Leader of the Diggers, or True Levellers, whose colony was forced to disband in 1651, Gerrard Winstanley stands out from a century remarkable for its development in political thought as one of the most fecund and original of political writers. An acute and penetrating social critic with a passionate sense of justice, he worked out a collectivist theory which strikingly anticipates nineteenth- and twentieth-century socialism. Although other writers had proposed the reconstruction of the whole social order on rational principles, Winstanley was the first to put forward such a programme in the vernacular and to call upon the oppressed to translate it into action. Christopher Hill's selection of his many published pamphlets demonstrates the coherence and social relevance of Winstanley's philosophy while it reveals his mastery of colloquial prose and superb use of imagery.

Very little is known about Gerrard Winstanley. He was probably born in Wigan in 1609. His father was a mercer, and the family had several Puritan connections. Gerrard went to London in 1630 as an apprentice in the cloth trade and became a freeman of the Merchant Taylors' Company seven years later. In September 1640 he married Susan King but found it very difficult to make a living in the City. In 1643 they moved to Surrey and settled at Walton-on-Thames near Cobham where Gerrard herded cows as a hired labourer. These years were full of hardship, but in them his ideas developed rapidly from religious mysticism to materialistic pantheism. In April 1649 a group of Diggers led by Winstanley took over a patch of waste land near Cobham and established a communist colony there. Despite local opposition the colony survived until 1650, winning much support in southern and central England. Winstanley published a number of pamphlets on its behalf; in 1652 he summarized his ideas in The Law of Freedom in a Platform, dedicated to Oliver Cromwell. Winstanley was living in Cobham in 1660, but then disappears into obscurity.

• Tyranipocrit, Discovered with his wiles, wherewith he vanquisheth, Written and printed, to animate better Artists to pursue that MONSTER
• A Demonstration of Predestination
• An Intelligencer to the Reformers
• A Caveat for Princes

Tyranipocrit Discovered was originally published anonymously in Rotterdam in 1649. The identity of its author remains unknown. In common with other radicals of the day, he shares a concern for the establishment of a just society – one in which rulers and laws are ultimately unnecessary. Arguments against the doctrine of predestination are complemented by attacks on the institution of slavery, the persecution of minorities, the maintenance of economic inequality and the hyprocrisy of the Church and State, personified in the figure of Tyranipocrit. Speaking passionately on behalf of the common man, the author calls for a revolution based on sound religious and political principles in a far-reaching denunciation of all social abuses.

… It is not enough that some Tyrants be removed, but all tyranny must freely bee forsaken, for it is alike evill, to doe good with an evill will, as it is to doe evill with a good will. O consider this, all you rich Tyrants, you that have robbed the poore, and yet you will not hang your selves, neither will yee permit the law, nor the hang-man to hang you, and which is worst of all, you will not make satisfaction, by restoring againe unto the poore, their goods which you have wrongfully taken from them. …

… Now for the trueth concerning this matter, let any man confute me, if hee can, if not, then let all reasonable men labour to effect, that which God and all good men doe affect: and for equallity of riches, I suppose that evill-minded men will say, that it is impossible that every man should have, and hold alike portion of earthly goods. To which I answer as I have done before: That if the Rulers of this world, cannot make all the poore rich, yet they can the richest poorer, for their sinne is not so much, in that some men are too poore, as it is that some are too rich. …

… Emperours, Kings, Princes, Dukes, Lords, Knights, gentlemen, &c. Popes, Cardinals, Bishops, Prelates, Priests, &c. Supreame, Iudges, Counsellers, Lawyers, &c. with that great meanes which they doe give them, and that which they by fraud and force take from the poore people: They serve the devil in tyranny and pride, and many other impieties beside, and so by the impious prerogatives that they doe give each other, they doe rob the poore people of their necessary maintenance, and themselves in a most impious manner doe spend more in one day, than a poore man hath to spend in a yeer: … O consider that, before this equall law be made and maintained: there can be no justice executed concerning theevery, and all such murthers as men doe commit, because their theevery shall not be discovered, or any other evils which poor men doe commit, through want of a competent meanes to maintaine them: and an equallity of meanes to spend, is the foundation of justice, and till that be laid, no justice can bee administered in the Common-wealth, and all injunctions before that be done, are tyranicall impositions, and the more men do labour to doe justice, before that bee done, the further they will be from either doing or knowing what justice is …

… therefore consider seriously what you ought to doe in this cause, now is the time to break the neck of tyranny, which if you do not, be sure that Tyranny will breake your neckes one day, because you had him in your power, and did not break his neck. I would not have you kill Tyrants, for then you might kill your selves, but first destroy tyranny in your selves, and then in others: first doe such things your selves, as you would have others to doe, for he that bids me do, and doth the good he bids, he leads me to the substantive, and leaves me not in quid. …