Repertoire of the Charles Tilly dispute. As this article aims to outline, delineate and compare pre-industrial and industrial protests and social movements, Charles Tilly's theory of the repertoire of contention is one of the most applicable and effective for this objective. Charles Tilly's theory serves as an excellent delineation of the contrast between pre-industrial and industrial ways of people acting together in pursuit of shared interests. By the 1870s people were aware of how to express their grievances, such as seizing shipments of grain, attacking tax collectors, and taking revenge on trespassers and people who had violated community norms. However, what they were not yet familiar with were acts such as mass demonstrations, urban uprisings and strikes (Tarrow, 1998). By observing the repertoire of disputes Tilly was able not only to follow the rise of the national social movement, but also to analyze and explain it. Using the repertoire of contention to compare and understand people's behavior regarding expressing their grievances in the two periods mentioned above. As already stated by Tarrow, the most interesting element of Tilly's concept of repertoire is "the relationship with the relaunch of the national social movement" (Tarrow, 1995). To understand the traditional and modular repertoire of the contest, a adequate understanding of this relationship. It is therefore imperative to start simply from what Tilly defines as a "repertoire of contention". According to Tilly the word repertoire means "a limited set of routines that are learned, shared, implemented through a process of choice relatively deliberate” (p.26, Traugott,1995). What Tilly points out is… middle of the paper… obvious and fundamental in the uprisings after 1840. Although a substantial minority were rural artisans such as carpenters, carpenters , bricklayers, shoemakers, tinsmiths, tailors, weavers and paper makers, most of the participants in the Swing riots were agricultural laborers in the strict sense (Rude, 2002). collective action. A similarity can be seen between the views of Bloch, Tilly and Rude. All three scholars believe that pre-industrial collective behavior was very bifurcated, parochial, and particular. It might be observed that Tilly's traditional repertoire of contention could successfully adapt to Captain Swing's riots. As noted, all three characteristics of the traditional repertoire can be applied to the way the Captain Swing riots were performed.