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This is a list I'm building of Luddite-like behavior. Want to add an example? Leave a comment! (Luddite-like behavior here defined as situations where workers fight a new tech because of impact to their livelihood.)
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Anti-Tech (Monarch feared job loss)
Weak/none (appeal by lone inventor; weavers unorganized)
Success: Patent refused – “would…bring them to ruin by depriving them of employment”. Machine not adopted in her reign.
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Pro-Tech: Authorities deployed army forces to suppress the weavers’ “insurrection”.
Local: Dozens of bands of weavers rioted across the city, destroying the new looms.
Partial Success: Riot was crushed, but mechanization in Spitalfields was delayed ~100 years as a result.
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Neutral (limited state response)
Localized (guild-based)
Partial Success – Occasional concessions; periodic bans on new frames
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Pro-Tech (no protection for inventor)
Local (mob of spinners)
Partial: Angry spinners broke into Hargreaves’ house and “pulled his spinning-jennys to pieces”, forcing him to relocate. Short-term disruption, but spinning jenny prevailed in use.
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Technology prevailed: The destruction caused losses, but manufacturers rebuilt; mechanization of wool production continued.
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Pro-Tech (authorities present but ineffective)
Local/regional (mob ~4,000)
Partial: A mill Arkwright built “was destroyed by a mob in the presence of a strong force of police and military”. Production was restored elsewhere; machine-spinning continued to spread.
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Technology prevailed: The factory was destroyed, but the power loom was soon adopted widely. Weavers’ wages continued to fall as mechanized mills prospered.
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Tech stalled (temporarily): The printing press was rebuilt by 1824 under reformers. Traditional scribes lost their bid to halt print—by the mid-19th century, printed books were commonplace.
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“Bread or Blood” Riots (East Anglia, 1816) – Jobless farm workers riot, destroy mole-ploughs
Neutral/Pro-Tech (magistrates eventually cracked down)
Localized (several counties)
Partial Success – Temporary relief (wage aid); ultimately riots suppressed
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East Anglian Protests (England, 1822) – Farm labor unrest including machine-breaking. “Bread or Blood” Riots continuation
Neutral (local authorities slow to respond)
Localized (regional protests)
Failure – Scattered riots faded; no lasting change in mechanization trajectory
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Pro-Tech: Troops and constables intervened; after a few rioters were arrested “in the dead of night,” the unrest was quelled. The government refused to mandate the wage relief weavers sought.
Widespread (Regional): Uprising of ~1,000 weavers spread over three days; over 1,000 power-looms were destroyed in attacks on 21 mills.
Failure: The riots ended with dozens of weavers shot or arrested; no lasting protections were won (power looms continued to proliferate, and only a token wage was offered privately, termed a “starvation” wage).
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Pro-Tech (machine introduced by authorities)
Local (river sand diggers)
Partial: Traditional sand dredgers “destroyed a machine recently installed to dredge sand” (testimony from trial). The new dredger was wrecked and manual jobs briefly preserved, but mechanized dredging was eventually adopted later.
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Technology prevailed: This was one of the final machine-breaking riots in England. Afterward, British workers turned to new tactics (unions, strikes). The Coventry mill was rebuilt; power-loom weaving continued to expand, ending the handweaving trade.
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Technology prevailed: The destruction of the mill temporarily set back mechanization, but within years steam-powered factories spread across Catalonia. The Spanish army and police repressed the 1835 uprisings, and industrialization resumed, albeit with ongoing labor strife.
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Neutral/Pro-Tech (state had granted patent & contracts)
Local (French tailors’ guild members)
Partial: A mob of tailors destroyed inventor Barthélemy Thimonnier’s factory of 80 sewing machines, fearing “the end of their trade”. Thimonnier fled and the venture collapsed, delaying adoption. (Within a decade, sewing machines reappeared in the US/UK.)
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Plug Plot Riots (Britain, 1842) – General strike; workers pulled steam-engine plugs to halt mills
Pro-Technology (troops broke strikes; Chartists arrested)
Widespread (multi-industry strike in industrial towns)
Failure – Short-term factory stoppages; demands (wages, voting rights) largely unmet as government repressed activists
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Pro-Tech (Prussian army intervened)
Local (spontaneous town riots)
Failure: Weavers smashed machinery and looted manor houses, but Prussian troops shot and killed protesters. The revolt was suppressed; factory power looms continued to replace cottage handweaving.
