The Diggers were a radical community-action group of activists and Street Theatre actors operating from 1966 to 1968, based in the

Haight-Ashbury Haight-Ashbury () is a district of San Francisco, California, named for the intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets. It is also called The Haight and The Upper Haight. The neighborhood is known as one of the main centers of the counterculture ...

neighborhood of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. Their politics have been categorized as "

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

"; more accurately, they were "community

anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...

" who blended a desire for freedom with a consciousness of the community in which they lived.''Contemporary Authors Online'' (2002) Gale, Detroit The Diggers' central tenet was to be "authentic," seeking to create a society free from the dictates of money and

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...

. The Diggers were closely associated and shared a number of members with the guerrilla theater group San Francisco Mime Troupe. They were formed out of after-hours Mime Troupe discussions between Emmett Grogan,

Peter Coyote Peter Coyote (born Robert Peter Cohon; October 10, 1941) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author and narrator of films, theatre, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films such as ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), '' Cro ...

Peter Berg Peter Berg (born March 11, 1964) is an American director, producer, writer, and actor. His directorial film works include the black comedy ''Very Bad Things'' (1998), the action comedy ''The Rundown'' (2003), the sports drama '' Friday Night Lig ...

, and Billy Landout. They fostered and inspired later groups like the

Yippies The Youth International Party (YIP), whose members were commonly called Yippies, was an American youth-oriented radical and countercultural revolutionary offshoot of the free speech and anti-war movements of the late 1960s. It was founded on D ...

Origins

The Diggers took their name from the original English Diggers (1649–1650) who had promulgated a vision of society free from buying, selling, and private property. During the mid- and late 1960s, the San Francisco Diggers organized free music concerts and works of political art, provided free food, medical care, transport, and temporary housing and opened stores that gave away stock. Some of their events included the Death of Money Parade, Intersection Game, Invisible Circus, and Death of Hippie/Birth of Free.

Activities

The group sought to create a mini-society free of money and

. One of the first Digger activities was the publishing of various broadsides, which were printed by sneaking into the local

Students for a Democratic Society Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s, and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships ...

office and using their

Gestetner The Gestetner is a type of duplicating machine named after its inventor, David Gestetner (18541939). During the 20th century, the term ''Gestetner'' was used as a verb—as in ''Gestetnering''. The Gestetner company established its base in Londo ...

printer. The leaflets were eventually called the Digger Papers, and soon morphed into small pamphlets with poetry, psychedelic art, and essays. They often included statements that mocked the prevailing attitude of the counterculture promoted by less radical figures like the Haight-Independent Proprietors (HIP),

Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...

, and

Richard Alpert Ram Dass (born Richard Alpert; April 6, 1931 – December 22, 2019), also known as Baba Ram Dass, was an American spiritual teacher, guru of modern yoga, psychologist, and author. His best-selling 1971 book '' Be Here Now'', which has been d ...

. The first paper mocked the acid community, saying "Time to forget because flowers are beautiful and the sun's not yellow, it's chicken!" They rarely included authors' names, though some had pseudonyms like "George Metevsky," a reference to the "Mad Bomber"

George Metesky George Peter Metesky (November 2, 1903 – May 23, 1994), better known as the Mad Bomber, was an American electrician and mechanic who terrorized New York City for 16 years in the 1940s and 1950s with explosives that he planted in theaters, ter ...

. The Digger Papers originated such phrases as "Do your own thing" and "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." After some HIP members tried to find out who the Diggers were, Grogan and Landout responded with a telegram: "REGARDING INQUIRIES CONCERNED WITH THE IDENTITY AND WHEREABOUTS OF THE DIGGERS; HAPPY TO REPORT THE DIGGERS ARE NOT THAT." The 1% Free poster, showing two Chinese

Tong Tong may refer to: Chinese *Tang Dynasty, a dynasty in Chinese history when transliterated from Cantonese *Tong (organization), a type of social organization found in Chinese immigrant communities *''tong'', pronunciation of several Chinese char ...

assassins under the Chinese character for revolution, was thought to be demanding a 1% tithe from merchants, but that was not the case. The poster was a challenge, implicitly suggesting that 'free' people were the minority, and inciting others to step up. They threw free parties with music provided by the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane and other bands. They also staged street theater events, such as driving a truck of semi-naked

belly dancers Belly dance (Egyptian Arabic: رقص بلدي, translated: Dance of the Country/Folk Dance, romanized: Raks/Raas Baladi) is a dance that originates in Egypt. It features movements of the hips and torso. It has evolved to take many different f ...

through the

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...

, inviting brokers to climb on board and forget their work. On December 17, 1966, the Diggers held a happening called "The Death of Money" in which they dressed in animal masks and carried a large coffin full of fake money down Haight Street, singing "Get out my life, why don’t you babe?" to the tune of Chopin's "Funeral March" (or "Death March"). This was a precursor to the happening "The Death of Hippie," staged in October 1967, in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. Masked participants carried a coffin with the words "Hippie—Son of Media" on the side. This event was meant to mark the end of the hippie era of Haight-Ashbury. The event was staged so as to make any media outlet that simply described the happening to unintentionally transmit the Diggers' message that Hippies were a media invention. This was called "creating the condition you describe". The Diggers skillfully used this technique for media relations.

