"The power of property was brought into creation by the sword", so wrote Gerrard Winstanley (1609-1676) – Christian Communist, leader of the Diggers movement and bête noire of the landed aristocracy. Despite being one of the great English radicals, Winstanley remains unmentioned in today's lists of "great Britons". John Gurney reveals the hidden history of Winstanley and his movement. As part of the radical ferment which swept England at the time of the civil war, Winstanley led the Diggers in taking over land and running it as "a common treasury for all" – provoking violent opposition from landowners. Gurney also guides us through Winstanley's writings, which are among the most remarkable prose writings of his age. Gerrard Winstanley is a must read for students of English history and all those seeking to re-claim the commons today.

This fully annotated edition establishes Gerrard Winstanley (1609-76) as a leading English prose writer and the foremost radical thinker of 17th-century England. It makes a major contribution to scholarship on English Civil War politics, religion, and literary culture.