When Luddites Attack (Classic)

Planet Money

NPR

Business, News

4.6 • 29.8K Ratings

🗓️ 24 September 2021

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A couple centuries ago, a group of English clothworkers set out to destroy the machines that had been taking their jobs. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Planet Money from NPR.
0:04.0	Hey everyone, just a quick note.
0:08.6	Today's show is a rerun.
0:10.4	It originally aired in 2015.
0:13.4	Here it is.
0:14.7	On a Saturday night, about 200 years ago, a bunch of guys get together at a pub.
0:19.2	It's a place called The Shears Inn.
0:21.1	You can imagine it as dark, probably smoky.
0:24.0	These are big guys.
0:25.1	The drinking beer and they are not happy.
0:27.7	And then these guys put down their beers and pick up their weapons.
0:31.4	Some of them have pikes, these long spears.
0:33.8	Some of them may have rifles.
0:35.2	A lot of them definitely have sledgehammers.
0:38.1	These guys are followers of a mysterious general named Ned Ludd.
0:42.7	They are the Luddites.
0:44.0	Around midnight, they start walking out toward this factory a few miles away.
0:48.3	Along the way, they pick up more guys.
0:50.6	In all, there's about 150 of them.
0:52.6	There's no moon, so it's a dark night.
0:54.6	They're heading out to this factory.
0:56.4	To not go in to attack the owner, they are going to attack the machines.
	...

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