Luddite

The Luddites were a group of English workers in the early 1800s who protested (often by destroying machines) the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution that they felt threatened their jobs.

The original Luddites claimed to be led by one [Ned Ludd]?, also known as "King Ludd", who is believed to have destroyed two large stocking-frames that produced inexpensive stockings undercutting those produced by skilled knitters, and whose signature appears on a "workers manifesto" of the time. Whether or not Ludd actually existed is historically unclear.

The movement spread rapidly throughout England in 1811, with many wool and cotton mills being destroyed, until the British government suppressed them harshly (including making "machine breaking" a capital crime, and executing 17 men in 1813).

The terms and Luddism, Luddite, (Also Neo-Luddism, Neo-Luddite) in recent years have become synonymous with anyone who opposes the advance of industrial technology.

For another historical point of view, see E. P. Thompson on Luddites.

See also Theodore Kaczynski, Unabomber

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