Cromwell and Communism: Socialism and Democracy in the Great English Revolution

Description

Introduction. England up to the Middle of the Seventeenth Century. Economic and Social Development. Political and Religious Conditions. Ket’s Insurrection. The “Utopia” of Lord Chancellor Bacon. Early Years of Charles I’s Reign. John Lilburne’s Youth and First Persecutions. Parliament and the Monarchy. Parliament and the National Army. Presbyterians, Independents, and Other Sects. The Levellers versus the “Gentlemen” Independents. The Struggle for Democracy and the Levellers’ “Agreement of the People”. Atheistic and Communistic Tendencies in the Levellers’ Movement. The “Tue” Levellers and Their Practical Communism. The Communistic Utopia of Gerrard Winstanley. The Levellers’ Revolt in the Army. Lilburne’s Last Years and Death. Historical Significance of Lilburne and the Levellers. Conspiracies and Religious Offshoots of the Popular Democratic Movement. Political Philosophy of the Seventeenth Century. Hobbes and Harrington. Peter Cornelius Plockboy. The Quakers in the Seventeenth Century. Rise and Principles of Quakerism. James Naylor, the King of Israel. The Economic and Social Aspects of Quakerism. John Bellers, Champion of the Poor and Advocate of a League of Nations. The College of Industry. Bellers’ Essays and Other Writings. Conclusion. Index.