P-Pix

[Paul Mackin]

In addition to the English Diggers (and Levellers) has anyone recalled the
San Francisco Diggers. Unfortunately they came along too late to have
influenced P. Around the mid 60s. They were a band of politically active
artists,  writers, etc. Can ya dig it?

     P.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Monroe" <davidmmonroe at yahoo.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2001 7:50 AM
Subject: Re: P-Pix


> When I think "Diggers," I think ...
>
> "The World Turned Upside Down"
> (c) 1981 by Leon Rosselson
>
> In 1649, to St. George's Hill
> A ragged band they called the Diggers came
>    to show the people's will
> They defied the landlords, they defined the laws
> They were the dispossessed reclaiming what was theirs
>
> We come in peace, they said, to dig and sow
> We come to work the lands in common and to
>    make the waste ground grow
> This earth divided we will make whole
> So it will be a common treasury for all
>
> The sin of property we do disdain
> No man has any right to buy and sell the
>    earth for private gain
> By theft and murder they took the land
> Now everywhere the walls spring up at their command
>
> They make the laws to chain us well
> The clergy dazzle us with heaven or they damn us
>    into hell
> We will not worship the God they serve
> The God of greed who feeds the rich while
>    poor folks starve
>
> We work we eat together, we need no swords
> We will not bow to the masters or pay rent
>    to the lords
> Still we are free though we are poor
> You Diggers all stand up for glory, stand up now
>
> From the men of property the orders came
> They sent the hired men and troopers to wipe out
>    the Digger's claim
> Tear down their cottages, destroy their corn
> They were dispersed but still the vision lingers on
>
> You poor take courage, you rich take care
> This earth was made a common treasury for
>    everyone to share
> All things in common, all people one
> We come in peace, the orders came to cut them down
>
> http://www.web.net/~smorton/Billy_Bragg/The_World_Turned_Upside_Down.html
>
> And check out the links there, e.g. ...
>
>
http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www?specfile=/web/data/journals/EH/www/e
h.o2w&act=text&offset=57185&textreg=1
>
> Not to mention ...
>
> http://www.diggers.org/english_diggers.htm
>
>
> http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~royhan/film/index2.html
>
> And see ...
>
> Hill, Christopher.  The World Turned Upisde Down:
>    Radical Ideas in the English Revolution.
>    New York: Penguin, 1972.
>
> Which I've tended to carry with me to those Billy
> Bragg shows ...
>
> --- jbor <jbor at bigpond.com> wrote:
> >
> > I wonder if that mention of a "diggers ass" in the
> > last line of what is
> > apparently one of the letters (right at the bottom
> > of the page) is a
> > reference to the derogatory label which the American
> > settlers gave to their
> > West Coast Indian slaves in the 1870s and 1880s
>
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