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.
Marx was right about the luddites. The first phase of the development of working clas consciousness is destroying the machines that impoverish the workers. It is not the last phase.
Part of the broader struggle, but not the endpoint of the struggle.
Proto-based—not yet fully based—, yet necessary for absolute based-ness to come to fruition.