1 00:00:02,840 --> 00:00:06,840 Speaker 1: On March eleventh, eighteen eleven, authorities broke up a demonstration 2 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:10,680 Speaker 1: of workers who were rallying for better wages and workplace conditions. 3 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:15,160 Speaker 1: That night, the demonstrators smashed knitting machines at a nearby factory. 4 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:19,280 Speaker 1: It's recognized as the first Luddite protest. So this seems 5 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:22,320 Speaker 1: like a good time to re share our episode on 6 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:26,040 Speaker 1: the subject, which is also an old favorite. That's enough 7 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:27,720 Speaker 1: of a favorite that I made a tag on our 8 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:32,559 Speaker 1: website called smashing Things to include it. At the end 9 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,880 Speaker 1: of this episode, which originally came out in As We said, 10 00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: we talked about how many employees Instagram has. Instagram has 11 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:45,160 Speaker 1: of course been acquired by Facebook since that time, so uh, 12 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:50,440 Speaker 1: that number maybe not accurate anymore, but the comparison still 13 00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 1: pretty much the same. Welcome to stuff you missed in 14 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:07,759 Speaker 1: history class from how Stop Works dot com. Um, Hello, 15 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:11,039 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy B. Wilson and 16 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: I'll fry and today we have a listener request from 17 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: Anna one that I had a little trouble finding information 18 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 1: about not for the usual reason, No, for an unusual 19 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:26,440 Speaker 1: but funny reason. Yes, the usual reason is that something 20 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: is either obscure or so long ago that everything is contradictory. 21 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:35,680 Speaker 1: This one was difficult because many many people use the 22 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:39,919 Speaker 1: word Luddite to mean like some obstinate, foot draggy person 23 00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:44,160 Speaker 1: who doesn't want to adopt the new technology. Um. And 24 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:46,520 Speaker 1: and many of the articles that use the term that 25 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 1: way also include just enough Luddite history that it gets 26 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: tagged that way, and all the databases and so researching 27 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 1: about the Luodites means that you have to wade through 28 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:58,640 Speaker 1: all kinds of stuff about people not wanting to fancy 29 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 1: your phones or new technology geez or like some you know, 30 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:05,920 Speaker 1: new massively open online course thing, all kinds or I 31 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: myself have called myself a lodite when I have to 32 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:11,680 Speaker 1: call someone on the phone instead of texting them, like 33 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:15,520 Speaker 1: some kind of bloodite. Yeah, it's one of those words. 34 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 1: It's been kind of co opted into modern slang. And 35 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:21,480 Speaker 1: I think because it sounds inherently funny, just because of 36 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: the construction of the word. Um, that's why people love 37 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:29,079 Speaker 1: it so much. Yes, and while there was an anti 38 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 1: technology piece to the Loodite rebellion, that's not really what 39 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:37,240 Speaker 1: it was about. It's one small element of a much 40 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:40,919 Speaker 1: bigger picture. Right the the idea that that Ludites were 41 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: just anti machine zealots who dragged their feet against progress 42 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:48,920 Speaker 1: and went around smashing things is not really the whole 43 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 1: picture at all. So that's what we're going to talk 44 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 1: about today, and thanks to Anna for suggesting it. So 45 00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: the Leoodite Uprising was a series of protests in Northern 46 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:04,200 Speaker 1: Land in which workers smashed machines in mills and factories. 47 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:09,840 Speaker 1: So this wasn't the first organized violence against machinery, and 48 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:12,680 Speaker 1: England wasn't the only place where people took to breaking 49 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 1: machines to try to protest something. But the Luddites are, 50 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 1: of all the machine breakers, the most famous ones and 51 00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: the really the only ones whose name became synonymous was something. Yeah, 52 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:27,639 Speaker 1: we've talked about it even a little bit in another podcast. 