SLSF presents: "Winstanley"
Wed 16th April, 7.30pm, Cafe Crema, 305 New Cross Rd, SE14. £4 incl food
In 1649 Gerrard Winstanley and his group of Diggers established a commune in Surrey, asserting that the land is “a common treasury of all”. Inspired by the radical political and religious ideas let loose during the English civil war, the Diggers went further than others, preaching a form of communism based on getting rid of parasitic landlords and nobles. Based on the novel Comrade Jacob, this 1975 film details the direct action taken by landless labourers to use what they needed to survive. Shot on a low budget and with a cast of volunteers, Winstanley was a labour of love which strives to portray the conditions, ideas and emotions of the Diggers with accuracy (right down to the type of pig!) and feeling. Though the Diggers were eventually crushed, it is a high point of the English revolutionary tradition that deserves to be much commemorated. They showed that when demands are met, more can be made; and when these are not met, they can be taken
