These days, calling someone a “Luddite” probably means that they’re still holding out against getting a cell phone or high-speed internet. At the height of the Industrial Revolution, however, the word meant everything from labor unrest to terrorism to holding onto a dying way of life. The Luddites were textile artisans who destroyed the mechanical looms that were taking away their jobs and the factories that used them.
Salt Lake Acting Company’s upcoming free reading of Keith Reddin’s “Prophets of Nature,” scheduled for Feb. 15 at 7 p.m., tells the story of one of the many clashes between Luddites and factory workers. Historically, these started in 1811, when “General” Ned Ludd and a group who called themselves the “Army of Redressers” began sending threatening letters and attacking factories over the looms and the hiring of unskilled labor to run them. In the first three-week period hundreds of pieces of equipment were destroyed, and special constables were called to protect the factories. Despite this, the violence continued to spread to other cities, and lives were lost during one of the most serious attacks.
In Feb. 1812 Parliament proposed that machine-breaking be made a capital offense. Though Lord Byron (shown at right) argued against it the new law was passed, leading to more than 20 executions of men who had been involved with various attacks. After 1812 the violence occurred only sporadically, and by 1817 the Luddites were officially over as a movement.
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