The Law of Freedom in a Platform

Gerrard Winstanley's The Law of Freedom in a Platform (1652) outlines a vision for a communist society. Winstanley, a leader of the English agrarian communists known as the Diggers, believed that land should be accessible to the poor. He argued that the English Civil War was fought against those who profited from land ownership and against priests who distracted people from earthly rights. Winstanley advocated for universal religious tolerance and proposed replacing sermons with lectures on science and the constitution. His work foreshadowed later communist and materialist ideas, emphasizing that true freedom could only exist in a society without rulers, where resources are shared and people act according to their conscience rather than imposed laws.12