Radicalism (Dissent)

Radicalism, known more specifically as Early Radicalism (to distinguish it from more modern radical ideas), was a non-conforming socio-religious and socio-political movement emerging in Western Europe in the mid seventeenth century as a result of the Righteous Revolution and the English Revolutionary Wars. Radicalism is considered a firmly left-wing ideology, often divided into English Radicalism (developed by the Diggers and Levellers, Fifth Monarchists are sometimes included) and Continental Radicalism (Blossoming from Dutch Philosopher-Politician Benadict Spinoza).

Name
The name Radicalism is a modern historiographical term for a group of interrelated and usually allied movements which overall opposed the idea of absolute monarchy. The idea was known for a long time in more conservative circles as simply Anarchy or Anarchocracy in some writings (like those of Thomas Hobbes). In England, these groups collectively referred to themselves as Dissenters, which has become a leftist historiographical term for the revolutionary political movements of this era.

Defining Characteristics
Some argue that commonalities exist between all the various radical philosophers and movements; a set of defining characteristics usually Radicals themselves often argue the most common symbol of true radicalism are Republicanism and Resistance to Tyranny, and that radicalism is a universal and age old movement emerging from the people against the establishment.
 * Anything from Distrust to Outright Hatred for the Status Quo
 * Constitutionalism (sometimes from a Biblical standpoint)
 * Populism (Advocation of the Rights of the 'Working Class', meaning those who produce value and including jobs such as merchants and administrators over the 'Idling Class', meaning those who did not do anything to earn their money like landlords, the nobility, and usually the established church)
 * Democracy (any kind of popular rule - from weighted to representative to direct)

Origins
The origins of radicalism can be placed in the English Civil War specifically and the Eleven Years War as a whole. Some historians (specifically more leftist ones) view English Radicalism as in line with a long tradition of English peasant uprisings since the Peasants Revolt of 1381. Radicalism can be specifically traced to the English Dissenters, who were a driving force in the initial revolutions which toppled the monarchy and brought Cromwell to power. Oliver Cromwell is sometimes regarded as the forefather of radicalism or even a very moderate radical (the kind that would be seen in neo-radical movements in France). It could be said that the Parliamentarians led the way to the more revolutionary politics of the English Dissenters.

The Levellers
The Levellers were headed in the political world by military officers like John Lilburne, Thomas Rawton, and arguably Thomas Fairfax; and in the intellectual and cultural world by pamphleteers and activists like William Walwyn, Richard Overton, and those of the Green Ribbon Club. The movement was committed to popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law and religious tolerance. The hallmark of Leveller thought was its populism, as shown by its emphasis on equal natural rights, and their practice of reaching the public through pamphlets, petitions and vocal appeals to the crowd. Its ideas were presented in its manifesto "Agreement of the People". In contrast to the Diggers, the Levellers initially opposed common ownership, except in cases of mutual agreement of the property owners. As time went on, influential Leveller prime minister William Walwyn would nationalize several companies and sieze private holdings in an effort not only to empower the poor, but to acquire precious goods to help Britain achieve self sufficiency and dominance. Leveller economic thought would support a mixed economic model of public and private. The Declaration of Breda, which declared amnesty for all British nobles if they abandoned their titles, ended the English Revolutionary Wars and brought in a flow of foreign capital and the rise of a capitalist class. This new class would quickly gain control of the Leveller movement, capitalizing on its tolerance and acceptance of reactionary values, and the government of Walwyn's successor Charles Fleetwood would be mired in corruption. This would mark the decline of the Levellers and the rise of more left-wing radicals. One Leveller successor group, the "Green Ribbon Levellers", would survive as a more left-wing and christian radical party working with the Diggers or True Levellers.

The Diggers or True Levellers
The True Levellers (known sometimes as Diggers) were a largely agrarian and radical peasant movement based around the abolition of private property and principle of common ownership. In the beginning, they had no leaders, they resided in a growing network of communes run by peasants set up in the former commons which had been enclosed by the British King. The Communes had been attacked by the landed elites, and some communes fell, but others, like the original in Weybridge, Surrey, engulfed their entire town and drove out their lords. The movement was originally non-violent, but desperate times soon forced them into adopting arms. Militancy was soon incorporated into their ideology by prominent Digger pamphleteer and organizer Gerrard Winstanley. Winstanley and his peasant militias would have a good influence on Sir Thomas Fairfax and were a large force in the Righteous Revolution. The peasant militias would become an important part of politics in Britain, they could help topple a government or supress an uprising. Digger Peasant Militias played an important part in suppressing royalist uprisings as well as Venner's Rising and played an important role in several government transitions. Diggers influenced other radicals in europe, like Spinoza, as well as radicals in Scotland and Ireland and even America and the Caribbean.

