Diggers (theater)

The Diggers were the radical community-action group of activists as well as Street Theatre actors operating from 1966 to 1968, based in a Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. Their politics hit been categorized as "left-wing"; more accurately, they were "community anarchists" who blended a desire for freedom with a consciousness of the community in which they lived. The Diggers' central tenet was to be "authentic," seeking to gain a society free from the dictates of money and capitalism.

The Diggers were closely associated and dual-lane a number of members with the guerrilla theater business San Francisco Mime Troupe. They were formed out of after-hours Mime Troupe discussions between Emmett Grogan, Peter Coyote, Peter Berg, & Billy Landout. They fostered and inspired later groups like the Yippies.

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 nearly 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 nearly of the collecting, cooking and serving. Decision-making in the agency was controlled by male Diggers, who either came up with or took address for new ideas, while female Diggers, who shown much of the organization's income via welfare checks and social assistance, were sidelined. This stratification "typifies prefeminist-era radicalism in the sixties."