Before Taylorism, line workers were worked to the bone. Taylor was one of the first to identify that 8-hour workdays and frequent, short breaks actually boosted productivity.

Although one of Taylor's quotes has special resonance in the AI era: "In the past the man has been first; in the future the system must come first."

Programming was a job where the man has long been first. That era is coming to a close.

It's possible I've accidentally swallowed some labor union propaganda during my education, but that's a much too rosy interpretation of Taylorism. Line workers have always been up against pressure to be worked to the bone, before and after Taylor. As you've already pointed out, workers were getting away with soldiering pre-Taylor, and then weren't immediately post-Taylor. I recall something about subsequent labor strikes. The very working conditions he helped impose would have made for the ideal scenario for him to identify just how much a shorter work day and short breaks were needed. But then, at least in the US, we didn't get the Fair Labor Standards Act for nearly three decades later.

Also, Robert Owen had Frederick Taylor beat on the 8 hour workday front by like a century. Maybe Taylorism was, in practice, one of the last straws. Or maybe it was Taylor's scientific support that helped convince the legislature an 8 hour workday was needed. Personally, I have my interpretation based on the evidence, and I don't see it boding well for software engineering as a profession in our immediate future.