"God...gave man...a rational soul or understanding and thereby created him after His own image...Every particular and individual man and woman that ever breathed in the world since are and were by nature all equal and alike in power, dignity, authority and majesty".(John Lilburne. The Freeman's Freedom Vindicated. 16 June 1646. As Quoted in. Ibid. Pg 119)
The Levellers grew out of the political upheaval of the Civil Wars, with a free press discussing ideas previously censored and traditional relationships of power breaking down members of groups who were excluded from political life began to question their powerlessness. Parliament represented only the ruling class, the Commons was no less privileged than the Lords and its debate was done in secret. The house of Commons was also famously corrupt a contemporary journalist reckoned that each seat was worth annually �500 in bribes. (Ibid. Pg 113) The Levellers core support came from London but they also had followers in the home counties and further afield. Their main supporters were the 'middling sort', skilled craftsmen, cobblers, weavers, printers, lead miners and small traders and shopkeeper their were also some more prosperous tradesmen and professionals as well as politicised poorer journeymen.(Ibid. Pg 314) The main groups of supporters are the same groups who in the 19th century were involved in early trades unions and radical political groups, those excluded from political life but who had a degree of financial independence and security to allow them to challenge their exclusions. One of the reasons that helped the Levellers gain support was the changing conditions in English society. In the country the continued enclosure of common land and the growing economic differences between the more successful farmers and their yeomen neighbours was breaking down traditional communal village life. In the towns and cities the traditional craft relationships were being destroyed by wealthy masters who were pushing down the wages and conditions of their fellow craftsmen. The ruling bodies of many of the companies who regulated the affairs of different crafts faced a rank and file revolt against the powerful masters who dominated the companies ruling bodies. This questioning and revolt against the breakdown of traditional craft relationships helped to push the skilled craftsmen into questioning other power relationships that affected them.(Ibid. Pg 103) According to Marxist historians the Levellers were the first modern political party, a party whose organisation, tactics and programme would influence later political organisations. The Levellers organised from local taverns in different districts of London and had an a central committee, an elected treasurer, party agents and local activists, their own news book 'the Moderate', and even their own colour sea-green (green in the 17th century was the colour of dissent and rebellion). (Ibid. Pg 309) However their level of organisation and unity has been questioned. While they were well organised they did not have a set manifesto the Levellers held many diverse opinions on political, social and economic issues and their proposals and programme changed and developed over time.
"We are an heterogenial body, consisting of parts very diverse one from another, settled upon principles inconsistent one with another".(Henry Denne. The Levellers' Designe Discovered. 1649. As quoted in. J.C. Davis. The Levellers and Democracy. Past and Present. 40. 1968. Pg 176) Rather than a political party in the modern sense the Levellers were an alliance of different groups opposed to the status quo and coming together behind set proposals, much more similar to the Chartists than say the Labour party.(D.E. Brewster & R. Howell jr. Reconsidering the Levellers; The Evidence of 'The Moderate'. Past and Present. 46. 1970. Pg 69) The basic principle behind the Levellers calls for political reform was that the ultimate authority for government lay with the governed and not in a divinely anointed ruler or in the hands of the 'Godly Elect'. Therefor government should act in the interests of the governed and the violation of this principle justified resistance.(Ibid. Pg 72) The Levellers main tactic was to petition Parliament with grievances and possible solutions, these petitions were supported by signatures of ordinary people collected by local activists. Whether the Levellers seriously expected Parliament to debate their demands is difficult to say, but the activity surrounding the petitions including discussing the Levellers demands etc. helped to spread their ideas and build support. Parliament felt threatened by this unparalleled threat to its dominance and leading Levellers were regularly imprisoned. Many leading 'Levellers', disliked the name which had been given them by their adversaries, the Levellers did not want to level men's property or income. The belief that the Levellers were in favour of communism (property held in common) was used against them and helped to set the gentry and wealthy against their principles.
