luddism

LUDDISM

THE DARK SIDES OF HYSTORY

What was luddism?

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the concept

Luddism was a workers' protest movement, developed at the beginning of the 19th century in England, characterized by the sabotage of industrial production. Machinery such as the mechamical loom, intriduced during the industrial revolution, was in fact considered a threat by wage workers, because it caused low wages and unemployment.

The name of the movement derives from Ned Ludd, a young man, perhaps who never really existed, who in 1779 destroyed a loom in protest. Ludd became a symbol of the desctruction of industrial machinery and was transformed in the collective imagination into a mythical figure: General Ludd, the protector of workers oppressed by the bosses and shocked by the industrial revolution.

the

Today the term Luddism refers to all forms of struggle against the introduction of the new machines and, by extension and with denigrating intent, all workers' resistance to technological change.

'Progress is not pursued to build beautiful factories, but to make beautiful people. What is the use of progress if it makes poor;slaves,dead? Capitalism is not progress, it is the exploitation of a class on the entire planet'

What was the historical basis of Luddism?

New scientific knowledge has further contributed to this change. These changes led to an increase in economic well-being and the birth of a productive bourgeoisie, while the rural population moved to the cities in search of work, giving rise to the working class.

The First Industrial Revolution, which occurred between 1780 and 1830, mainly involved the textile and metallurgical sectors, with the introduction of new technologies such as the steam engine which made production faster and more efficient. Great Britain was the country that started the process of industrial revolution in Europe, thanks to favorable conditions and the economic stability generated by the trade of colonial products.

This led to the construction of proletarian suburbs characterized by precarious sanitary conditions. Despite the difficulties of the proletarian suburbs, the industrial revolution led to a demographic increase due to better living conditions in the city compared to the countryside. This process of change was long and complex, influenced by historical, economic and social events which included improvements technologies, changes in social and economic structure and urban transformations.

Luddites were active especially between 1811 and 1817. The first action of which we have certain news was in 1811, when hundred men attacked a yarn factory in Nottingham. They considered machines a threat to their lives (alienation)

Accoring to historian Edward Palmer Thompson, Luddism was the last act of the workers after the failure of all means allowed by law.

Most of the cases of Luddism or any case of contenstation of the social consequences and economic revolution took place in Britain. The year after the attack on the William Cartwright's factory, a mass trial was held which ended with thirteen death sentences.

In fact, the English governement had introduced the Framebreaking bill: the death penalty for the destruction of a machine. Only Lord Byron had dared to publicly contest in the House of Lords this criminal law, but nobody had listened to him.

In 1813, George Mellor, one of the few captured Luddite captains, was hanged. Other people suffered the same fate later and so, due to harsh repression suffered, the movement had a period of stagnation, only to explode again in 1816 in conjuction with the economic crisis.

An episode occurred on 16 August 1819 when in Saint Peter's Fields, near Manchester, the army charged a peaceful demonstration of 50000 people, causing elevent deaths and about five hundred injuries. Outside the United Kingdom, one of the most famous revolts occurred in Vienna in 1819 against the Jacquar loom.

"The stricker is a worker who has become aware of his exploited condition and deliberately faces struggle and ever greater sacrificies, in order to claim his rights"