AHC: Earlier European Socialism or Communism

Socialist ideas have existed long before the 19th century but it took until then before it started becoming a serious threat to the old order. There were sporadic movements such as the Diggers and Levellers in Puritan England, but they petered out. '

Modern-style socialism evolved among the harsh conditions of early industry and growing anticlericalism. Could a socialist movement have gained political power in a European country (bonus points for a major power) well before then? I imagine any time before the printing press would be out of luck because the monarchies and the Catholic Church could suppress it much easier.

Any form of socialism can fit, from social democracy to utopian socialism to something resembling Marxism-Leninism. Before anyone asks, it does NOT need to be secularist to complete the challenge. You can make a society based on the economic ideas of Luke and Acts if you want (as one example), so long as it is plausible.
 
I've toyed with the idea of the socialist potential of the Peasant's Revolt in the 14th century, but I'm not clued up enough about it to be sure...

I think one of the problems lies in the spreading the right ideology with the peasants. Though I guess each individual village wouldn't be too far off of being able to come together as a commune or a collective, if my understanding of the period is correct, then there was a lot of rivalry between villages (they might sometimes raid one another for whatever reason - or so I've heard). You need to somehow creating more unity between them against their rulers. You also need at least some kind of prospect that them working together would increase their material wealth or enhance their freedoms, which is hard to do in a pre-industrial state where concepts such as rights and liberty are alien to the uneducated masses.
 
Babouvisme (from its main leader, Gracchus Babeuf)could had a greater sucess than OTL.
It was basically the direct ancestor of OTL socialism, merging the necessity of a strong faction and with a communalist program with the overall context of French Revolution.
 
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