Why did the Luddites choose machine-breaking (i.e., sabotage) as their means? Because, under the conditions of early industrial capitalism, manufactories were small and scattered through different regions, making large-scale strikes impractical. Eric Hobsbawm called it "collective bargaining by riot." And they did win wage and usage concessions and reduction in food prices that they could not have won otherwise. See Kevin Binfield, ed., _Writings of the Luddites_ (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004): <http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/kevin.binfield/luddites/LudditeHistory.htm>. -- Yoshie
* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> * Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/> * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * OSU-GESO: <http://www.osu-geso.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>