Secessio plebis — Strikes in Ancient Rome

Day 95 / 365

In Ancient Rome, the population was divided broadly into two groups

The Patricians — these were the ruling class. You had to be born to be a Patrician, and only certain families were part of it. This group obviously held all the power

The Plebeians — All the other people like farmers, carpenters, and soldiers came under Plebeians.

The power gap between these two groups was huge. For instance, only the Patricians were allowed to own land, hold public office. Plebeians weren't even allowed to marry a Patrician.

The Strikes of the Plebians

In order to protest their lack of rights, Plebians used to held strikes. These strikes used to be quiet extreme. They would refuse to work and simply leave the cities. The elites were left to fend for themselves.

We have strikes nowadays as well, but they are not as effective. If auto drivers go on strike, you take an Uber. To understand how effective a ‘Secessio plebis’ was imagine that each and every mode of public transport in your is shut down. Not only that, each and every mall, general store, restaurant. That’s how big these strikes used to be.

There were around 5 such strikes between 494 BC and 287 BC. Each of them allowed more rights to be given to the Plebians. With time, the legal differences between the two groups became smaller and smaller.

This story is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Yesterday’s blog — Be the change you want to see in the world