Levellers are a party of radicals in England, which was founded during the English Revolution. Their main ideas were reduced to the transition to a republican form of government, the establishment of suffrage in relation to all males and the publication of a constitution in writing.
Causes of Levellers
The first civil war ended in the defeat of the king. This led to the fact that the army became the center of various revolutionary forces, since it included the lower classes of cities and the middle peasantry. Here and in the midst of the urban petty bourgeoisie a party of levellers arose in 1646-1647.
One of the main reasons for the appearance of this party was the difficult economic situation. After the civil war, unemployment increased as a result of the fact that trade suffered due to disruption of economic relations.
Craftsmen began to migrate to the Netherlands, peasants could not pay rent to landlords. In 1646, there was a crop failure, which contributed to an increase in food prices. A new type of tax was introduced - excise tax.
There were other reasons for the appearance of levellers. These are primarily political and ideological reasons. The first is due to the fact that the people were dissatisfied with the policy of the Presbyterians. In this regard, the Democrats have a trend to protect the masses, to which the army joins in 1647. The second group of reasons is due to the unfolding struggle between the Presbyterians and the Independents. Democratic conclusions were largely based on religious doctrines.
All this led to the emergence of the movement of levellers.
Leveller Ideas
The main ideas that contributed to the emergence of the movement of levellers, boiled down to the following: the theory of social contract, law should be natural; sovereignty of the people.
Levellers were born at the turn of 1645-1647. The movement finally took shape in 1647 after the end of the civil war.
However, their main ideas regarding the constitution were formulated as early as 1646:
- power should mainly belong to the House of Commons, which is obliged to report to voters;
- parliamentary elections should be held every year;
- the king and the House of Lords should be deprived of authority;
- freedom of conscience should not be limited in any way;
- the rights of citizens should be granted to them at birth and be enshrined in the constitution, it is they who should help citizens to combat abuses of power.
The movement was led by John Lilburn. The leaders also included W. Walvin and R. Overton.
Independents
This word in translation from English means "independent." Independents are a religious movement, one of the branches of Protestantism. During the bourgeois revolution in England in the 17th century, this trend turned into a political party, which mainly represented the interests of the bourgeoisie. The movement itself was formed at the end of the 16th century in the form of a left-wing Puritan wing. The right wing were Presbyterians.
Unlike the latter, the independents advocated the creation of congregations of communities of believers and the autonomy of the church from the state.
At the beginning of the revolution, they led the movement against the absolute monarchy of the Stuarts. However, then they split. A wing was formed, representing the interests of the bourgeoisie and the nobility, led by O. Cromwell, who believed that the revolution was over. The other wing opposed the nobility-bourgeois wing and was a democratic movement, on the basis of which the party of levellers was formed.
Thus, the concepts of āindependentsā and ālevellersā cannot be fully identified, since the latter were only a part of the former.
Magna Carta
The forerunner of the radical political current of the Levellers was the Magna Carta. In the 13th century, an uprising of barons took place in England, which protested against the strengthening of the king's power. They were joined by several other sectors of society, in particular the townspeople, dissatisfied with the increase in the tax burden, and the knights.
At its core, the Magna Carta of 1215 was a concession to the king of the opposition. It established the rights of barons, merchants and the church.
This charter was written in Latin and contained 63 articles. Some of the articles related to the material rights and freedoms of some classes, while others determined the sphere of activity of the king in relation to administration and justice.
The document limited the king to taxation. The most controversial was the 39th article of the Charter, in which the concept of "free man" was introduced. Here he was guaranteed freedom, which he could not be deprived of by anyone, except for the court, which should include citizens equal to him by estate or by the law of the country.
The Magna Carta of 1215 did not become operational, despite the fact that it was confirmed several times. Some of her articles were accepted into the system of general English law.
In the XV-XVI centuries. they almost forgot about it, but the levellers picked up some ideas.
Leveller leader
As already noted, the leader of the Levellers was J. Lilburn. He lived a fairly short life and died at the age of 39.
He was born in the family of a poor squire. He was an apprentice in the cloth merchant in London. In 1637 he was arrested for distributing Puritan literature and membership in the sect of independents, which was banned.
