Digger

Member of an English 17th-century radical sect that attempted to seize and share out common land. The Diggers became prominent in April 1649 when, headed by Gerrard Winstanley, they set up communal colonies near Cobham, Surrey, and elsewhere. The Diggers wanted to return to what they claimed was a ‘golden age’ before the Norman Conquest, when they believed that all land was held in common and its fruits were shared fairly between the people, and when men and women were equal. They did not allow private property or possessions; it is sometimes claimed that they were the first communist society. The Diggers' colonies were attacked by mobs and, being pacifists, they made no resistance. The support they attracted alarmed the government and they were dispersed in 1650. Their ideas influenced the early Quakers (called the Society of Friends).