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The primary document we used in our research of the Luddites was a scholarly article written by Richard Conniff titled “King Ludd’s War”. The document was written in 2011, and it started out with modern day references to the term “luddite”. Conniff compared a modern day Luddite, someone who refuses to use new technology such as cell phones or the internet, to the original Luddites of the 19th century. Along with presenting factual evidence and well-explained tactics, Conniff also clarified in his article the true purpose of the Luddites: to rise out of poverty. His article explained beautifully that the Luddites were not necessarily crazy people who were scared of technology, but rather just extremists who had nothing to lose and everything to gain by protesting for their jobs back. His article was written in an easy to understand tone, yet it supplied us with the most important information to use in our write-up. Well done, Mr. Conniff!

Conniff, Richard. "King Ludd's War." //Smithsonian// 41.11 (2011): 82. //MasterFILE Complete//. Web. 17 Apr. 2013.

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The Luddites are a group of people bent on removing labor-saving machinery from the world. While we are not totally sure where the name originated, we have started to speculate that they named themselves after a man named Ned Ludd, supposedly a young man who defaced two stocking frames 30 years before the Luddite movement became popular. Their main stomping grounds are Nottingham, West Riding of Yorkshire, and Lancashire and they mainly focus on nearby textile factories that are becoming more and more automated. From what I’ve heard, they started becoming recognized around 1811, and have been terrorizing towns and destroying machinery left and right. It’s surprising to think that they feel they can enact real change in the heat of the Industrial Revolution. Some would say that they live in the dark ages; however, they would say that they are trying to keep their comrades in work, and not constantly being replaced by machines. What they don’t realize is that speed is what powers the world now, and machines are what will get us enough speed to make England a real industrial powerhouse.

The first protest held by this abominable group was on March 11th in Nottingham. This demonstration was purely verbal to begin with- full of the usual, crazy ranting of a group of hooligans. That same night, a smaller collection of angry men snuck into the village textile factory and smashed several pieces of advanced textile machinery. Apparently this irate tactic has proven influential, for over the past few months, physically destroying the machinery that is replacing these men in the factory line has spread like wild fire over a 70-mile area in the northern part of England. Some extremists have even begun to set fire and destroy entire factories to express their distaste for the new technology! If we ever want to pull our country out of current economic recession, we must put an end to these violent protests. So far, the English government has responded with several tactics of their own in the form of protection and defense of textile factories in the northern part of the country. Thousands of soldiers are on duty in front of every factory in virtually every town.

In fact, the Luddites have “inflicted less violence than they [have] encountered” (Conniff). On several different occasions, protestors have been severally injured or even killed by these soldiers. Recently, Parliament passed a law making machine-breaking a capital offense entitled “industrial sabotage” so that they could arrest the physically-unharmed protestors. I’m sure you will applaud the British government for this. The perpetrators are now being caught and tried for their crimes and, undoubtedly, heading straight to prison. Speaking of prison, there was recently a mass trial in York where 60 men were charged with industrial sabotage. In general, the prosecutors got a little bit over zealous and began charging men who never had any involvement in the movement, or so I’ve heard around the street. But no matter, this trial and others like it will definitely prevent further Luddite activity and the progress of the Industrial Revolution may continue unscathed. As a result of these events, I have begun to see a drop off in Luddite activity.

Our harsher punishment is a major weakness of the Luddites, because they simply cannot combat the power of England. One major problem, however, is that our approach to fixing the problem is not practical; the Luddites do not hate technology nor are they inexperienced in the field. They just simply do not want to be replaced in their work place by these machines. These deprived folk could not care less about being put in jail when they struggle every day to feed their families. In other words, they will do anything in their power to rise out of their impoverished lives. This hope, determination and drive are the Luddites greatest strength right now. The British Army has often tried to squash this movement with violence. Once, it is said that the Luddites even got the better of the British Army. While this information strikes me as scandalously false, we cannot afford to underestimate them. While relatively small, they often have the support of locals from the towns that they infiltrate- most likely disgruntled, lower class, former factory workers. However, it seems to me that many people are against the progress of the Industrial Revolution and the Luddites are only giving them an outlet for their anger. People used to think this would blow over quickly, but with the kind of support they are receiving, that may not be possible. We must extend a hand to pull all citizens of our great nation out of poverty; if we can assure the Luddites that they will no longer need to worry about money woes, they will surely stop these mad outbreaks.