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Strike: Labor, Unions, and Resistance in the Roman Empire
Historian Sarah E. Bond retells the traditional story of Ancient Rome, revealing how groups of ancient workers unified, connected, and protested as they helped build an empire
From plebeians refusing to join the Roman army to bakers withholding bread, this is the first book to explore how Roman workers used strikes, boycotts, riots, and rebellion to get their voices—and their labor—acknowledged. Sarah E. Bond explores Ancient Rome from a new angle to show that the history of labor conflicts and collective action goes back thousands of years, uncovering a world far more similar to our own than we realize.
Workers often turned to their associations for solidarity and shared identity in the ancient world. Some of these groups even negotiated contracts, wages, and work conditions in a manner similar to modern labor unions. As the world begins to consider the value—and indeed the necessity—of unionization to protect workers, this book demonstrates that we can learn valuable lessons from ancient laborers and from attempts by the Roman government to limit their freedom.
From plebeians refusing to join the Roman army to bakers withholding bread, this is the first book to explore how Roman workers used strikes, boycotts, riots, and rebellion to get their voices—and their labor—acknowledged. Sarah E. Bond explores Ancient Rome from a new angle to show that the history of labor conflicts and collective action goes back thousands of years, uncovering a world far more similar to our own than we realize.
Workers often turned to their associations for solidarity and shared identity in the ancient world. Some of these groups even negotiated contracts, wages, and work conditions in a manner similar to modern labor unions. As the world begins to consider the value—and indeed the necessity—of unionization to protect workers, this book demonstrates that we can learn valuable lessons from ancient laborers and from attempts by the Roman government to limit their freedom.
272 pages, Hardcover
Published February 4, 2025
19 people are currently reading
520 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 30, 2025
Came across this book through an interview with the author that summarizes and explores it far better than I could.
That said, some remarks. It deals with,
1. How particular trade 'associations' (breadmakers, silversmiths, charioteers...) carried strong leverage with elites due to their essential role, but also faced those elites' fear, suspicion, corruption and repression.
2. The disconnect between codified laws and what the records suggest of apparent actual practice.
2A. Relatedly, how much of a role "corruption" actually played in the fall of Rome.
3. The overlap between religious and economic fuctions of associations.
Ultimately, the argument is that resistance goes far beyond what's more often highlighted in the form of Servile Wars, to behind-the-scenes tensions of everyday activity. While analogies are imperfect, studies of Rome should recognize historiographical gaps in official histories decrying monolithic "mobs", in favour of their actual material relations and substance.
I always want to recommend The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People's History of Ancient Rome. This book in addition broadens the temporal scope of class analysis of this...(sorry) romanticized epoch.
That said, some remarks. It deals with,
1. How particular trade 'associations' (breadmakers, silversmiths, charioteers...) carried strong leverage with elites due to their essential role, but also faced those elites' fear, suspicion, corruption and repression.
While some associations were marginalized…The Roman state began to cultivate closer relationships with certain associations that were tied to key supply chains and seen as essential to state needs, such as those integral to the grain dole and the production of bread.
2. The disconnect between codified laws and what the records suggest of apparent actual practice.
Both in the past and in the present–there is a wide gap between proscriptive legislation and social reality. Just because a law bans a particular type of association does not mean that these groups did not exist or that the state had enough manpower to enforce such sweeping legislation.
2A. Relatedly, how much of a role "corruption" actually played in the fall of Rome.
3. The overlap between religious and economic fuctions of associations.
Historians of the ancient economy have more recently suggested that the trust networks created among many types of associations–for example, the Ptolemaic era (305-30 BCE) religious associations in Hellenistic Egypt–could additionally function in an economically positive manner to reduce transaction costs and provide social capital to members.
Ultimately, the argument is that resistance goes far beyond what's more often highlighted in the form of Servile Wars, to behind-the-scenes tensions of everyday activity. While analogies are imperfect, studies of Rome should recognize historiographical gaps in official histories decrying monolithic "mobs", in favour of their actual material relations and substance.
I always want to recommend The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People's History of Ancient Rome. This book in addition broadens the temporal scope of class analysis of this...(sorry) romanticized epoch.
February 12, 2025
A fascinating book. The nature of the evidence forces the author to look at a picture bigger than just labor organizations for collective action. The type of organizations that she includes within the scope include management-imposed labor control systems (slave and gladiator families), associations of skilled laborers including bakers, builders, and craftsmen, and even semi-public organizations of specialized labor like firefighters and urban security.
