Winstanley (1975) dir. Kevin Brownlow - Diggers on St. George's Hill in the Engliah Civil War (1649)

Winstanley (1975) (EN, IT, GR, PT-B subtitles)
by Kevin Brownlow
Publication date 1975
Topics winstanley, diggers, levellers, toilers, gerrard winstanley, communism, socialism, anarchist, surrey, weybridge, st george's hill Engliah Civil War

Language
English; Brazilian Portuguese; Italian; Greek

Winstanley details the story of the 17th-century social reformer and writer Gerrard Winstanley, who, along with a small band of followers known as the Diggers, tried to establish a self-sufficient farming community on common land at St George's Hill ("Diggers' Hill") near Cobham, Surrey. The community was one of the world's first small-scale experiments in socialism or communism, and its ideas were copied elsewhere in England during the time of the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, but it was quickly suppressed, and in the end left only a legacy of ideas to inspire later generations of socialist theorists.

Made by Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo (creators of It Happened Here) and based on the 1961 David Caute novel Comrade Jacob. (wikipedia)

See also
Guardian interview with David Caute (2008)
Gerrard Winstanley: The Digger's Life and Legacy by John Gurney

Colour
black and white

Director
Kevin Brownlow