Say it loud: I’m a Luddite and proud
DONNACHA DELONG wishes members would stop denying they are Luddites. It’s something to be proud of.
One of the most common insults thrown at the union is that we’re all Luddites — opposing technological change because of our innate conservatism and fear.
We always respond: “Of course we’re not Luddites, we like technology, we just want to ensure that this so-called progress is not used to undermine professionalism, wages and our terms and conditions.”
We should stop saying this — not the part about liking technology, but the part about saying we’re not Luddites.
Nedd Ludd’s gang of angry artisans were not conservatives and were not opposed to technology. Like us, they were opposed to the way machines were being used to destroy wages, conditions and the professionalism they brought to their trade.
The Luddites were one of the most important influences on the development of the trade union movement.
Their tactics — sabotage and destruction of the new machinery — was an extreme response to extreme circumstances.
Within a few years of the introduction of machinery to the textile industry of the early 19th Century, the artisans and their guilds had all but disappeared, replaced by the brutal sweatshops of the industrial revolution.
The Luddites’ actions were taken in the context of rising food prices, depressed trade caused by the wars of the time and government-imposed trading restrictions.
This was in a time without the safety net of social welfare, where unemployment and poverty meant being sent to the workhouse or worse.
As trade unionists, we need to remember and celebrate our history. Without the radicals of the 19th Century, we would very likely not have seen the explosion in union organising 100 or so years ago.
To see the name of our forefathers as an insult that we have to deny, is an insult to those upon whose shoulders we stand.
We need to declare that, like the Luddites, we will stand in solidarity with our fellows until the entire industry ensures proper payment for quality work.
I’m proud to call myself a Luddite — as proud as I am of also being a technophile.
New Media Luddites Unite!