53 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,680 Speaker 1: We talked about it in the Sewing Machine podcast. The 54 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: word sabotage comes from the word for shoe subo, which 55 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: got thrown into things. But the Luddites are exactly what 56 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:41,560 Speaker 1: you said. They have become completely synonymous with this anti machinery, 57 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:45,240 Speaker 1: violent hatred for it when it's not, you know, not 58 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: so much what it was about. So, yeah, this was 59 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: taking place we should contextualize in the early nineteenth century, 60 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 1: so it's towards the end of the Industrial Revolution. The 61 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:57,600 Speaker 1: American War for Independence was still a pretty recent memory, 62 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 1: and the Napoleonic Wars between England and France had been 63 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:02,600 Speaker 1: going on for a while. So in England money was 64 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 1: really tight. Times were pretty hard, and food was becoming 65 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:10,360 Speaker 1: scarce and expensive, and the French Revolution was also in 66 00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 1: the very recent past, so the people in charge were 67 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 1: more anxious than usual about the idea of poor people 68 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:18,839 Speaker 1: rising up against rich people. It was a time of 69 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:23,040 Speaker 1: general unrest and mistrust right and the War of eighteen 70 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 1: twelve was looming at this point. So in addition to 71 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:29,800 Speaker 1: no longer trading with France, England also wasn't trading with 72 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:33,840 Speaker 1: the young United States, and the textile industry was really 73 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:37,280 Speaker 1: suffering as a result. The increased work that was coming 74 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:40,680 Speaker 1: from putting clothing on soldiers was not making up for 75 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: the drop in trade. Uh And in addition, trade unions 76 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:49,360 Speaker 1: had been outlawed by the Combination Acts of seventeen eighteen hundred, 77 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:51,920 Speaker 1: so people were not allowed to band together to try 78 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:54,400 Speaker 1: to get an increase in pay or a decrease in hours, 79 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:58,040 Speaker 1: or to strike. The penalty was jail time or hard labor, 80 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:00,680 Speaker 1: and if you gave some money to somebody who had 81 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 1: been convicted to help them out, you could actually be 82 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: fined for your charitable inclination. On top of the legal 83 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:11,279 Speaker 1: issues with unionizing, when labor disputes came up, there wasn't 84 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:13,880 Speaker 1: always some kind of central place to go in protest 85 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: or to raise concerns. Um Some larger factories had been built, 86 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:21,280 Speaker 1: but a lot of aspects of textile work we're still 87 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:24,720 Speaker 1: really a cottage industry. So when people were doing their 88 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:26,839 Speaker 1: work at home or in a small mill that was 89 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:29,440 Speaker 1: operated by just a couple of people, there wasn't really 90 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:33,359 Speaker 1: one juggernaut of an employer where people could go in 91 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:36,640 Speaker 1: petition for change. So when you're a knitter working out 92 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:38,760 Speaker 1: of your home, you can't really just have a picket 93 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:41,000 Speaker 1: line of one out in your front yard. I mean 94 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 1: you could, but it would not be a very effective 95 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:45,919 Speaker 1: form of protests, so we wouldn't probably make the statement 96 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:48,680 Speaker 1: you were aiming for. No. Uh and machines get a 97 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:51,120 Speaker 1: lot of the spotlight in the Ladite uprising, but the 98 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:55,159 Speaker 1: mechanization in question had really started a full two hundred 99 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 1: years earlier, when William Lee invented the stocking frame. And 100 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:01,840 Speaker 1: this was a machine that many people feared would put 101 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: traditional knitters out of work. The concern was great enough 102 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:08,839 Speaker 1: that Queen Elizabeth the First actually denied lea patent and 103 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:12,160 Speaker 1: outlawed the frames production, saying quote, I have too much 104 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:14,520 Speaker 1: love for my poor people who obtained their bread by 105 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 1: the employment of knitting, to give my money to forward 106 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:20,080 Speaker 1: an invention that will tend to their ruin, which is 107 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,160 Speaker 1: a lovely sentiment on her part. A lot of her 108 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:27,160 Speaker 1: successors shared this sentiment and continued to support traditional production 109 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:30,839 Speaker 1: over machine production. But by the turn of the nineteenth century, 110 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:34,560 Speaker 1: manufacturers are starting to defy the law and mechanize anyway. 