Editing Luddite (section)

== Legacy ==
The Luddites (specifically the croppers, those who operated cropping machinery) are memorialised in the [[Yorkshire]]-area folk song "The Cropper Lads", which has been recorded by artists including [[Lou Killen]] and [[Maddy Prior]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Cropper Lads (Roud -; TYG 62) |url=https://mainlynorfolk.info/louis.killen/songs/thecropperlads.html |access-date=2024-04-18 |website=mainlynorfolk.info |archive-date=18 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418160415/https://mainlynorfolk.info/louis.killen/songs/thecropperlads.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The croppers were very highly skilled and highly paid before the introduction of cropping machinery, and thus had more to lose and more reason to rebel against the factory owners' use of machinery. Another traditional song which celebrates the Luddites is the song "The Triumph of General Ludd", which was recorded by [[Chumbawamba]] for their 1988 album ''[[English Rebel Songs]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=General Ludd's Triumph |url=https://oursubversivevoice.com/song/12141/ |access-date=2024-04-18 |website=Our Subversive Voice |language=en |archive-date=18 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418160414/https://oursubversivevoice.com/song/12141/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the 19th century, occupations that arose from the growth of trade and shipping in ports, also as "domestic" manufacturers, were notorious for precarious employment prospects. Underemployment was chronic during this period,<ref name="Charles Wilson 1965 p. 344-5">Charles Wilson, ''England's Apprenticeship, 1603–1763'' (1965), pp. 344–345. PRO, SP 36/4/22.</ref> and it was common practice to retain a larger workforce than was typically necessary for insurance against labour shortages in boom times.<ref name="Charles Wilson 1965 p. 344-5" />

Moreover, the organisation of manufacture by merchant capitalists in the textile industry was inherently unstable. While the financiers' capital was still largely invested in raw materials, it was easy to increase commitment when trade was good and almost as easy to cut back when times were bad. Merchant capitalists lacked the incentive of later factory owners, whose capital was invested in buildings and plants, to maintain a steady rate of production and return on fixed capital. The combination of seasonal variations in wage rates and violent short-term fluctuations springing from harvests and war produced periodic outbreaks of violence.<ref name="Charles Wilson 1965 p. 344-5"/>