Free stores, food, medical care

The Diggers opened numerous

free stores Give-away shops, freeshops, free stores or swap shops are stores where all goods are free. They are similar to charity shops, with mostly second-hand items—only everything is available at no cost. Whether it is a book, a piece of furniture, a ...

in Haight-Ashbury which offered discarded but usable items, free for the taking or giving. The first free store was in a six-car garage on Page Street that they found filled with empty picture frames; they tacked these up outside the building and called it the Free Frame of Reference. The Diggers provided free food service in the Panhandle of Golden Gate Park every day at four o'clock, feeding about 100 people with a stew from donated meat and vegetables that was served from behind a giant yellow picture frame, also called the Free Frame of Reference, which people were required to step through before being served. This was superseded by the Trip Without a Ticket on Frederick Street. It was unclear how the stores were funded. The Diggers also opened a free medical clinic, initially by inviting volunteers from the University of California, San Francisco medical school up the hill from the neighborhood. The free food and medical clinics were immediate responses to conditions caused by the enormous influx of young people during the heyday of the hippie scene, conditions that the San Francisco government was ignoring.

Digger Bread

The Diggers also popularized

whole wheat bread Whole wheat bread or wholemeal bread is a type of bread made using flour that is partly or entirely milled from whole or almost-whole wheat grains, see whole-wheat flour and whole grain. It is one kind of brown bread. Synonyms or near-synonym ...

: their Digger Bread was baked in coffee cans at the Free Bakery in the basement of Episcopal All Saints Church on 1350 Waller Street. In cooperation with All Saints Church and later via the

Haight Ashbury Switchboard During the " hippie" period 1967–1968 in San Francisco, an individual named Al Rinker started an organization located at 1830 Fell St in the city's Haight Ashbury district called the Switchboard. Its purpose was to act as a social switchboard f ...

at 1830 Fell Street, they arranged free "crashpad" housing for homeless youth drawn to the Haight-Ashbury area.

Leaving San Francisco

Running soup kitchens and medical clinics, however, was not the authentic, long-term concern of the Diggers' founders. After passing those institutions on to a local church and David E. Smith to continue, the Diggers moved out of the city, creating various land bases in California, including Forest Knolls, Olema, Covelo, Salmon River,

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

, and

Black Bear Ranch Black Bear Ranch is an 80-acre intentional community located in Siskiyou County, California, about 25 miles from Forks of Salmon. It was founded in 1968, with the watchword "free land for free people". It has been considered by some participant ...

. There they integrated with other groups — The Free Bakery, the Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers, and the Gypsy Truckers — creating The Free Family. That larger group still exists informally, and many of the Diggers' children and grandchildren remain in contact with one another, and many are still involved with progressive causes.

Division of labor

The Diggers' division of labor between men and women has been criticized as sexist, with male members primarily forming ideas while female members were tasked with most of the practical work to realize these ideas. For instance, in providing free food, the men socialized and promoted the events, while the women did most of the collecting, cooking and serving. Decision-making in the organization was controlled by male Diggers, who either came up with or took credit for new ideas, while female Diggers, who provided much of the organization's income via welfare checks and social assistance, were sidelined. This stratification "typifies prefeminist-era radicalism in the sixties."

In media

Various alternative communities like those of the Diggers were covered in a feature-length documentary film by

Will Vinton William Gale Vinton (November 17, 1947 – October 4, 2018) was an American animator and filmmaker. Vinton was best known for his Claymation work, alongside creating iconic characters such as The California Raisins. He won an Oscar for his wor ...

, later known for his ClayMation studio in Portland, Oregon. This early-1970s documentary (1974 according to one source) was titled ''Gone for a Better Deal'', but it has never been released in any video format. Haight-Ashbury Golden-Gate park poet

Ashleigh Brilliant Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant (born 9 December 1933) is an English-born American author and cartoonist. He is best known for his ''Pot-Shots'', single-panel illustrations with one-line humorous remarks, which began syndication in the United State ...

, later known for his ''pot-Shots'' epigrams, has released a CD of his songs and parodies about "life in the Haight," including two songs about the Diggers. A fictionalized version of the Diggers was featured in Haleh Roshan's play ''Free Free Free Free'
''Dramatists Play Service'', accessed 16 May 2022

References

Books

* Coyote, Peter. ''Sleeping Where I Fall: A Chronicle'' 1998 * Grogan, Emmett. ''Ringolevio: A Life Played for Keeps'' Little Brown, 1972 *Martin, Bradford D. ''The Theater is in the Street'' 2004 *Perry, Charles. ''The Haight-Ashbury: A History'', Random House/Rolling Stone Press, New York, 1984 *Sinclair, Mick. ''San Francisco: A Cultural and Literary History'' Signal Books Limited, Oxford, UK 2004 *Torgoff, Martin. ''Can't Find My Way Home: America in the Great Stoned Age 1945–2000'' 2004

External links

The Digger Archives Home Page
excerpts from ''Sleeping Where I Fall''.
The Diggers Mystique – San Francisco Chronicle article, 23 January 1967; reproduced in UK Underground paper International TimesDiggers/Communications Company collection 1966–1968. Collection guide, California State Library, California History Room.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diggers (Theater) 20th century in San Francisco Defunct anarchist organizations in North America Far-left politics in the United States Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco Hippie movement New Left