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The World Turned Upside-Down

In 1649, 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 ground grow

This earth divided, we will make whole

So it may be a common treasury for all.

The sin of property we do disdain

No man has any right to buy or 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 feeds the rich while poor folk starve.

We work, we eat together, we need no swords

We will not bow to the masters or pay rent to the lords.

Still we are free though we are poor.

Ye 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 – but still the vision lingers on.

You poor take courage, you rich take care

This earth was made a common treasury for everyone to share

All things in common, all people one.

They came in peace – the order came to cut them down.

Words and music © Leon Rosselson, 1975

The lyrics are derived from a seventeenth-century pamphlet attributed to the English Digger leader Gerrard Winstanley.