The Luddites weren’t anti-technology—they opposed machines that destroyed their livelihoods and benefited factory owners at workers’ expense. Their resistance was a critique of the social and economic chaos caused by the Industrial Revolution. Over time, “Luddite” became an insult due to capitalist propaganda, dismissing their valid concerns about inequality and exploitation. Seen in context, they were early critics of unchecked capitalism and harmful technological change—issues still relevant today.
How is it based if it’s just competing firms using violence to attempt to eliminate more efficient methods of work?
It’s probably based because it’s labor sabotaging the exploitation and maiming of cheap unskilled labor by the uncaring capital class.
One could argue that the unceasing quest for ever more efficient production methods is the direct cause of a lot of the ills of our modern society along with the benefits it brought.