MACHINES AND THE ORDER OF THE HARBOR - THE DEBATE ABOUT THE INTRODUCTION OF GRAIN UNLOADERS IN ROTTERDAM, 1905-1907

In 1905, dockworkers in Rotterdam harbour organized a great strike aga inst the introduction of machines for the transhipment of grain. The i nitial success of this strike was a profound shock to the leaders of p olitical parties and national labour organizations, who, in spite of m any differences of opinion, shared a positive attitude towards mechani zation and regarded strikes against machinery as reactionary. The conf lict in Rotterdam provoked a national debate about the implications of mechanization, which clearly exposed the strains and contradictions i n this ''dominant ideology of technology''. The article shows how seve ral local labour leaders questioned the legitimacy of this ideology an d why they failed in the end to persuade their superiors.