishing Group]] |isbn=978-1615300624 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=kL_FviFwCCIC&pg=PA129 127–129] }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Gurney |first1=John |title=Brave Community: The Digger Movement in the English Revolution |date=2007 |isbn=978-0719061035 |publisher=[[Manchester University Press]] |oclc=470777221 |jstor=j.ctt155j5m4}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Johnson |first=Daniel |title=Winstanley's Ecology: The English Diggers Today |magazine=[[Monthly Review]] |date=1 December 2013 |url=https://monthlyreview.org/2013/12/01/winstanleys-ecology/ |access-date=12 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006232739/https://monthlyreview.org/2013/12/01/winstanleys-ecology/ |archive-date=6 October 2021 |url-status=live |language=en}}
* {{cite journal |last=Laurence |first=Ann |title=Two Ranter Poems |journal=The Review of English Studies |edition=New Series |volume=31 |issue=121 |date=February 1980 |pages=56–59 [57] |doi=10.1093/res/xxxi.121.56 |jstor=514052}}
* {{cite book |last=Marshall |first=Peter H. |author-link=Peter Marshall (author, born 1946) |title=[[Demanding the Impossible|Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism]] |year=1993 |location=[[London]] |publisher=[[HarperCollins|Fontana Press]] |isbn=978-0-00-686245-1 |oclc=1042028128 |chapter=The English Revolution |pages=96–107}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Stearns |editor1-first=Peter |editor1-link=Peter Stearns |editor2-last=Fairchilds |editor2-first=Cissie |editor3-last=Lindenmeyr |editor3-first=Adele |editor4-last=Maynes |editor4-first=Mary Jo |editor5-last=Porter |editor5-first=Roy |editor5-link=Roy Porter |editor6-last=Radcliff |editor6-first=Pamela |editor6-link=Pamela Radcliff |editor7-last=Ruggiero |editor7-first=Guido |editor7-link=Guido Ruggiero |year=2001 |title=Encyclopedia of European Social History: From 1350 to 2000 |volume=3 |publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons]] |isbn=0-684-80577-4 |language=en}}
* {{cite journal |last=Vann |first=Richard T. |title=The Later Life of Gerrard Winstanley |journal=[[Journal of the History of Ideas]] |volume=26 |number=1 |date=January–March 1965 |pages=133–136 |doi=10.2307/2708404 |jstor=2708404}}
* {{cite book |last1=Winstanley |first1=Gerrard |author1-link=Gerrard Winstanley |last2=Jones |first2=Sandra |title=The True Levellers Standard ADVANCED: or, The State of Community opened, and Presented to the Sons of Men |orig-date=1649 |year=2002 |url=https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/863 |publisher=R.S. Bear |quote=That we may work in righteousness, and lay the Foundation of making the Earth a Common Treasury for All, both Rich and Poor, That every one that is born in the Land, may be fed by the Earth his Mother that brought him forth, according to the Reason that rules in the Creation. Not Inclosing any part into any particular hand, but all as one man, working together, and feeding together as Sons of one Father, members of one Family; not one Lording over another, but all looking upon each other, as equals in the Creation. |language=en}}
* {{cite book |last=Woolrych |first=Austin |date=2002 |chapter=Quest for a Settlement |title=Britain in Revolution 1625–1660 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=434–460 |isbn=0-19-820081-1}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
;Books
* {{Gutenberg|no=17480|author=Berens, Lewis Henry|name=The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth}}
* {{cite book |last=Hill |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Hill (historian) |year=1972 |title=The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution |publisher=Temple Smith |location=London |isbn=0851170250 |chapter=Levellers and True Levellers}}
* {{cite book |last=Petegorsky |first=David W. |author-link=David W. Petegorsky |orig-year=1940 |year=1995 |title=Left-wing Democracy in the English Civil War: Gerrard Winstanley and the Digger Movement |publisher=Alan Sutton |location=Stroud |isbn=0750910534}}
* [[Johannes Agnoli]]. Subversive Theorie (Subversive Theory)
* {{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Geoff |year=2008 |title=Diggers, Levellers and Agrarian Capitalism: Radical Political Thought in Seventeenth Century England |publisher=[[Lexington Books]] |location=United States}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=an-eXXA3DBMC&pg=PA156 The Concise Encyclopedia of the Revolutions and Wars of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1639–1660]

;Articles
* {{Cite encyclopedia |title=Digger – English agrarian movement |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Digger |language=en |accessdate=2019-02-05 |df=mdy-all |year=1998 }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Gay |first1=Kathlyn |last2=Gay |first2=Martin |title=Encyclopedia of Political Anarchy |chapter=Diggers |date=1999 |isbn=978-0874369823 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |df=mdy-all |pages=62–63}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Gurney |first1=John |title=Gerrard Winstanley and the Digger Movement in Walton and Cobham |journal=The Historical Journal |volume=37 |issue=4 |pages=775–802 |date=1994 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X00015090 |issn=0018-246X |jstor=2639840 |s2cid=159631258}}
* Staff at Elmbridge Museum. Surrey Diggers Trail, facsimile at [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928010807/http://www.lhi.org.uk/projects_directory/projects_by_region/south_east/surrey/the_diggers_heritage_project/index.html The Diggers Heritage Project]
* Staff. The English Diggers (1649–50), [http://www.diggers.org/overview.htm Digger Archives]
* Staff. English Dissenters: Diggers, [https://web.archive.org/web/19981202012828/http://www.exlibris.org/nonconform/engdis/index.html ExLibris]
* Staff. An index page: Diggers, Ranters and other radical Puritans at [http://www.strecorsoc.org/about.html Street Corner Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514222716/http://www.strecorsoc.org/about.html |date=14 May 2008 }}

== External links ==
* [https://www.exclassics.com/pamphlets/pamphcnt.htm A selection of Digger Pamphlets] at the Ex-Classics Web Site

{{Agriculture in the United Kingdom}}
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{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Diggers| ]]
[[Category:1649 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Agrarian politics]]
[[Category:History of agriculture in England]]
[[Category:Proto-socialists| ]]
[[Category:Political history of England]]
[[Category:Socialism in England]]
[[Category:Squatters' movements]]
[[Category:Christian socialist organizations]]
[[Category:Communalism]]