For centuries, silk-weaving was one of London’s biggest industries, employing thousands in the East End. Through the 18th century, the silk weavers fought to defend their wages and conditions, and against the introduction of machine looms that were undercutting them. Their tactics included strikes, riot and sabotage.
In some ways the issues they faced, and the methods they used, anticipate those of the later Luddite movement; for a while they succeeded, holding off mechanisation for a century, & forcing the creation of laws that protected their wages and
conditions.