Ed Simon is a staff writer for the Millions and an editor at Berfrois. His book Furnace of This World; or, 36 Observations about Goodness is available from Zero Books.
For generations, historians have downplayed the American Revolution as a squabble between elites. But the revolution unleashed egalitarian forces its architects could neither control nor contain.
Today marks the 500th anniversary of Thomas Müntzer’s execution after he led a mass revolt that was both religious and social in its content. Müntzer’s complex, contradictory career has long been a source of fascination for historians of class conflict.
Though often forgotten, the Diggers of the English Revolution were egalitarian radicals well before their time. No account of socialist history is complete without them.
Since its publication in 1516, Thomas More's Utopia has helped us aspire to a just society.