Blood in the Machine

I ran across this book on Tech Won't Save Us podcast years ago. Being a modern "Luddite" in terms of being sick of the hyperconsolidation of money/power in the hands of a handful of billionaires/megacorporations and their reckless pursuit of growth at the expense of anything and anyone else I thought this book would resonate with me more. The pitched premise was that the Luddites weren't just anti-technology people that broke machines. They had real grievances and were more than just about stopping technological progress. That's what I was expecting. The book didn't really deliver that. It did deliver development of their actual grievances, mass starvations and destitution caused by the textile jobs being automated, the horrific factory conditions which owners at best turned a blind eye to, how it amplified the use of slavery, the government not lifting a finger to help the masses but using the full force of the military to tamp down resistance to industrial onslaught, et cetera. That wasn't a story completely unknown to me though. The little details I wasn't up to speed on, if I ever learned it. But I wanted to know about what the Luddites themselves did beyond the machine breaking, physical violence, and then ultimately murder. That part either wasn't developed or the story isn't as complex as pitched. There was some notions of slowing the development of the technology, which most factory owners didn't pursue so had their machines broken, or some minimum wage stuff. But a lot of that was pushed by adjacent movements not the core Luddite we were followed. The book does document those appeals at the Parliamentary level by these adjacent legislators and thinkers, some you've definitely heard of like Mary Shelley and Lord Byron. Those mostly didn't come to much either though. Maybe the problem was the pitch didn't match the history and therefore I was bound to be disappointed. It's not about being disappointed in the outcome but by the fact that after laying out the righteous anger it didn't show the pitched promise of the Luddite's solutions to the industrialization problem being ignored, they really didn't have them. I knew I'd be disappointed in the outcome since we know the industrialists won and further brutalized the masses into the 20th century, after which the brutalization was outsourced to the Global South. But that's like saying you are disappointed in Star Wars Episode III because the Jedi lose to the Empire. You knew what was going to happen.

If you are unfamiliar with this era or labor movement history then this book is a worthwhile read. If you were hoping, like I was, to get some more insight into the more nuanced positions of the Luddites I think you will leave disappointed. Much of the nuanced positions were being done by adjacent actors not the Luddites themselves. Those adjacent actors are explored as well but that's not the same thing. Perhaps Merchant is picturing the two movements as two wings, one more extremist than the other, of the same movement. Based on the reading of the book it sounds more like two different movements trying to address the same base problem.

Book review: Blood in the Machine, by Brian Merchant.

Chant no more your old rhymes about bold Robin Hood, His feats I but little admire. I will sing the achievements of General Ludd, Now the hero of Nottinghamshire.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a rare book which felt like it opened my eyes to something new; almost life-changing in some sense with the shift in perspective. The story of the Luddites and their fight to protect their way of life.

Nowadays of course, we think of a Luddite as a backwards, anti-technology person. Indeed, we use the word as an insult, to describe somebody who doesn't keep up with the times. But this is an excellent example of 'history written by the victors'.

The Luddites had a good, fulfilling way of life - they worked to their own schedule, they spent time with their families. They had a career for life, with progression guaranteed. They were weavers, knitters, stockingers, and the surrounding trades. Crucially, they relied heavily on technology to provide this way of life.

What they fought against was not technology, but automation and the factory system which allowed the new entrepreneurial class to rewrite the fabric of society - without their consent and against the laws of the time - in order to redistribute wealth into their hands. The technology which allowed the wealthy to deny them work and good wages, which forced them into a life of working for the benefit of the factory owners. In the words of the Luddite George Mellor, "a soul is of more value than work or gold."

The book gives a fascinating insight into a time of profound change, and compares it with our modern era where we can see many of the same patterns being repeated. The Luddites are written about with compassion and humanity, and Merchant gives them a respect and dignity which history has denied them.