111 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,359 Speaker 1: At first, workers took a legal course of action, and 112 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:41,200 Speaker 1: they raised money to lobby Parliament to try to keep 113 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:45,640 Speaker 1: mechanization illegal, but their efforts failed, and Parliament repealed the 114 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:48,000 Speaker 1: laws that were on the books in eighteen o nine. 115 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 1: But the stocking frame, along with other improvements, ultimately allowed 116 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:56,440 Speaker 1: the textile industry to grow, and in terms of overall numbers, 117 00:06:56,480 --> 00:06:59,560 Speaker 1: it created more jobs than it eliminated in the very 118 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:03,080 Speaker 1: long But in the short term people were losing their jobs, 119 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: and at the same time, mechanization had sparked a number 120 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 1: of disputes over wages and working conditions and the quality 121 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:12,800 Speaker 1: of work, and these disputes were really at the heart 122 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:16,160 Speaker 1: of the Luddite complaints. A good example of the wage 123 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:20,920 Speaker 1: issue came from the manufacture of wool cloth. Before mechanization, 124 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:25,040 Speaker 1: skilled laborers called croppers would use tools, some of which 125 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:28,280 Speaker 1: weighed about fifty pounds, to smooth out the surface of 126 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:32,360 Speaker 1: the wool. This required both strength and skill, and so 127 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:35,920 Speaker 1: experienced croppers could demand higher wages than a lot of 128 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:40,080 Speaker 1: other textile workers could. But when cropping machines were invented, 129 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 1: traditional croppers weren't needed anymore, and the other jobs that 130 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: were being created required less skill and therefore paid less money. 131 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 1: So as cropping machines became widespread, many croppers just wound 132 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 1: up unemployed. They also had a reputation for being unsavory 133 00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:58,480 Speaker 1: and rowdy, and the croppers made up some of the 134 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:12,120 Speaker 1: most violent Luddites. Conditions in newly opened factories were very 135 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:15,640 Speaker 1: often really not what you would categorize as ideal, and 136 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 1: many of them. Workers were required to live in dormitories, 137 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:21,360 Speaker 1: and those spaces were very cramped intended to be dirty. 138 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:24,360 Speaker 1: People would have their pay docked for all kinds of 139 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:28,880 Speaker 1: really seemingly insignificant infractions, and the hours were really long 140 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:32,080 Speaker 1: and the work was really tedious, so it while it 141 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:33,800 Speaker 1: may have given you a living wage, it was not 142 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:36,319 Speaker 1: a very enjoyable life that you were leading at that point. 143 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 1: And then there's the question of quality. Framework knitters, for example, 144 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:44,959 Speaker 1: had been making garments entirely on frames, so to make 145 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 1: stockings they would use the frame to knit a tube 146 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:52,200 Speaker 1: of material. But new mechanization and manufacturing techniques were making 147 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:54,880 Speaker 1: it possible to cut garments out that used to be 148 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:56,840 Speaker 1: made on the frame out of a large piece of 149 00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:59,960 Speaker 1: cloth and then stitched them together. These were known as 150 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:03,440 Speaker 1: cut ups, and they required less skill to make, and 151 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:05,800 Speaker 1: the workers and a lot of other people really perceived 152 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:08,440 Speaker 1: them to be of much lower quality than things that 153 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:11,160 Speaker 1: had been made as one piece. And that's still the case, 154 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 1: you know, and Coultur work things that are actually certified 155 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:18,480 Speaker 1: as Coultur, Like there are lace pieces that are no seams, 156 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:20,559 Speaker 1: and then if there's a lot of seeming and piecing, 157 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:24,040 Speaker 1: it's seen as less So it's still a consistent mindset 158 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:26,920 Speaker 1: about how things are assembled. In terms of textile workers 159 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:29,679 Speaker 1: were really angry about the decline and quality I mean people, 160 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:33,079 Speaker 1: the wages and the living conditions get a lot of attention, 161 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:36,400 Speaker 1: but there was a lot of anger about Okay, now 162 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:38,880 Speaker 1: this is less good work. Why are you making us 163 00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:41,360 Speaker 1: do work that's not as good? Yeah, they didn't want 164 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:44,400 