"by the name of Levellers, a most apt title for such a despicable and desperate knot to be known by, that endeavour to cast down and level the enclosures of nobility, gentry and propriety, to make us all even, so that every Jack shall vie with a gentleman and every gentleman be made a Jack".(Marchamont Nedham. Mercurius Politicus. 16 November 1647. As Cited in. H.N. Brailsford. The Levellers and the English Revolution. Cresset Press. 1961. Pg 309) The name Levellers stuck partly due to the fact that many of their supporters liked the name and the principles it implied. Women were also involved in Leveller activities, in 1649 after the arrest of several Leveller leaders several hundred women marched to Westminster to petition Parliament for their release, after being ridiculed by MP's (the women should cease to meddle in things they could not understand) they again petitioned Parliament. The second Petition had at least 10,000 women's signatures, the Petition of 7 May 1649 was most likely written by Katherine Chidley who was the mother of one of the Levellers treasurers and the recognised leader of the Levellers female supporters, and defends the right of the women to speak on political matters.
"Since we are assured of our creation in the image of God, of an interest in Christ equal unto men, as also of a proportionate share in the freedoms of the Commonwealth, we cannot but wonder and grieve that we should appear so despicable in your eyes as to be thought unworthy to petition or represent our grievances to this honourable House".(Petition to Parliament. 7 May 1649. As quoted in. H.N. Brailsford. The Levellers and the English Revolution. Cresset Press. 1961. Pg 317)
The platform of the Levellers changed and developed during the movements existence, when they believed that they could gain influence either with Parliament or with the army they were prepared to compromise on important issues. The 'Remonstrance of Many Thousand Citizens', was the first shot in the war of Petitions, published in July 1646 before the term Leveller had come into general use.(Ibid. Pg 96) The Remonstrance claimed sovereignty for the people, "calling these their commissioners in Parliament to an account, how they... have discharged their duties to the universality of the people, their sovereign LORD".(Ibid. Pg 97) Rejected the kings authority and the power of the House of Lords. The Remonstrance was seen as political heresy, but within only three years that heresy had become the official line. The Putney debates of 1647 was the most important meeting of army and Levellers, The Army Council representing junior officers and rank and file, the army's senior officers and representatives of the Levellers met at Putney church.(E.P. Thompson. The Making of the English Working Class. Victor Gollancz. 1963. Pg 22) The soldiers argued that since they had defeated the kings army and brought victory they should be given the franchise. The Levellers argued that any man who was under the authority of a government should have a say in choosing that government.
"I think the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live, as the greatest he; and therefore truly, sir, I think its clear, that everyman that is to live under a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government; and I do think that the poorest man in England is not at all bound in a strict sense to that government that he hath not had a voice to put himself under".(Colonel Thomas Raignborough, Putney Debates. 1647. As quoted in J.C. Davis. The Levellers and Democracy. Past and Present. 40. 1968. Pg 178) The position of the senior officers, speaking as members of the political elite was that only those who had an interest in the country through property should be allowed the franchise (E.P. Thompson. The Making of the English Working Class. Victor Gollancz. 1963. Pg 22) Both sides eventually compromised over the issue of the franchise, the General Council of the Army passed a resolution in early November which had been proposed by Cromwell during the debates; "That all soldiers and others, if they be not servants or beggars, ought to have voices in electing those which shall represent them in Parliament, although they have not forty shillings per annum in freehold land".(J.C. Davis. The Levellers and Democracy. Past and Present. 40. 1968. Pg 174) Beggars and servants were excluded because they were reliant for their livelihood on others who might influence their decisions. The definition 'servants', included anyone employed by a single master and this excluded large numbers of people from the franchise, but what the resolution did do was enfranchise the peasant copyhold tenants of rural England. The Putney debates over the franchise have been used to argue that the Levellers were not true democrats, as they did not want universal male suffrage. But the Putney resolution was a compromise agreement, the Levellers believed that if they could reach an agreement with the army that they could force Parliament to accept their demands. The Levellers were not democrats for the sake of democracy, if the only way to gain change was to compromise then they would do so. The Leveller Large Petition of September 1648 compared to previous Petitions called for only moderate reforms, in the hope that Parliament would accept it for debate. It maintained the supremacy of the house of Commons and rejected the authority of both the king and the house of Lords, called for religious tolerance, an end to tithes and no conscription among other demands previously made by the Levellers. However it did not claim that Parliaments authority lay with the governed, nor did it mention Parliamentary reform or widening the franchise. The petition also contained a specific statement in support of private property and attacking the idea of communism.(H.N. Brailsford. The Levellers and the English Revolution. Cresset Press. 1961. Pg 352) The final leveller Petition was the 'third Agreement of the People', written in 1649 by the Leveller leadership while in the Tower of London awaiting trial following the failure of the Oxfordshire mutiny. The third Agreement can be seen as the most carefully thought out demands of the Levellers, following years of demands their programme had developed into this final proposal. Some of the main points of the Agreement are as follows;
1/ Parliamentary franchise for men over 21 accept servants and alms takers with no property qualification. This would have enfranchised the majority of the rural population and independent craftsmen and merchants, who were the main groups supporting the Levellers.
