A Common Treasury For All

The ideas of common ownership are part of the history of the working people of Britain. A number of people, including Gerrard Winstanley, started to build houses, and dig and plant their crops on the common land at St George's Hill in Surrey. The Diggers, or True Levellers as they described themselves, were communists who wanted to abolish private property and unlike any other radical grouping, they tried to put it in to practice. However, the Digger communes lasted barely a year. They were broken by the violent hostility of the landlords and the indifference of the poor. Ruffians were sent to the commons to physically attack the Diggers, tearing down their houses and trampling crops. The landlords took them to court and prosecuted them for trespass. A smaller group of the original St.Georges Hill Diggers who moved to close by Little Heath near Cobham received similar treatment, as did other communes established in Wellingborough in Northamptonshire, Iver in Buckinghamshire, Barnet in Hertfordshire, Enfield in then Middlesex, Bosworth in Gloucestershire and a further one in Nottinghamshire. Indeed, nine of the Wellingborough Diggers were arrested and imprisoned in Northampton jail and although no charges could be proved against them the justice refused to release them. The Diggers’ communist ideas were a powerful attraction to the poor. Winstanley produced a utopian blueprint entitled Law of Freedom, a detailed plan for a future society.

The International by Billy Bragg

What Did You Learn in School Today by Tom Paxton

[Chorus]
What did you learn in school today

Dear little boy of mine

Dear little boy of mine

I learned that Washington never told a lie

I learned that soldiers seldom die
I learned that everybody is free

That's what the teacher said to me
And that's what I learned in school today

Today that's what I learned in school
[Chorus]
I learned that policemen are my friends

I learned that justice never ends

I learned that murderers die for their crimes
Even if we make a mistake sometimes
And that's what I learned in school today

Today that's what I learned in school
[Chorus]
I learned that war is not so bad
I learned of the great ones we had had

We fought in Germany and in France

And someday I might get my chance

And that's what I learned in school today

Today that's what I learned in school
[Chorus]
I leant our government must be strong

Its always right and never wrong

Our leaders are the finest men
We elect them again and again

And that's what I learned in school today

Today that's what I learned in school

A Dead Spy

ARRRRRRRRGGGG

The new spy chief , Alex Allan , chairman of the joint intelligence committee , is a Deadhead .

A Grateful Dead fan , he maintains a lyric and song-finder site for the band.

Jerry will be turning in his grave .

Jewish Anarchist song

Many thanks to Anarcho-Sartorialist for finding the vid