Speaker 1: their industry to go downhill. Uh. And workers didn't like 165 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:46,840 Speaker 1: that that the people were being employed in the garment 166 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:50,000 Speaker 1: industry that weren't apprenticed first. So it factors into that 167 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:53,480 Speaker 1: whole quality issue. Uh. This practice was known as culting, 168 00:09:53,559 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: and the quality of the work was poor in part 169 00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:58,480 Speaker 1: because people weren't actually trained to do it. They hadn't 170 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:01,360 Speaker 1: gone through that apprenticeship period to learn their trade. They 171 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:04,840 Speaker 1: just got put in the factory floor. So while the 172 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:08,880 Speaker 1: Luddites have a reputation for being anti machine, and a 173 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:12,360 Speaker 1: hallmark of the Luddite uprising was smashing machines to bits, 174 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:15,880 Speaker 1: it wasn't the machines themselves that were the problem. The 175 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:18,760 Speaker 1: Luodites were fine with machines as long as the people 176 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:21,280 Speaker 1: using them were trained to do it well and safely, 177 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:24,640 Speaker 1: and had fair wages and working hours, and as long 178 00:10:24,679 --> 00:10:27,839 Speaker 1: as the introduction of machines wasn't erasing more jobs than 179 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:32,000 Speaker 1: it created or cranking out poor quality kids. There were 180 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 1: many trades people who took part in the Laddite protests, 181 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:38,440 Speaker 1: but croppers, hand loom weavers and knitters, who were the 182 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:41,560 Speaker 1: ones most affected by mechanization at the time, were the 183 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:45,880 Speaker 1: most prominent. Exactly which workers were at the forefront varied 184 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:49,200 Speaker 1: based on which trades were most practiced in any particular area. 185 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:52,920 Speaker 1: From the second chapter of Charlotte Bronte's novel Surely, which 186 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 1: was published about forty years later and was set during 187 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:58,880 Speaker 1: the Ledite uprising, quote, it would not do to stop 188 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:03,000 Speaker 1: the progress of invention, to damage science by discouraging its improvements. 189 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:06,480 Speaker 1: The war could not be terminated. Efficient relief could not 190 00:11:06,559 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 1: be raised. There was no help then, So the unemployed 191 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:13,040 Speaker 1: underwent their destiny, ate the bread and drank the waters 192 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:17,600 Speaker 1: of affliction. Misery generates hate. These sufferers hated the machines 193 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:20,160 Speaker 1: which they believed took their bread from them. They hated 194 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:23,960 Speaker 1: the buildings which contained those machines. They hated the manufacturers 195 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:28,640 Speaker 1: who owned those buildings. So that's the context for the 196 00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:33,400 Speaker 1: protest which started on March eleventh, eighteen eleven. That's when 197 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:37,000 Speaker 1: protesters in Nottingham got together to demand better wages and 198 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:40,000 Speaker 1: British troops had to break up the demonstration, but the 199 00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:43,839 Speaker 1: protesters didn't just go home peacefully once they had been dispersed. 200 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:46,560 Speaker 1: That night, they broke into a factory in a nearby 201 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:50,200 Speaker 1: town and smashed all the machines. Although the name Luddite 202 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:53,480 Speaker 1: hadn't been coined yet, history generally marks this as the 203 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:57,880 Speaker 1: first Luddite protest, and from there, operating under cover of night, 204 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:02,200 Speaker 1: people smash machines in factory ease and sometimes even set 205 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:05,560 Speaker 1: factories on fire as part of their demonstrations. There wasn't 206 00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:08,679 Speaker 1: a lot of local law enforcement at the time. Towns 207 00:12:08,679 --> 00:12:11,319 Speaker 1: didn't really have a police force to call on, so 208 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:13,839 Speaker 1: most of the response wound up coming from the military 209 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:17,359 Speaker 1: and from the owners of the mills, who armed themselves 210 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:20,760 Speaker 1: and hired men to help defend their property. By January 211 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:24,240 Speaker 1: of eighteen twelve, protests were occurring pretty much every night, 212 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:27,560 Speaker 1: and they spread to Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. 213 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:31,280 Speaker 1: From there they moved to Leicestershire and Derbyshire, and the 214 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:35,359 Speaker 1: government dispatched three thousand troops to try to stop these protests. 