Because the definition of labor organization is so broad and not necessarily always specific to associations explicitly organized for collective political action (vs. as a broader cooperative body with economic and social functions), the book is an excellent history of ancient Rome from the perspective of the "everyday person." You learn about how professionals organized themselves as oligopolies to better control the supply curve, how Romans organized slaves and why this may have made slave rebellions likelier, and get introduced to a wide array of other labor, business, and entrepreneurial organizations of the Roman republic and empire. The author pulls from a wide array of sources, both literary and from the inscriptions (which are the most interesting, in my opinion).
A lot of the evidence in the book comes from outside of Rome, including Ephesus, Egypt, Syria, Spain, Gaul, and elsewhere. It's refreshing because Roman history is most often told from the highest level, and so the cities seem almost like passive participants. In this book, cities are lively, breathing organisms with interest groups, political and social challenges, and mechanisms of disruption and change.
Particularly interesting is the author's discussion on the right to assemble. I have never thought about rights to assemble as a necessary condition for modern economic growth, but this book makes an indirect case. Roman political biases leaned against allowing citizens to assemble because these associations compete with the state in organizing and fomenting political dialogue. A lot of associations were outright banned in Roman law, both in the city and later across the empire. This eventually culminates in the Tetrarchic reforms that essentially collectivize large swaths of private enterprise and subsume it under the hierarchy of the state, for logistical reasons as noted by the author. It therefore seems evident that political opinion on the right to assemble is a crucial facet of economic progress because it removes uncertainty around the economic agency of entrepreneurship.
One minor disappointment is that the author doesn't delve into the bagaudae. She does include quite a bit on slave revolts during the Roman Republic. As many historians interpret the bagaudae movement as peasant rebellions, and the subject of late imperial coloni is also touched on, they seem pertinent to the main theme of the book.
A great book all-around, highly recommend.
Because the definition of labor organization is so broad and not necessarily always specific to associations explicitly organized for collective political action (vs. as a broader cooperative body with economic and social functions), the book is an excellent history of ancient Rome from the perspective of the "everyday person." You learn about how professionals organized themselves as oligopolies to better control the supply curve, how Romans organized slaves and why this may have made slave rebellions likelier, and get introduced to a wide array of other labor, business, and entrepreneurial organizations of the Roman republic and empire. The author pulls from a wide array of sources, both literary and from the inscriptions (which are the most interesting, in my opinion).
A lot of the evidence in the book comes from outside of Rome, including Ephesus, Egypt, Syria, Spain, Gaul, and elsewhere. It's refreshing because Roman history is most often told from the highest level, and so the cities seem almost like passive participants. In this book, cities are lively, breathing organisms with interest groups, political and social challenges, and mechanisms of disruption and change.
Particularly interesting is the author's discussion on the right to assemble. I have never thought about rights to assemble as a necessary condition for modern economic growth, but this book makes an indirect case. Roman political biases leaned against allowing citizens to assemble because these associations compete with the state in organizing and fomenting political dialogue. A lot of associations were outright banned in Roman law, both in the city and later across the empire. This eventually culminates in the Tetrarchic reforms that essentially collectivize large swaths of private enterprise and subsume it under the hierarchy of the state, for logistical reasons as noted by the author. It therefore seems evident that political opinion on the right to assemble is a crucial facet of economic progress because it removes uncertainty around the economic agency of entrepreneurship.
One minor disappointment is that the author doesn't delve into the bagaudae. She does include quite a bit on slave revolts during the Roman Republic. As many historians interpret the bagaudae movement as peasant rebellions, and the subject of late imperial coloni is also touched on, they seem pertinent to the main theme of the book.
A great book all-around, highly recommend.
August 16, 2025
Fascinating topic, but the book suffers from poor organization. The author chose to present the material in rough chronological order, each chapter covering a period of Roman history. But with evidence so scarce and examples so varied, there is no coherent narrative. Much of the book has an 'another thing happens' feel. I think a topical approach would have worked better.
July 21, 2025
This is a fantastic read from a phenomenal author. I appreciated a fresh perspective on texts and concepts that have become too familiar for so many scholars of antiquity. I also appreciated the care with which the author presents her methodology and presuppositions in the introduction and then follows those through on every subsequent page. Highly recommended for scholars of the Roman world, but also refreshingly accessible to non specialists.
March 12, 2025
Het thema van dit boek is een die we niet vaak zien, georganiseerde arbeid voor de industriële revolutie. Waar we bij stakingen en andere acties vooral denken aan industriële arbeid maakt Sarah E. Bond hier duidelijk dat dit iets is van alle tijden, en dat deze strijd een lange geschiedenis kent.
