The Law of Freedom in a Platform, or True Magistracy Restored is a six-chapter book (described in the English of the time as a 'pamphlet') published in 1652 by Gerrard Winstanley, a participant in the Diggers movement. In the book he argued that, under a Christian basis for society, private property should be abolished. In keeping with Winstanley's adherence to biblical models, the tract envisages a communist society, establishing the beginnings of modern Christian socialism. Background Following the Second English Civil War and subsequent execution of Charles I, in April 1649, Gerrard Winstanley joined the Diggers in squatting George's Hill, where they established an intentional community and attempted to "lay the foundation of making the earth a common treasury for all". When the settlement was broken up by Thomas Fairfax, Winstanley, as the movement's chief theoretician, began to draw from his experiences with Diggers and turned it into a series of writings. His works intended to advocate a new form of government for the nascent Commonwealth of England, but he put aside most of his scattered writings for two years. In June 1651, Hugh Peter published Good Work for a Good Magistrate, in which he proposed a series of reforms to the newly established Commonwealth of England, such as poverty relief and expanded access to education. After the battle of Worcester, the victory of Oliver Cromwell brought with it as a series of state reforms, carried out by Hugh Peter himself, causing many radicals such as Winstanley to take up his challenge of proposing reforms. The book was released on 20 February 1652, with a dedication to Cromwell, whom Winstanley hope to persuade on his proposals for a new government. The manuscript fell into the hands of several different publishers, who released unattributed and heavily censored excerpts, which removed its more radical communistic tracts, in favour of the sections on law reform and government. On 21 April 1652, Oliver Cromwell read one of these edited texts and reportedly sympathised with some of the proposed reforms. Content Basing his arguments in Christian scripture, as well as his own reason and experience, Winstanley argued that many of the reform programs that were circulating didn't go far enough in completely abolishing the remaining institutions of monarchy. Winstanley considered the fall of monarchy to be inevitable, that if governments did not overthrow it, then divine intervention would, citing Daniel 7:25, Revelation 12:14 and Revelation