215 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:39,040 Speaker 1: For a sense of what was going on at these incidents, 216 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:43,440 Speaker 1: here's an example of a reward poster from January twelve 217 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:47,320 Speaker 1: which offered two hundred pounds for knowledge about a frame 218 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:52,520 Speaker 1: breaking incident, Whereas on Thursday night last, about ten o'clock, 219 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:56,280 Speaker 1: a great number of men armed with pistols, hammers and 220 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:59,959 Speaker 1: clubs entered the dwelling house of George Ball Framework, net 221 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:04,559 Speaker 1: of Linton, near Nottingham, disguised with masks and handkerchiefs over 222 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:07,920 Speaker 1: their faces and in other ways. And after striking and 223 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:12,360 Speaker 1: abusing the said George Ball, they wantonly and feloniously broke 224 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:16,520 Speaker 1: and destroyed five stocking frames standing in the workshop, four 225 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:20,160 Speaker 1: of which belonged to George Ball, and one frame forty 226 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:24,720 Speaker 1: gauge belonging to Mr Francis Breathwaite Hosier, all of which 227 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:29,280 Speaker 1: we're working at the full price. The poster also a 228 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:33,160 Speaker 1: test that workman Thomas Rue, John Jackson and Thomas Naylor 229 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:36,360 Speaker 1: were working on the frames at the time, being paid 230 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:39,880 Speaker 1: and had no complaint with either George Ball or Francis Breathwaite. 231 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:44,080 Speaker 1: Soldiers started raiding houses and they were setting ambushes to 232 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:47,760 Speaker 1: try to stop these protests, and Parliament saw machine breaking 233 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:50,280 Speaker 1: is such a threat to Northern England that it made 234 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:54,200 Speaker 1: machine breaking a capital crime Among this law's detractors in 235 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:57,000 Speaker 1: Parliament was Lord Byron, whose first speech in the House 236 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,160 Speaker 1: of Lords was against the death penalty for machine break. 237 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:02,200 Speaker 1: I just want to take a moment to note here 238 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:04,760 Speaker 1: that we had gone from the Queen saying that she 239 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:07,480 Speaker 1: would not allow machines to be made because it was 240 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:10,600 Speaker 1: taking the livelihood of poor people too. If you break 241 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:13,600 Speaker 1: a machine, we will hang you. That is that is 242 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:17,560 Speaker 1: the spect the trajectory we've gone through rather rapidly. Right. 243 00:14:17,679 --> 00:14:22,360 Speaker 1: So violence escalated, with protesters and factory people taking shots 244 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:25,760 Speaker 1: at one another. When Luddites were killed during demonstrations, they 245 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:29,600 Speaker 1: would retaliate by killing the mills owners. April of eighteen 246 00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:34,040 Speaker 1: twelve was a particularly bloody month in Manchester. A mill 247 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:36,840 Speaker 1: owner ordered his men to fire into a crowd of 248 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:41,320 Speaker 1: protesters who were threatening his factory's machines. At least three 249 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:45,040 Speaker 1: people died and eighteen were wounded. The next day, soldiers 250 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:49,479 Speaker 1: killed at least five more people. On April eleven, William Cartwright, 251 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:52,640 Speaker 1: who was owner of Rawford's mill, fortified the mill with 252 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:55,320 Speaker 1: things like iron bars and a vat of acid to 253 00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:58,840 Speaker 1: pour on protesters. He had been appointed as a constable 254 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:01,560 Speaker 1: to supplement the army in the militia about a month before, 255 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:04,480 Speaker 1: and he gathered soldiers and attacked a group of about 256 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:07,720 Speaker 1: a hundred protesters who were approaching the mill. Two of 257 00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:10,760 Speaker 1: the protesters were killed. This protest was one of the 258 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:14,840 Speaker 1: most prominent events in the Luddite uprising in the West Riding, 259 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:17,680 Speaker 1: and it was one of the inspirations for Charlotte Bronte's 260 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:22,080 Speaker 1: novel Shirley, which we quoted from earlier. On the twenty April, 261 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:25,560 Speaker 1: William Horsefall, a manufacturer who had boasted that he would 262 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:29,120 Speaker 1: ride up to his saddle in Luddite blood, was killed 263 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:33,240 Speaker 1: in an ambush. Joseph Radcliffe, a magistrate, called in more 264 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:36,160 Speaker 1: troops to fight the protesters and put the area under 265 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:40,600 Speaker 1: martial law. Radcliffe was eventually given a baronetcy for his 266 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:44,240 Speaker 1: work during the Ledite riots. In spite of the presence 267 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:46,800 Speaker 1: of troops for