2/ The House of Commons to consist of 400 MP's elected by constituencies of equal population, MP's to have a paid salary and annual elections.
3/ Religious toleration, though Catholics could not hold public office, the abolition of tithes and priests to be elected and supported by their parishoners.
4/ An end to conscription, and legal exemptions and privileges, Parliament would also be stopped from interfering with the courts.
5/ All legal proceedings in English and must end after six months. Defendants did not have to incriminate themselves (similar to the fifth amendment in the American constitution) defendants were allowed to call witnesses in their defence and individuals could defend themselves. Debt was no longer to be punishable by imprisonment and only murder and treason were to be punishable by death.
6/ Juries were to be made of 12 men picked in a way which could not be interfered with.
7/ The army was to be raised when needed and paid for on a local level but commanded by senior officers appointed by Parliament.
8/ Monopolies on trade were to be abolished and indirect taxation levied on goods was to be ended and replaced by a system of direct taxation. Any one who was worth less than �30 annually in income was to be exempt from national taxation but would still be liable for poor rates and other local taxation.
9/ Their was a specific prohibition on communism which should be written into any constitution and must not be changed.
10/ Finally their was a list of reforms which the Leveller leadership believed should be introduced as quickly as possible, these included the freedom of the press, a limitation of interest to no more than 6% and legislation to change base tenures into freeholds.(H.N. Brailsford. The Levellers and the English Revolution. Cresset Press. 1961. Pg 528-534)
"A Declaration to the Powers of England, and to all the Powers of the World, shewing the cause why the Common People of England have begun, and gives consent to Digge up, Manure, and Sowe corn upon George-Hill in Surrey; by those that have subscribed, and thousands more that gives consent".(Gerrard Winstanley. The True Levellers Standard Advanced. 1649. Northern Land Group. 1996) On the first of April 1649 at St Georges Hill in Surrey a dozen landless families began to cultivate on common land, these Diggers or True Levellers were communists who sought to show by their actions that the poor could support themselves by working the common land.( Introduction. Ibid.) The Diggers refused to use violence to defend themselves and their actions challenged the authority of local landowners in the areas where they set up their communes, at least ten other communes were started. The Diggers communism was inspired by the Bohemian Hussites and Anabaptists on the continent whose religious communities had operated along communistic lines before being violently suppressed. There main ideologue and spokesman was Gerrard Winstanley whose communism was inspired by a revelation from God;
"Take notice, That England is not a Free People, till the poor that have no Land, have a free allowance to dig and labour the commons, and so live as comfortably as the landlords that live in their Inclosures".(Gerrard Winstanley. The True Levellers Standard Advanced. 1649. Northern Land Group. 1996.) The government tolerated the Diggers for almost a year but eventually local landowners forced them to act and the army was used to break up the communes. The effect of the Diggers at the time was small, they failed to gain more than a hand full of supporters and their commune was short lived. But their politics and example have been taken up as examples to political and radical groups who see the Diggers as their ancestors. Marxist historians have studied the Diggers and the amount of material on them perhaps implies that they were more important than is suggested by the evidence. In recent years Greens, Anarchists and land rights campaigners have taken up the example of the Diggers, their example is still relevant today when 1% of the population owns between 50% and 75% of the land in Britain.(The Guardian, 2/3/96. As quoted in. Introduction of. G. Winstanley. The True Levellers' Standard Advanced. Northern Land Group.1996.)
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