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The main concern of the luddites was not "technology = bad" like most popular caricatures of them, but that their livelihood was obliterated by the first wave of factory owners taking all the profits that were previously shared with the workers for themselves. Really they were pushing in the same direction as those who today are calling for machine taxes or UBI.



Ehhh I'd argue they had more in common with socialists/communists, they were literally destroying the means of production in worker solidarity to improve their condition and bargaining ability. Marx even refers directly to the situation of the guilds in industrialization.

The belief is that new means of production should be embraced, owned, and operated by workers to benefit the many and not just the few exploitative capitalists (which are those who own means of production).

Instead of exploiting lay-offs and long shifts, and disregarding safety to save the capitalist money, the factory would instead be built and operated for the benefit of workers and society, prioritizing safety and sharing shorter shifts among a larger workforce to preserve jobs.

From a socialist/communist perspective machine taxes and UBI are like cheap bribes to avoid the issue and preserve the exploitative system in place. The luddites probably would have felt the same had they been offered a pity sum or machine tax from factory owners to "offset" their condition.




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