much of the Ludite riot riots, it 268 00:15:46,840 --> 00:15:49,760 Speaker 1: was hard for officials to get things under control. The 269 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:52,640 Speaker 1: Luddites were doing most of their machines smashing at night 270 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:55,800 Speaker 1: while masked, and they usually had the support of the 271 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 1: local people, so a lot of times they were protected 272 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:01,200 Speaker 1: from the legal force as who were hunting them down 273 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:05,440 Speaker 1: and Although the movement was relatively coordinated, there wasn't one 274 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:09,960 Speaker 1: central leadership that the army could find and capture to 275 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:19,720 Speaker 1: put an end to the whole thing. By May of 276 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:23,640 Speaker 1: eighteen twelve, fourteen thousand, four hundred troops had been sent 277 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:27,200 Speaker 1: to fight these riots. The military force in England became 278 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:30,000 Speaker 1: bigger than Wellington's army in Portugal, and it was far 279 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:33,480 Speaker 1: bigger than any military force ever used to fight domestic 280 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:38,400 Speaker 1: unrest in England. As the protest escalated, Loodites were arrested 281 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:40,920 Speaker 1: and tried, with the courts trying to make an example 282 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:45,120 Speaker 1: of the people who were on trial to discourage further protests. 283 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:51,760 Speaker 1: Bloodites were sentenced to prison, transported to Australia, or hanged. Eventually, 284 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:56,320 Speaker 1: Benjamin Walker, William Thorpe, Thomas Smith, and George Miller confessed 285 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:59,880 Speaker 1: to being involved in the murder of William Horsfall. Walker 286 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,680 Speaker 1: earned King's evidence and the other three men were hanged 287 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:07,160 Speaker 1: the following January. Another man, William Hall, turned King's evidence 288 00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:11,280 Speaker 1: in both the Horsefall investigation and the investigation into the 289 00:17:11,320 --> 00:17:15,080 Speaker 1: attack on Rawford's mill, and he betrayed sixteen other Luddites 290 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:17,760 Speaker 1: to the Crown. When the defendants were tried and the 291 00:17:17,840 --> 00:17:21,280 Speaker 1: Rawford's Mill attack. The jury didn't even adjourn for deliberation. 292 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:24,440 Speaker 1: They talked about among themselves for a moment before delivering 293 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:29,000 Speaker 1: a guilty verdict against eight defendants. In May of eighteen twelve, 294 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:32,359 Speaker 1: several defendants were tried at a special commission in Lancashire, 295 00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:36,160 Speaker 1: but none of them on charges of machine breaking. Most 296 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:39,240 Speaker 1: of the charges were for food riots, arson and making 297 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:43,359 Speaker 1: illegal oaths. Even so, eight people were sentenced to death 298 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:47,879 Speaker 1: and seventeen were sentenced to transportation to Australia. Seven others 299 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:50,600 Speaker 1: were sentenced to prison. The courts weren't the only ones 300 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:53,080 Speaker 1: trying to frighten the protesters and to staying in line. 301 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:56,320 Speaker 1: Leaders of the movement were also using scare tactics of 302 00:17:56,359 --> 00:17:59,560 Speaker 1: their own. In some areas, Luddites took an oath that 303 00:18:00,119 --> 00:18:03,240 Speaker 1: they reveal Luddite secrets, they would be quote sent out 304 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:05,679 Speaker 1: of the world by the first brother who shall meet me, 305 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:09,800 Speaker 1: and my name and character blotted out of existence, never 306 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:14,280 Speaker 1: to be remembered, but with contempt and abhorrence. So people 307 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:16,919 Speaker 1: were reluctant to blow the whistle on Luddites that they 308 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:19,920 Speaker 1: knew either because of genuine support for the movement, or 309 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:25,080 Speaker 1: because they feared the retribution indicated in that oath. In 310 00:18:25,119 --> 00:18:28,080 Speaker 1: the summer of eighteen twelve, General Thomas Maitland came to 311 00:18:28,119 --> 00:18:31,480 Speaker 1: put the rebellion down. He offered pardons to people who 312 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:34,760 Speaker 1: renounced Luddism and money to the people who informed on 313 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:39,160 Speaker 1: other protesters. Since the light activities were really happening at night, 314 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:42,320 Speaker 1: he ordered the troops to fight them at night. Soldiers 315 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:46,640 Speaker 1: broke up meetings and imprisoned protesters, and anonymous person sent 316 00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:49,879 Speaker 1: Maitland a letter that that September detailing a number of 317 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:52,960 Speaker 1: public houses where Luddites met, and there were of course 318 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:56,840 Speaker 1: raids followed by arrests. As a consequence. Sixty four men 319 00:18:57,040 --> 00:19:01,320 Speaker 1: stood trial at York Castle in eighteen thirteen. Seventeen were 320 00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:05,400 