Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World

by Rutger Bregman

The Battle of Rawfolds Mill April 11, 1812–Some 100 to 200 masked men have gathered on a darkened plot of land near Huddersfield, between Manchester and Leeds in England. They’ve congregated around a stone column known as Dumb Steeple, armed to the teeth with hammers, axes, and pistols. Their leader is a charismatic young cropper by the name of George Mellor. He raises his long pistol–brought from Russia, some say–up high for all to see. Their target is Rawfolds Mill, a factory owned by one William Cartwright. A wealthy businessman, Cartwright has just introduced a new type of power-loom that can do the work of four skilled weavers. Since then, unemployment among the Yorkshire Luddites, as these masked men call themselves, has soared.