![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Luddite.jpg/640px-Luddite.jpg&w=640&q=50)
Luddite
Member of an 1810s English anti-textile-machinery organisation / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Luddism?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
The Luddites were members of a 19th-century movement of English textile workers who opposed the use of certain types of automated machinery due to concerns regarding decreased pay for textile workers and a perceived reduction of output quality, and often destroyed the machines in organised raids.[1][2] Members of the group referred to themselves as Luddites, self-described followers of "Ned Ludd", a mythical weaver whose name was used as a pseudonym in threatening letters to mill owners and government officials.[3]
![]() | A request that this article title be changed to Luddism is under discussion. Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed. |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Luddite.jpg/640px-Luddite.jpg)
The Luddite movement began in Nottingham, England, and spread to the North West and Yorkshire between 1811 and 1816.[4] Mill and factory owners took to shooting protesters and eventually the movement was suppressed by legal and military force, which included execution and penal transportation of accused and convicted Luddites.[5]
Over time, the term has been used to refer to those opposed to industrialisation, automation, computerisation, or new technologies or even progress in general.[6]