Speaker 1: executed for machine breaking, twenty five were sent to Australia 321 00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:09,960 Speaker 1: for giving or receiving illegal oaths. Twenty two were acquitted 322 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:13,560 Speaker 1: or released on bail, and that's when the Luddite rebellion 323 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:16,919 Speaker 1: really started to dissipate. The peak of the Luddite activity 324 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:20,879 Speaker 1: was in eighteen eleven and eighteen twelve, but protests continued 325 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:25,680 Speaker 1: until eighteen sixteen. The textile industry continued on its path 326 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:29,040 Speaker 1: of mechanization, and the rebellion failed in all of its aims. 327 00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:33,080 Speaker 1: It didn't stop mechanization, It didn't save people's jobs or wages. 328 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:36,879 Speaker 1: It didn't reverse the trend of manufacturers making lower quality goods. 329 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:40,800 Speaker 1: It didn't change working conditions in fledgling factories. They really 330 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:42,920 Speaker 1: failed on all accounts, and many of them lost their 331 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:46,199 Speaker 1: lives doing it. Yes, and yet while the protest was 332 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:49,119 Speaker 1: still a failure, and you know, it wasn't the first 333 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:53,080 Speaker 1: riot like this in history, the Luddite name has lasted 334 00:19:53,119 --> 00:19:56,719 Speaker 1: for two hundred years, unlike all of the other machine 335 00:19:56,760 --> 00:20:00,640 Speaker 1: breaking incidents. Uh, the word Luddite, as we said earlier, 336 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:04,159 Speaker 1: became synonymous was something that relates to, although is not 337 00:20:04,359 --> 00:20:08,600 Speaker 1: exactly the same as what the original protest was all about. Today, 338 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:11,199 Speaker 1: there's also a neo Luddite movement that centers on the 339 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:14,639 Speaker 1: idea that technology's central place in our lives is damaging 340 00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:18,520 Speaker 1: some of this linguistic staying power, maybe thanks to the 341 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:22,000 Speaker 1: flare for lack of a better word, that the Luddites 342 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:25,840 Speaker 1: put into their protests. They were so passionate, and it's 343 00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:28,840 Speaker 1: such an it's an image that's so easy to conjure 344 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:32,399 Speaker 1: in your mind of someone smashing a machine, tibits that 345 00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:36,360 Speaker 1: it just naturally people make the association, and it's yeah, well, 346 00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:38,919 Speaker 1: and then rather be rather than being an unruly smash 347 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:42,280 Speaker 1: and grab mob. They targeted which mills to go after, 348 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:45,400 Speaker 1: and then they disguised themselves to do so. And they 349 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:49,320 Speaker 1: also wild disguised did military style drills on the moors 350 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:53,359 Speaker 1: at night. And they communicated through secret hand signals, using 351 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:56,920 Speaker 1: gestures to send messages and identify one another, as well 352 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:00,479 Speaker 1: as conveying poems and songs to each other. You can 353 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:04,040 Speaker 1: still find a lot of the lyrics to these online. Uh. 354 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:07,760 Speaker 1: The name came about through the mythic character of ned Lud, 355 00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:10,960 Speaker 1: also known as Captain Lud, General Lud, or King Luod. 356 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:14,200 Speaker 1: The first known use of this name in the context 357 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:17,439 Speaker 1: of the protests came in November of eighteen eleven. It 358 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:20,960 Speaker 1: probably stems from an incident that allegedly took place twenty 359 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:23,960 Speaker 1: two years before, when an apprentice whose last name was 360 00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:28,080 Speaker 1: Lud or Ludlum smashed a stocking frame in rage after 361 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:31,160 Speaker 1: being told to square his needles. So his name kind 362 00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:35,119 Speaker 1: of stuck and became the name of this mythic leader 363 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:38,159 Speaker 1: of the movement, even though he had nothing to do 364 00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:40,439 Speaker 1: with it. He had nothing to do with it, and 365 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:43,760 Speaker 1: there was no Luod leading the riots when they actually happened. 366 00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:48,439 Speaker 1: The story spread and this fictionalized Luod became the face, 367 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:52,119 Speaker 1: though invisible, of the movement. King Lud become a became 368 00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:55,480 Speaker 1: a mythic figure who, just like Robin Hood, lived in 369 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:59,240 Speaker 1: Sherwood Forest of all places, and he wrote taunting letters 370 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:03,600 Speaker 1: from his office us there, all of which was fictional. Yeah. Uh. 371 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:07,480 Speaker 1: The Ladites were also quotable. In one protest, the Ldites 372 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:10,400 Speaker 1: were using giant sledge hammers to break them to break 373 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:14,480 Speaker 1: machines in Yorkshire. They named these these hammers Great Enoch, 374 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:17,159 Speaker 1: after Enoch Taylor, who ran the firm that made the 375 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:20,760 Speaker 1: sledge hammers and also owned the machines that they were destroying. 