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Pro-Tech (Heath government and courts pressed to end strike)
Widespread (TGWU dockworkers, Shop Stewards Committee)
Partial Success: Facing 20,000 job losses from container freight shift, dockers struck and even defied court orders. They won short-term concessions: unionized dock labor was extended to some new container depots (preserving jobs at facilities like Chobham Farm via a deal to “take on registered dockers” and phase out lower-paid staff). However, this victory was temporary – by the 1980s the Dock Labour Scheme was abolished and jobs eventually declined.
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Mixed: The strike ended with minor concessions but no removal of automation. GM continued adopting robotics and eventually cut thousands of jobs. In the long run, automation “won” as Lordstown’s workforce dwindled and the plant closed in 2019, though the unrest did spark a national debate on humane work and helped galvanize the 1970s labor movement.
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Widespread (national union)
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Pro-Tech (Thatcher government backed Murdoch)
Widespread (Fleet Street print unions – NGA, SOGAT, etc.), 6000 workers
Failure: Print unions struck 54 weeks to block Rupert Murdoch’s new computerized newspaper plant. Murdoch fired 6,000 striking printers and moved production to Wapping with 670 new workers using direct-input word processing. The strike collapsed; it was a “lengthy failed strike” that broke union power and ushered in modern printing technology across UK papers.
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Picket/protest at branch
Neutral/Supported (USPS implemented tech)
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Union-organized protests
Neutral (government/business ignored calls)
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Protest rally (picketing central bank)
Central Bank denied intent; union petitioned govt
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Compromise: The government negotiated with taxi associations, including offering them stakes in BRT operating companies. Despite early violence, the BRT system continued expanding. Many minibus owners eventually integrated or competed on parallel routes. The BRT survived (tech “won”), but the unrest forced authorities to phase it in more slowly and include taxi industry compensation.
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Court injunction ordering negotiations
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Wildcat strike (refusal to work)
Management threatened pay cuts/fines
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Widespread (Maritime Union)
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Public picketing (sidewalk)
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Violent attacks, demonstrations
City introduced regulations after protests
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Widespread (mass mobilization)
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Widespread (national forum)
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Widespread (ASLEF union)
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Widespread (taxi unions)
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Widespread (taxi unions)
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Road blockade (airport road)
Government later regulated apps; condemned protest violence
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Widespread (Unite Here, ~8k)
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Road blockades; clashes
Police used tear gas; fines and license suspensions for app drivers
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Widespread (rickshaw union)
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Existing 2018 law targeted Uber; Careem acquired by Uber
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Neutral: The conflict played out between the union and studios; government did not intervene in the labor dispute or mandate AI policy. (Some politicians voiced sympathy with writers, but no direct state action influenced the outcome – it was settled at the bargaining table.)
Widespread: Virtually the entire Writers Guild of America (over 11,000 film/TV writers) mobilized. In 2023 they launched a massive industry-wide strike for five months, making AI limits a core contract demand. This collective action was highly organized and garnered broad support from other unions and the public.
Success: The writers prevailed – the new WGA contract secured “historic protections” against AI in the writing process. Studios agreed that AI-generated material cannot be used to undermine writers’ credits or pay, and writers cannot be forced to adopt AI. This victory – unlikely to many at first – showed that strong labor action could set boundaries on a disruptive technology.
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Protest blockade (sit-ins, blocking machines)
Management crackdowns (threats of layoff)
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Local (auto-rickshaw guild)
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Neutral (federal gov. mediated, no support)
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Strike (extended work stoppage)
Opposed (ministries pushing automation)
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Widespread (taxi unions)
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Public campaign / threats
Neutral (federal govt. also prioritizes productivity)
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Street protests, hunger strike threat
Govt. formed committee, delayed/suspended project after protests
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Violent protests, roadblocks
Authorities suspended work pending review
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Anti-Tech (Sultan outlawed printing)
Widespread guild influence (scribes & scholars)
Success: Printing press banned for ~250 years (Muslim-populated regions). Tech adoption delayed until 18th c.
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Pro-Worker (Parliament backed wool/silk lobbies)
Strong lobbying by weavers
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Pro-Tech (no ban; inventor fled)
Local artisans (hand-loom weavers), loosely organized mobs
Partial: Kay was “mobbed and compelled to fly from Lancashire” due to his invention. His prototype destroyed, adoption delayed, but loom technology eventually spread.
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Neutral (authorities distracted by Revolution)
Local crowds (women-led, joined by hundreds of workers)
Partial: In one case “2,000 male workers…attacked the machine and set it alight” in Calvados (Nov 1788). Several such riots destroyed new spinning machines; mechanization paused amid revolutionary turmoil.