In 1641 he was released from prison in connection with the outbreak of the revolution. He fought against the king, was captured by the royalists, where he miraculously survived.
After his release, he served in the parliamentary army, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He left the army due to disagreements with the leadership of Presbyterian views in 1645. Then he began to participate in disputes between presbyterians and separatists from the category of independents. This was the impetus for the creation of levellers.
Lilburn first criticized the Presbyterian religious worldviews, then moved on to their political views. This was the reason for the governmentās reprisals against him.
In the years 1645-1646. ended up in prison for short periods, after which in 1646 the House of Lords imposed a fine of 4,000 pounds on him and sentenced him to 7 years in prison without the right to occupy military or civilian posts. However, while in prison, J. Lilburn continued to speak out against the Presbyterians, and above all against the government.
Claims of J. Lilburn
His demands generally coincided with those of his party members, as he was the leader of the levellers. This primarily related to the deprivation of power of the House of Lords and the King. At this time, he already demanded the separation of different branches of government, while highlighting only the executive and legislative.
He also had liberal requirements: a ban on the House of Lords from holding public posts, a replacement for direct excise tax.
He also put forward a number of other requirements. First of all, this concerned the ban on the episcopate, freedom of preaching, the abolition of censorship, the prohibition of trade monopolies. He proposed to publish all the laws in English, demanded a judicial reform and the possibility of an English citizen to petition the parliament.
Leveller Petitions
Supporters of J. Lilburn in 1647 tried to influence the House of Commons, for which a petition was filed. Signature collection was organized at rallies. Gradually, they achieved that a large enough number of people began to sympathize with them, so the submission of petitions began to resemble demonstrations, which the parliament did not like.
Petitions developed the ideas of Lilburn. So, in the spring of 1647, it was required to release from custody debtors who were unable to pay their debts. It also suggested that the government abolish tithes, dissolve trade monopolies, and lower prices for goods. Parliamentās response was to demand the burning of the petition. Repression began against the signatories.
In late spring and early summer of 1647, two more petitions were filed, which also ended in nothing.
So the question is: "Whose interests were expressed by the levellers?" has one answer: poor people. For this they got their nickname "Levellers", which in translation means "equalizers". That is what the landowners of the peasants called at the beginning of the 17th century. in their struggle against enclosures.
Popular agreement
At the end of 1648, the Levellers proposed to the independents to adopt a new constitution called the āPeopleās Agreementā. However, the latter dragged on the process, theoretically agreeing with such a need.
In late 1648 - early 1649, the Independents put an end to the Presbyterians, Cromwell seized power and began to fight the Levellers. The latter demanded that the Peopleās Agreement be submitted to a general referendum, but it was considered at a meeting of the officerās council, severely curtailed and submitted to Parliament, which provoked leveller protests.
Leveller split
At the end of 1648 - the beginning of 1649, some leaders of the current movement sided with Cromwell. Others did not openly oppose him. Waited and Lilburn. However, the situation of the working people worsened every day. Levellers became popular in the army. In early 1649, Lilburn sharply criticized Cromwell. He answered him with arrest. Despite the fact that dissatisfied soldiers were defeated by Cromwell in the counties neighboring London, the peasants actively supported the levellers.
A fall
The peak of the heyday of the Levellers came in 1649. In the 50s, isolated speeches against the independents were already noted. Before his death, Lilburn was imprisoned in a fortress on about. Jersey, which became his last refuge. Shortly before his death, he went into the Quaker sect. Many other levellers went into the Millenarian sect. Part preferred to enter into an alliance with the royalists, rather than with Cromwell.
They also made some tactical mistakes. First of all, they were very keen on the Peopleās Agreement and allowed independents led by Cromwell to power. Also, opposing the departure of English soldiers to Ireland, they themselves took part in the enslavement of this country. All this predetermined the collapse of the Levellers.
Finally
The initial discontent, first by the Presbyterians, and then by the independents among the masses of the population, made Levellers popular. This, however, did not allow them to win, since the forces of the new nobility and the bourgeoisie were much higher in comparison with the proletariat, the peasantry and the petty bourgeoisie.