Spensonianism
Developed by Anglo-Caribbean author and radical Thomas Spence in the 1770s, Spensonianism was a utopian ideology advocating for a libertarian pirate republic with mutual aid and mutual dividends as well as an end to aristocracy and landlords. Spence was born in poverty but quickly rose to power on a populist platform with the support of the local pirates to become Governor of the Bahamas. While seeming left-wing and socialist, Spence's policies eventually turned the Bahamas into a playground for pirates and laissez faire capitalism after his death. During the Spence's governorship, the Bahamas operated under an anarchist framework and developed a massive pirate navy along democratic lines. The Pirate Navy consistently supported the Diggers and was also extremely expansionist, launching raids into Florida and Cuba as well as launching a re-capture of Jamaica. Spensonian ideals went into decline in the 19th century as pirate aristocracies and oligarchies ruled over the Caribbean Federated Territories. Neo-Spensonianism would crop up later with the creation of several pirate parties.

Origins
Continental Radicalism has its origins in the liberalizing political climate of the United Provinces of the Netherlands in the wake of the Orange War, where the liberal republican Joan de Witt (chief magistrate of the Republic) had reigned victorious over the conservative monarchist Orangists and their leader, Willem the Pretender (known as Willem the Orange to the royalists). Following the expulsion of the Orangists from government, de Witt and his Dutch States Party now became the conservatives in the government as their liberal reforms led to a new wave of political thought. Benedict Spinoza (originally Sephardi and Portuguese but expelled from the Jewish Community) would publish the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus or the Theological Political Treatise in 1668 and would serve in the states court (commons and princes' courts were unified as a result of the events of the Orange War and subsequent wars with the nobility) as the father of a new political movement. Spinoza also opened the way towards secularization by criticizing the Bible and advocating for a more personal god. Spinoza's pantheistic views mirrored that of the Diggers in Britain. English exile and counter-radical Thomas Hobbes would describe these philosophical currents as Anarchism and Anarchocracy, a name that has been adopted by some later radicals.

Unorthodox "Radicalism"
Unorthodox or Right Wing Radicals are usually highly authoritarian and conservative although perhaps still advocating for a revolutionary government, most commmonly theocracy. These radicals are often separated from most others due to their belief in extreme hierarchy, their intolerance of other sects and religions, and due to the historical fact that they attempted to coup the government during the English Revolutionary Wars and subsequently fought alongside the royalists. Some of them survived under the tutelage of general Thomas Harrison, who had betrayed the Fifth Monarchists and Thomas Venner in favor of the British Government, although this group shifted left and also became marginalized and suppressed.

Fifth Monarchy Men
Main Article: Venner's Rising 

The Fifth Monarchy Men, also known as the FIfth Monarchists, were a radical right wing puritanical sect who believe in a fifth monarchy ruled by Jesus in a coming cataclysm, and believe that Britain should be restructured into a radical authoritarian theocracy abiding by conservative puritan standards in order to purify the soul of the nation so that they can ascend to heaven on the day of an inevitable judgement. Their patron was prominent general Thomas Harrison, who helped the Levellers and participated in several battles for the revolutionary government. Harrison thought that the group was too small and needed to become more moderate in order to gain supporters, however more hardline members believed that a radical vanguard group should take over and steer England in the right direction. These Fifth Monarchists eventually broke with Harrison and rose up on their own with the help of some right-wing peasant militias and defected army units. Harrison himself was ordered to put down the uprising along with John Lilburne. The two armies decimated the Fifth monarchists, whose leadership fled to England and joined Thomas Hobbes as English exiles. Hobbes, an absolutist monarchist, expressed a begrudging admiration for the protestant Fifth Monarchists, claiming that they were doing the right thing from the perspective of a protestant. The collaboration between Stuartites and Fifth Monarchists led to the latter being considered a right wing and reactionary, not radical, ideology.

Puritanism and New World Radicalism
After Venner's Uprising, Puritans were seen as a threat to the political order and were forced to flee en masse to the only places that would have them, the New World. Puritans settled in Massachusetts and in the Caribbean as well as in New Netherland, although they were prosecuted there too after attempting an uprising. Puritans are said to be a more religious and cultural movement, but numerous Puritan thinkers have influenced the New World and they are an influential religious minority in Massachusetts particularly.