The Hidden History of Class Struggle in the Roman Empire
Ancient Rome was a rigidly hierarchical society where the ruling elite stigmatized everyone who had to work with their hands. Yet Roman workers still found ways to resist exploitation through strikes and other forms of collective action.
Class struggle isn’t a modern invention — it’s been with us for thousands of years. (Photos.com via Getty Images)
Class struggle isn’t a modern invention — it’s been with us for thousands of years.
Sarah Bond is a professor of classics at the University of Iowa and the author of Strike: Labor, Unions, and Resistance in the Roman Empire. She tells Jacobin how members of the laboring classes in ancient Rome organized themselves to demand a better deal from the Roman social elite.
This is an edited transcript from Jacobin’s Long Reads podcast. You can listen to the interview here.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.