MACHINE-WRECKING for one purpose or another was by no
means new. The Spitalfields weavers had wrecked machinery even
in the seventeenth century, and wrecking had frequently recurred,
both accompanying strike action and independently. But these had
been isolated instances, symbolical acts of terrorism, while the
Luddites alone carried out a systematic campaign of machine-
wrecking. In this period (up to 1815) there were three Luddite
movements--in the Midlands, in Yorkshire, and in Lancashire
and Cheshire. They were only partially interconnected: the
grievances and motives were different, so that, apart from the
difficulties and dangers of communications, it is improbable that
there was much unity between the three groups. In the Midlands,
machinery was wrecked not because it saved labour, but because
certain new machines were used to produce goods of an inferior
quality, which, it was believed, had brought discredit on the industry
and loss of trade, and so had caused the deepening poverty of the
knitters. In Yorkshire, on the other hand, the motive was certainly
to prevent the spread of the shearing-gigs, on the ground that they
displaced labour. In Lancashire and Cheshire opposition to the
new labour-saving steam looms was mixed with protests against the
rise in food prices. In all districts secret drilling, midnight raids
by masked men, and a grim spirit of conspiracy encouraged the ruling-
class belief that revolution was being plotted. There was no such
plot, for though the source of the Luddite discontent and anger
was general, the aims of the movement were limited and particular.
The Government met the Luddites with a well-organised system
of spying, and passed an Act which made machine-wrecking punish-
able by death. Peace was restored with a savage hand; but later
outbreaks occurred as part of the general post-war unrest.

Luddism makes a vivid story, but, as far as its methods are
concerned, it lay outside the main currents of the development
of Trade Unionism.

See "Short History", Part I, chapter 4, section 1.
"Common People", chapter 15.

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