Meaning of Ludismo - What it is, Definition and Concept

Ludismo is a homonymous term, that is to say it has two different meanings, despite being written in the same way.On the one hand, Ludism comes etymologically from ludus , from Latin, with the suffix "ismus" that indicates a trend, whose meaning is related to the game as entertainment with a didactic and creative purpose.

On the other hand, Luddism is the name that was given to a form of struggle, coming from Ned Ludd, legendary leader (there is no evidence of its existence) of the Luddite movement that opposed machinism and any expression of technology in times of industrial revolution.Ludd fire textile machinery in response to the repression suffered by the proletariat, laying the foundations of the movement.

Ludismo

Luddism was born in the context of impoverishment and the poor quality of life of the working class in England of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in which industrial workers threatened the death of the patterns and destruction of the factories if the machines were not dispensed with.

After the industrial revolution , rural work was replaced by the overcrowding of factories under strict regulations disciplinary.

The conditions and quality of worker's life were degrading , he lived in peripheral areas without minimum services, and working hours (of more than 15 hours a day), were very poorly paid, generally paid with vouchers that were to be exchanged for merchandise in certain stores.

Women and children were chosen preferentially to work in the factory, due to their low level of conflict and low cost.

The machinism that incorporated the industrial revolution left many workers out of work , and society changed substantially.

In order to defend the jobs, Luddism was first born, for which protests and struggles against machinism were raised, which over time and experience took the form of strikes and cooperatives for which the first conquests were achieved guilds.

The objective of the union struggle was the incorporation of workers' rights against the exploitation of the system and the business.