Text 3.

The Luddites were a social movement of the 19th-century. English textile artisans protested – often by destroying mechanized looms – against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which replaced them with less skilled, low wage labour, and which they felt were leaving them without work and changing their way of life. The movement was named after Ned Ludd, a young man, who had allegedly smashed two stocking frames thirty years earlier, and whose name had become emblematic of machine destroyers. The name evolved into the imaginary General Ludd or King Ludd, a figure who also, like Robin Hood, was reputed to live in Sherwood Forest.

The movement emerged in the harsh economic climate of the Napoleonic Wars and difficult working conditions in the new textile factories. The principal objection of the Luddites was to the introduction of new wide-framed automated looms that could be operated by cheap, relatively unskilled labour, resulting in the loss of jobs for many skilled textile workers. The movement began in Nottingham in 1811 and spread rapidly throughout England in 1811 and 1812. Mills and pieces of factory machinery were burned by handloom weavers, and for a short time Luddites were so strong that they clashed in battles with the British Army. Many wool and cotton mills were destroyed until the British government suppressed the movement.

The Luddites met at night on the moors surrounding the industrial towns, practising drills and manoeuvres, and often enjoyed local support. The main areas of the disturbances were Nottinghamshire in November 1811, followed by the West Riding of Yorkshire in early 1812 and Lancashire from March 1813. Battles between Luddites and the military occurred at Burton's Mill in Middleton, and at Westhoughton Mill, both in Lancashire. It was rumoured at the time that agents provocateurs employed by the magistrates were involved in provoking the attacks. Magistrates and food merchants were also objects of death threats and attacks by the anonymous King Ludd and his supporters. Some industrialists even had secret chambers constructed in their buildings, which may have been used as hiding places.

Measures taken by the British government to suppress the movement included a mass trial at York in 1812 that resulted in many executions and penal transportations. "Machine breaking" was subsequently made a capital crime by the Frame Breaking Act, 52 – legislation which was opposed by Lord Byron, one of the few prominent defenders of the Luddites – and 17 men were executed after an 1813 trial in York. Many others were transported as prisoners to Australia. Thereafter "Luddism" began to wane.

1. Find the words in the text which mean:

· a craftperson _______________________

· accepted as a symbol of something _______________________

· to gradually change and develop over a period of time _______________________

· to become known _______________________

· a machine used for weaving cloth _______________________

· to subdue _______________________

· hearsay _______________________

· a trader _______________________

· capital punishment ________________________

· to weaken ________________________