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Who has the power? The workers or the bosses? Power has changed over time, but it’s usually the bosses. Today, we look at two key moments when labor power shifted, for better or worse, and we ask why? What does history say about labor power?
We are in Sicily, Italy, in 1347 AD, and the plague is about to break out. This horror, known as the Black Death, will reshape European society in countless ways, but we’ll focus on one silver lining: how the economic situation of workers changes.
We then move on to a British factory, some 500 years in the future, at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, where textile workers take up arms against machines that are taking their jobs, demonstrating how quickly the supply and demand for labor can change. This is the famous story of the Luddites, who are now synonymous with anti-technology, but the real story is much more nuanced, a desperate but rational act of violent rebellion.
We cover:
- Capital-Labor Substitution
The series is hosted by Robert Smith and produced by Audrey Dilling. Our project manager is Devin Mellor. This episode was edited by Planet Money Executive Producer Alex Goldmark and fact-checked by Sofia Shchukina.
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