Trying to keep up with the speed of progress

Mal Pope is a songwriter who co-produced the film Jack To A King, about the 10-year rise of Swansea City FC

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HAVE you ever heard of the Luddites?

In the 1700s Lancashire mill owners introduced new spinning machines into their factories meaning they were able to employ fewer, lower skilled, lower paid workers.

Finding their jobs at risk or the prospect of having to accept lower wages, ‘skilled’ workers took to destroying the machines that were replacing them.

The Luddites didn’t always turn straight to violence. Often they would write to the mill owners threatening direct action often signing the letter as coming from ‘Ned Ludd; a legendary apprentice who was said to have destroyed two stocking frames in 1779.

And it wasn’t just mill workers who took this type of direct action. In the early 1800s agricultural workers took to destroying threshing machine which they saw as destroying their livelihoods and their way of life.

Of course the mill owners and large land owners reacted doing whatever they needed to protect their machines and profits. These guys weren't messing around either; up to 12,000 government troops were sent into areas of Luddite activity with many suspected Luddites shot on sight.

Soon laws like the Protection of Stocking Frames Act 1788 were passed with penalties including transportation to penal colonies or execution. The government wanted to make an example of those protesters challenging the authorities. It is thought up to 60 Luddites were hanged for their ‘crimes’

These days the term ‘Luddite’ is used for anyone opposing new technology. Many historians argue that these workers weren't actually against new machines making their lives easier, what they were protesting about was having their wages cut or losing their jobs completely.

Of course history keeps repeating itself with new ideas or machines wiping out some industries almost overnight.