The World Turned Upside Down Quotes

“In sixteen forty-nine, to St. George’s Hill,
A ragged band they called the Diggers
Came to show the people’s will:
They defied the landlords, they defied the laws,
They were the dispossessed, reclaiming what was theirs.

“We come in peace,” they said, “to dig and sow;
We come to work the lands in common
And to make the waste grounds grow.
This earth divided, we will make whole,
So it will be a common treasury for all.”

“The sin of property we do disdain,
No man has any right to buy and sell
The earth for private gain.
By theft and murder they took the land;
Now everywhere the walls spring up at their command.”

“They make the laws to chain us well:
The clergy dazzle us with heaven,
Or they damn us into hell.
We will not worship the God they serve,
The God of greed, who feed the rich while poor men starve.”

“We work, we eat together—we need no swords!
We will not bow to masters or pay rent to the lords.
We are free men, though we are poor.
You Diggers all stand up for glory,
Stand up now!”

From the men of property the orders came:
They sent the hired men and troopers
to wipe out the Diggers’ claim;
Tear down their cottages, destroy their corn.
They were dispersed.
Only the vision lingers on

You poor, take courage; you rich take care:
The earth was made a common treasury
for everyone to share;
All things in common, all people one.
We come in peace—The order came to cut them down
We come in peace,
The order came to cut them down.”
― Leon Rosselson, The World Turned Upside Down: Rosselsongs 1960–2010