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The use and rapid growth of technology has often be seen to many of the working class as a
bad omen, like a cancer it spreads and gradually, one surcum to the inevitable. One
occasion which arose and was met with resilience occured in England in 1811 when the
revolutionary crop machine became the center of attention. A group of disgruntled workers
from various textiles industries, called the Luddites formed a secret community of
machine breakers. They used their primitive weapons to try and destroy the textile mills
and machines that were believed to be the root of their problem. 
The Luddite's believed their skill and pride in their work made them a unique commodity
and was one of the differences between them and the machines. Their skills have been
passed from generation, to generation; in essence it is a direct trait of their identity.
The craftsmen felt the machines were not as skilled as they were, therefore if they were
to operate these machines they would probably lose their valuable skill and identity to
become slaves to the machine. Work they once did in the house would now have to be done
in textiles, which the luddites opposed because it housed poor working conditions. Work
breaks that were left up to their discretion was to be timed, and the amount of work was
based on a machine that could last longer than workers. Hence, it is easy to get the
impression why the luddiets wanted to destroy the machines. 
In his book Society and Technological Change Rudi Volti expressed the belief that the
luddites feared loosing their jobs to the dreadful revolutionary crop machine is not
necessarily the main or only reason behind the attacks.
That is not to say that fear of the new machines did not exist or contribute to the
Luddite attacks, only that there were many other contributing factors. For example the
Luddite attacks began in the hosiery trades, because of the long held opposition to the
use of wide stocking frames that allowed employment of cheaper unskilled workers. Volti
surmised this could have been handle peacefully had it not been for the dire economic
conditions that existed at the time. Mainly due to the Napoleonic Wars which resulted in
a general trade depression. A series of bad harvest caused a supply and demand, the
amount of good harvest was scarce but the demand was high therefore raising the price for
food dramatically. Due to theses conditions the Luddites sadly realized their wages were
not enough to met their families basic needs. These events were followed by the shearers
and handloom weavers in the weaving industry, who feared the advancement of the steam
powered weaving machinery. In the cropping trade the attacks were done to express the
prevention of technological advances. The attack was simply based on the fear of
unemployment based on technological changes.
Although the film expressed the reason for the Luddite attacks were solely based on the
so-called techno-fear is simply not true. The fear of low wages and unemployment due to
the revolutionary technology did exist, however that is by far the only factor. Fear of
possible unemployment and low wages were only contributing factors to the Luddite
revolution, the economic conditions of the time were the main reasons for these attacks
and fears. Volti stated that if the economic conditions were not so bad these attacks
could have been avoided trough collective bargaining.