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 Luddites: |
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Luddites are people who refuse to work with modern techniques and are against any technological innovation. Today, these are the ones without a television, without a computer, microwave oven and such, a personal way of life, and many modern Luddites can't do without these in their professional life. The name however dates back to the early 19th century England, when it was much more than a way of life. With the introduction of the machines, labourers were afraid to use their job and not only refused to work with these modern techniques, but also sabotaged them. There is a lot to these Luddites that is quote interesting for a steampunk setting. First of all, the Luddites were the labourers, and not the upper class. The fear of an engine taking over their work was the fear of being without work, which meant extreme poverty. By fighting the machines, they fought for their very own lives. By stating this, it will be clear that the Luddites were not just some rioters out to destroy machines. They were organised like a secret society, including secret oaths - if the boss knew who they were, they would loose their jobs anyway... However, the fear of loosing ones job might not have been the foremost reason to sabotage machines. It was more a threatening tool to the owners of the factories, a fact to put into any bargain: "if the working circumstances don't get better, we will destroy the machines". A very radical way of striking, but in a time when things got worse because political liberals no longer protected the labourers who had to cope with major changes in their work, very effective. There have been different ways of organisation of the Luddites. At first, it was all labourers joining in, with a strong social feeling for the sake of all. Later, only specialised teams of labourers did the actual job of destruction, but under the protection of the rest of the common community. Soon after, the more violent groups were joined by criminals who had no political reason to be with the Luddites whatsoever. Eventually, the army had to defend the factories against the Luddites. The idea of violence, poor labourers, and political interests fits in very nice with the classic punk. This way, the punk can make a powerful entry in the steampunk. It also involves directly steam-engines and political or trade intrigue. General LuddThe Luddites had a leader, who was a very mysterious person, which makes him excellent for the steampunk setting. General Ludd is his name, and he most probably did not exist - a thing he has in common with more evil people. Well, that is evil in the eyes of the owners of the machines, in more socialist perspective he must have been a hero of the common people. But he might as well have been a competitor, who used the Luddites to tackle his enemies in trade, under the cover of "doing something for the downtrodden masses".It is not strange that the title "general" is used for this person. He (or she, because General Ludd did not exist, you can have it both ways) must have been a leader. And not a leader like someone from the upper-class, because that would have made him "the enemy", but a more common person, who knew leadership and hard work, who could organise the "army of redressers" into an effective striking-squad. A common man, educated in the army, could do the job. A steampunk setting can use a mysterious, but real, General Ludd with his motivations to get the plot going. Political circumstancesAlthough Luddism is not a political movement as such, there are many political ideas involved.On one side, the circumstances in the factories changed. From manufactures, where people had to be skilled to work, they changed into machine-driven places, where the cheap, unskilled labourers (like children) just had to learn how to operate a machine. Skilled labourers feared for their jobs. At the same time, the effectiveness of wages went down, due to war-inflation. No one would fill the gap between an income and ever rising expenses. Unions were not available to help the labourers, nor was there anything like governmental charity. Politics were liberal. Basically, liberals think that all are equal and thus all equally capable of getting a good life if they want to. They think that the balance between the requests of the labourers and those of the factory-owners on the other side, will naturally and with common sense be established. The Luddites proved they were wrong, the balance was only reestablished with violence. © Yaghish 2003 Source of information: A dictionary of nineteenth-century history (Penguin) You have additions or discovered errors in this article? Please leave your comment in the forum. |
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