“I demand whether all wars, bloodshed and misery came not upon the creation when one man endeavored to be a lord over another? … And whether this misery shall not remove … when all the branches of mankind shall look upon the earth as one common treasury to all.” - Gerrard Winstanley, The New Law of Righteousness, 1649
While his quote definitely seems ahead of its time, it really isn’t! Contrary to popular belief, feudal society in Europe had cases of class struggle that echoed these sort of egalitarian statements. The heretic movements of the Middle Ages were built on strong critiques of social hierarchy and economic exploitation and were against private property. Many heretical sects lived in communes and led proto-communist lives, basically.
Wherever you find conflicts between an oppressive class and an oppressed class, you’ll see the desire of the oppressed class for an egalitarian society. The same was true during serfdom in the Middle Ages, way before Gerrard Winstanley.
Not ragging on the guy, though! This quote is still super amazing and timeless (:
But history as a product of class struggle? Not even Sir Thomas More, the unspoken “founder” of utopian socialism, had this insight.
You’re right, I overlooked the fact that he’s saying class struggle produces history and took wars, bloodshed, and misery too literally. Then maybe he is ahead of his time!
FYI, I found this quote in Caliban and the Witch, which I recommend if you haven’t read it already (: