The Luddite Uprising

1811–1816 CE — British Isles, Britain

Today: Northern England

As industrial machines threw skilled textile workers out of their trades, bands of English weavers calling themselves 'Luddites' smashed the machines by night — and were crushed, some hanged, by a government that made machine-breaking a capital crime. They were not fools afraid of technology; they were skilled people watching their livelihoods vanish with no safety net. They were not fools afraid of the future; they were skilled workers watching their livelihoods vanish with no safety net beneath them.

Worth knowing: 'Luddite' is now an insult for someone who fears technology — but the real Luddites weren't anti-machine; they were skilled workers demanding a fair share of the wealth the machines created, and the state hanged them for it.

Pattern: Labor displacement — A new technology destroys and creates work faster than institutions and people can adapt, producing dislocation and backlash.

Entry 182 of 240 in Precedent, a walk through the whole human story in order.