ABSTRACT
In the early nineteenth century the followers of Ned Ludd (according to some his name was actually Ludlum) smashed machinery in factories across Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, fearing that these new devices would destroy their jobs and livelihood. Whatever the justice of their cause and the truth of their contentions, they paid very dearly for their actions, being subsequently tried and hanged. However, in hindsight what is more striking than the savage way they were treated, common enough at the time unfortunately, is the marked futility of their attempt to stop the new technology of textile manufacture from radically altering the world, not only of textiles, but of industrial production at large. Ludd and his companions, we might say, were engaged in fighting the future, and so described this was a battle that was bound to end in defeat, as now seems obvious. Their major contribution to history, in fact, was to provide a name – Luddites – for all those who hopelessly and fruitlessly resist and oppose technological innovation.
