Spent one or two hours today in the company of various Seekers, Ranters, Levellers and True Levellers courtesy of Christopher Hill's The World Turned Upside Down. I suppose if I had to name a favourite period of history (English, that is, to be narrowly parochial) it would have to be the two decades after 1640, simply because that was when circumstances allowed these types to flourish. It's fascinating to be a witness to the sheer speed with which radical ideas blossomed, and instructive to note just how threatening these ideas were and the distrust of the multitude they provoked in those who regarded themselves as above that multitude. And illuminating to realise how reasonable the notions of those who were then seen as being very much on the fringes now sound.
The most obvious lesson that history has to offer is that, counter-intuitive as it may seem, the most inclusive, genuine forms of democracy work and there's much to said for the wisdom of the common people.
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