In these days of royal jubilee celebrations, my mind has
turned towards thinking about republicanism in this country. We did have a de
facto republic in England (and Scotland, Wales and Ireland) for ten years
between 1649 and 1659, after the English Civil War(s) ended, and up until the
Restoration of King Charles II in 1660. His father King Charles I was executed
for high treason by Parliamentary forces in 1649 after years of dispute and
then war with Parliamentary supporters.
These times must have been incredibly exciting politically with
debates going on about the future governance of the country, the most famous of
which were the Putney Debates at St Mary’s Church near Putney bridge in
south west London. A group emerged who became known as The Levellers, with
their support drawn mainly from rank and file soldiers in the Parliamentary
army, although they had support amongst the people, particularly in the City of
London where one of third of the population signed a petition supporting them.
They set out their demands in An Agreement of the People
which espoused a republican and democratic agenda, calling for voting rights for
most men and for Parliament to be elected every two years, for religious
freedom, and for an end to imprisonment for debt. The heads of the army had
other ideas though and wanted the King to approve of some improvements in
social justice. In the end Leveller leaders were arrested and some executed by
the ruling army elite.
One sub sect of the Leveller’s was the Diggers, or True
Levellers, who not only called for an extension in the voting franchise and
extended liberties, but who actually took pre figurative direct action in
setting up collective communities on common land, ploughing the land to grow
crops to share amongst the cooperative, hence the name Diggers. Like all
thinking in those days, it was based upon the Bible, and a Quaker
interpretation of the text.
The Diggers set up a small number of settlements on common
land mainly in southern England, but probably numbered only a couple of
thousand people in total. The most famous settlement was at St George’s Hill in Weybridge in Surrey. It was all pretty radical stuff at the time, but
looking back their demands were typically English and conservative. At the
time, over one third of the country was common land, and gave plenty of
room for their experiment, of the other nearly two thirds of enclosed land,
they were happy to leave with its ‘owners’. They also renounced all violence and
petitioned Parliament to protect their communities.
Parliament didn’t pay much attention to the situation and
local land owners, who must have feared that they wouldn’t be able to attract
workers onto their land to work, used the local courts and armed thugs to evict
the Diggers from their blossoming ecosocialist communities, and there the
experiment ended.
The Restoration of Charles II saw the beginning of the
wholesale enclosure of much of what was left of the common land, as the
establishment could see the threat of allowing people to live communally like
this would undermine their wealth and privilege.
And so it goes on today. I have met people in Tanzania who
farm common land clearings in the forest illegally, and spoken to fishermen in
Senegal, whose families have fished sustainably for centuries and are now
threatened with starvation by factory fishing boats from Europe, Japan and
Russia, over fishing their commons for profits at home and internationally.
So, whilst all this royalist rubbish is going on in the
coming days, let’s instead reflect on our English radical tradition and how
that interconnects with the political challenges we have today.
There is a republican protest by City Hall in London, where
you can jeer the Queen as she sails up the Thames, if you should so wish.
Details here.
The above video/song is ‘English Civil War’ by The
Clash.
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