Swing Riots

The Swing Riots, a stand against exploitation, were an important step in the development of a strategy for working class resistance "Oh Captain Swing, he'll come in the night To set all your buildings and crops alight And smash your machines with all his might That dastardly Captain Swing!" Smeared as criminals who couldn’t appreciate ‘progress,’ the Swing Rioters of 1830 were actually shrewd social rebels, resisting the class that was guilty of dispossessing them.