376 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:24,639 Speaker 1: They had a rallying cry of Enoch made them, Enoch 377 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:29,840 Speaker 1: will break them. And they also protested in dresses um 378 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:33,000 Speaker 1: and called themselves General Lud's wives when they did this 379 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:37,280 Speaker 1: just sort of an odd image of these men in 380 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:41,879 Speaker 1: drag with giant hammers, chanting and destroying things. Well, and 381 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:44,440 Speaker 1: all these things together kind of made it a protest 382 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:47,159 Speaker 1: that had character, which I think is one of the 383 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:49,840 Speaker 1: reasons that it has more staying power in people's minds 384 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:53,840 Speaker 1: than some of the other machine breaking protests. A lot 385 00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:57,920 Speaker 1: of the Leadites who evaded capture were really deeply reluctant 386 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:01,639 Speaker 1: to talk about it for years after because they feared punishment. 387 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,280 Speaker 1: This may also have added to this air of mystery 388 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:09,040 Speaker 1: about it. Although around the eighteen seventies, as many of 389 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:12,400 Speaker 1: the Luddites reached their very later years, some of them 390 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:15,639 Speaker 1: did start start to tell their stories and revive some 391 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:20,560 Speaker 1: of the Luddite lore. So today a Luddite wouldn't say 392 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:22,960 Speaker 1: something along the lines of I don't want an iPhone 393 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:26,520 Speaker 1: more like and admittedly this is something of an Apple's 394 00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:30,240 Speaker 1: to Oranges comparison, uh, they would make between Kodak, which 395 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:34,679 Speaker 1: employed one and forty thousand people, in Instagram, which employs 396 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:38,240 Speaker 1: about a dozen, or the way newspapers have fallen in 397 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:41,480 Speaker 1: the face of the Internet becoming so popular and accessible. Yeah, 398 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:45,000 Speaker 1: or just this morning, um, I saw an article that 399 00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:48,520 Speaker 1: was correlating the rise and capital expenses on things like 400 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:52,920 Speaker 1: robots and technology and a drop in paying actual human 401 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:56,560 Speaker 1: labor as a global trend having gone on since the 402 00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:58,720 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties. That is the sort of thing that would 403 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:01,800 Speaker 1: lead to a neo lud I protest today more so 404 00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:07,919 Speaker 1: than I don't want the latest operating systems, no new things. 405 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:15,040 Speaker 1: King Leod may rise again. So yes, that is the 406 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:18,920 Speaker 1: story of the Luddite movement. Different than people probably suspect 407 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:22,520 Speaker 1: in any way. Yes, definitely different than the colloquial use 408 00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:25,440 Speaker 1: of Luddite. Well, and I think some people associate them 409 00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:28,280 Speaker 1: with and this is completely wrong, of course, the Amish. 410 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,080 Speaker 1: I think there was a I mean, I've had people 411 00:24:31,119 --> 00:24:32,800 Speaker 1: say that when I'm like, we're going to talk about 412 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:35,360 Speaker 1: the Luodites. Were they like the Amish? Not at all? 413 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:40,359 Speaker 1: Really not really, we really didn't have a problem with 414 00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:48,560 Speaker 1: machines if the machines were used. Well yeah, thank you 415 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:52,240 Speaker 1: so much for joining us for this Saturday classic. Since 416 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:54,320 Speaker 1: this is out of the archive, if you heard an 417 00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:56,840 Speaker 1: email address or a Facebook U r L or something 418 00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:00,520 Speaker 1: similar during the course of the show, that maybe obs eleape. Now, 419 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:04,639 Speaker 1: so here's our current contact information. We are at History Podcasts, 420 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:06,640 Speaker 1: at how Stuff Works dot com, and then we're at 421 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,119 Speaker 1: Missed in the History. All over social media that is 422 00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:14,640 Speaker 1: our name on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Instagram. Thanks 423 00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:19,000 Speaker 1: again for listening for more on this and thousands of 424 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:28,119 Speaker 1: other topics. Is it how stuff works? Dot com