Diggers song - 1649
paroles : Gerrard Winstanley (1609 -1676)
You noble Diggers all, stand up now, stand up now,
You noble Diggers all, stand up now,
The wast land to maintain, seeing Cavaliers by name
Your digging does maintain, and persons all defame
Stand up now, stand up now.
Your houses they pull down, stand up now, stand up now,
Your houses they pull down, stand up now.
Your houses they pull down to fright your men in town
But the gentry must come down, and the poor shall wear the crown.
Stand up now, Diggers all.
With spades and hoes and plowes, stand up now, stand up now
With spades and hoes and plowes stand up now,
Your freedom to uphold, seeing Cavaliers are bold
To kill you if they could, and rights from you to hold.
Stand up now, Diggers all.
The gentrye are all round, stand up now, stand up now,
The gentrye are all round, stand up now.
The gentrye are all round, on each side they are found,
Their wisdom's so profound, to cheat us of our ground
Stand up now, stand up now.
The lawyers they conjoyne, stand up now, stand up now,
The lawyers they conjoyne, stand up now,
To arrest you they advise, such fury they devise,
The devill in them lies, and hath blinded both their eyes.
Stand up now, stand up now.
The clergy they come in, stand up now, stand up now,
The clergy they come in, stand up now.
The clergy they come in, and say it is a sin
That we should now begin, our freedom for to win.
Stand up now, Diggers all.
'Gainst lawyers and 'gainst Priests, stand up now, stand up now,
'Gainst lawyers and 'gainst Priests stand up now.
For tyrants they are both even flatt againnst their oath,
To grant us they are loath free meat and drink and cloth.
Stand up now, Diggers all.
The club is all their law, stand up now, stand up now,
The club is all their law, stand up now.
The club is all their law to keep poor men in awe,
But they no vision saw to maintain such a law.
Stand up now, Diggers all.
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Les (Diggers sont une faction chrétienne de la Première révolution anglaise, fondée en 1649 par Gerrard Winstanley. Se faisant appeler Vrais Niveleurs à leurs débuts (True Levellers), le public finit par les baptiser « Bêcheux », Diggers, en raison du mode de vie qu'ils prônaient. Il s'agit du plus ancien collectif de squatteurs connu à ce jour.
Leur nom s'explique par leur croyance en une sorte de communisme chrétien, selon certaine lecture des Actes des Apôtres. Les Bêcheux tentèrent de réformer l'ordre social existant par un style de vie strictement agraire (refusant l'enclosure act : l'appropriation privée des prés communaux et plus généralement des terres communales, terres qui étaient auparavant mises en commun par les paysans et habitants), s'organisant autour de petites communautés rurales autonomes et égalitaires.
sources : compilation Vive l'anarchie (paroles)
wikipedia