The Luddites: Machine-Breaking in Regency England

by Malcolm I. Thomis

This work aims to place Luddism within the context of machine-breaking as a long-established practice of industrial relations, and to assess its role within the many movements of social protest that were occurring in this period. The causes, aims and organization of Luddism are examined.

Genres: History

196 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

An extra star is awarded here because of the openly dismissive attitude towards some source material. For example, 'he was garrulous and quite a stupid man.' Fantastic! Surely the historians of today can learn a lesson or two.

[Alex Myers · Rating 1 out of 5]

Exquisitely boring. The author spent too long chewing over simple points and belaboring the obvious.

[David Warner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Useful corrective to the Marxist and socialist interpretations of Luddism, which posit a homogeneous working class revolutionary movement as the reason for machine breaking in the northern countries in 1811 to 1816, instead revealing how the Luddites were far from united and were lacking in central control or even communication networks, but instead were the implementers of regional and local outbreaks of violence, the nature and targets of which were determined by the particular circumstances of the times in the specific cloth and lace-making industries.
Luddism in the declining cutting, frame-working, and knitting trades was a product of economic hardship and wartime industrial depression, and in no way inspired by political motives or any working class political movement, let alone being the manifestation of working class consciousness, or of a distinct, qualifiable and quantifiable, homogeneous working class with its own recognisably working class culture. The Luddites were working people in economic hardship turning to violence as a last measure to attain satisfaction of their grievances, which, whatever the ethics and justification of the means, were entirely understandable and legitimate in their aims.
By placing Luddite machine breaking and associated violence not specific to machines in its particular historical circumstances, Malcolm Thomis has rescued the Luddites from the abstractions of sociological theory, and provided in his analysis a clear explanation of a non-cohesive, dispersed, and far from widespread movement that by focusing upon machinery as a symbol sought to address the distress caused by low wages and fears of industrialisation and unemployment through the application of physical force against those industrialists felt to be most responsible. As such, this monograph is to be admired for its neutrality and impartiality, its absence of psuedo-scientific hypothesising, and its clear and coherent writing, providing an accessible and historically cogent analysis of what Luddism was rather than what political agents or theorising ideologues might want it to be.

[Richard Klueg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Forced my way through 50 pages or so, could not take anymore. Historians making history boring is an egregious offense.

The main points seem to be that the Luddite movement was part of a more widespread social upheaval, that other social reformers tried to disavow any connection with them, and that the Luddites were not against technological progress per se. That's good to know, however unengaging the presentation, but I had little hope that the remaining 150 pages would add much more.

At least I got the book for free, from the curbside the day after the library book sale, so there's that.

[lukas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books is good for it's primary sources and general information about the luddites, but it's quite subjective and does not explore deeply enough various aspects of Luddite movement.

[Tom Calvard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very cautious but thorough historical account. As other reviews variously reflect, it's a mixture of at times being slightly slow and boring on finer points, but at others quite amusing as it tries to dismiss unreliable sources and get to the bottom of the story of the Luddites. The big remaining question mark for me was around their average age - men in their late teens, early twenties - which seems so young for such a movement overall...Despite them not having particularly revolutionary intentions, their legacy lives on today when we think of working conditions and riots.