The Mindful Peasant: Sketches for a Study of Rebellion

Abstract

Peasants have confused us. We have in our discussions of them, imposed a structure on their lives, defined their behavior and denied their consciousness. We believe their actions to be predictable, but their irruptions and the extent of their violence inexplicable. Bound by tradition, tied to their village, loyal to their lords, they seem to us simultaneously irreverent, rude, ribald and lacking in respect. We find them shrewd in their economic judgments, but incapable of knowing their own real interests. Though they appear responsive to social and economic change, they also seem bound by symbols and ideologies that tie them to the past. They are never at home no matter where they move. Committed to their own interests, they are nevertheless tricked and cheated by city slickers, seigneurs and nobles.

“The Earth Becomes Flat”—A Study of Apocalyptic Imagery

“…We are the peasants who will level the world." 42 The bestknown use of the image of leveling the world in modern western history also provides a convenient example of its revolutionary potential, for numerous groups within the English Civil War-among them the Levellers, Diggers (or "True Levellers"), and Ranters-described egalitarian social reform thus. Witness the following passage from chapter I of the Fiery Flying Roll, written in 1649 by the Ranter Abiezer Coppe:…”