Published Saturday, March 29, 2008 by Peter Richards
John Lilburne is a name that deserves to live in the future, not only to be remembered as a champion of liberty but also as one of the very first libertarians of England and indeed the world. In his own day, he was described as a Leveller, a term he did not like. He usually preceded it with words like "falsely so called" or "commonly (though unjustly) styled" to make his point. As one historian points out, "Lilburne always coupled liberty and property. Freedom to live unrestricted entailed freedom to possess: no passionate defender of the rights of individual could argue otherwise. It was 'liberty and propriety,' not 'communitie and levelling,' for which the Levellers stood."
(Original Text)
John Lilburne: The First English Libertarian (14.93 MB)