De strijd tussen georganiseerde arbeid en de bureaucratie die wetten bewapend is iets dat Bond duidelijk weet uit te leggen in dit boek. Het boek is dan ook duidelijk iets waarvan de moderne georganiseerde arbeid van kan leren, kan gebruiken en de lessen die hier uit worden gehaald kan gebruiken in de strijd.
De strijd tussen georganiseerde arbeid en de bureaucratie die wetten bewapend is iets dat Bond duidelijk weet uit te leggen in dit boek. Het boek is dan ook duidelijk iets waarvan de moderne georganiseerde arbeid van kan leren, kan gebruiken en de lessen die hier uit worden gehaald kan gebruiken in de strijd.
May 31, 2025
Strike by Sarah E. Bond is a brilliant work of revisionist history that fundamentally transforms our understanding of resistance in ancient Rome. Far from the traditional narrative that reduces rebellion to the heroic figure of Spartacus, Bond reveals a sophisticated landscape of organized labor action that spans centuries and encompasses workers from bakers to gladiators to charioteers. This is scholarship at its most illuminating—taking what we thought we knew and revealing hidden depths of complexity and relevance.
Bond's central insight is both simple and revolutionary: collective action in ancient Rome was neither exceptional nor dependent on singular charismatic leaders. Through meticulous research, she demonstrates how professional and trade associations created networks of solidarity that enabled workers to leverage their essential roles in Roman society. When bakers withheld their labor or gladiators refused to perform, they weren't acting as isolated individuals but as part of organized movements with clear strategic goals.
The book's methodological innovation lies in Bond's use of "strategic anachronism"—deliberately connecting ancient struggles to contemporary labor movements. Rather than treating this as historical overreach, Bond makes a compelling case that these connections illuminate persistent patterns of worker solidarity and elite backlash that span millennia. This approach transforms ancient history from academic curiosity into urgent contemporary relevance.
Bond writes with remarkable clarity and passion, making complex historical material accessible without sacrificing scholarly rigor. Her background as a historian of the ancient world provides unquestionable authority, while her engagement with modern labor theory demonstrates intellectual breadth that elevates the entire project. She skillfully weaves together archaeological evidence, literary sources, and economic analysis to create a comprehensive picture of Roman labor relations.
What makes Strike particularly compelling is its demonstration of continuity across time. Bond shows how the same dynamics that drove Roman workers to organize—economic exploitation, dangerous working conditions, lack of political representation—continue to motivate labor movements today. The ruling class responses she documents—violence, legal restrictions, ideological campaigns against collective action—will feel depressingly familiar to contemporary readers.
The book succeeds on multiple levels: as rigorous ancient history, as innovative methodology, and as implicit commentary on present-day labor struggles. Bond has recovered voices that traditional histories have ignored, revealing the agency and strategic thinking of workers who have been reduced to background figures in grand imperial narratives.
Strike is essential reading for historians, labor activists, and anyone interested in understanding how power operates across time. Bond has produced a work that is both academically groundbreaking and politically vital—a reminder that the struggle for worker dignity and fair treatment is as old as civilization itself, and that solidarity remains our most powerful tool for change.
Bond's central insight is both simple and revolutionary: collective action in ancient Rome was neither exceptional nor dependent on singular charismatic leaders. Through meticulous research, she demonstrates how professional and trade associations created networks of solidarity that enabled workers to leverage their essential roles in Roman society. When bakers withheld their labor or gladiators refused to perform, they weren't acting as isolated individuals but as part of organized movements with clear strategic goals.
The book's methodological innovation lies in Bond's use of "strategic anachronism"—deliberately connecting ancient struggles to contemporary labor movements. Rather than treating this as historical overreach, Bond makes a compelling case that these connections illuminate persistent patterns of worker solidarity and elite backlash that span millennia. This approach transforms ancient history from academic curiosity into urgent contemporary relevance.
Bond writes with remarkable clarity and passion, making complex historical material accessible without sacrificing scholarly rigor. Her background as a historian of the ancient world provides unquestionable authority, while her engagement with modern labor theory demonstrates intellectual breadth that elevates the entire project. She skillfully weaves together archaeological evidence, literary sources, and economic analysis to create a comprehensive picture of Roman labor relations.
What makes Strike particularly compelling is its demonstration of continuity across time. Bond shows how the same dynamics that drove Roman workers to organize—economic exploitation, dangerous working conditions, lack of political representation—continue to motivate labor movements today. The ruling class responses she documents—violence, legal restrictions, ideological campaigns against collective action—will feel depressingly familiar to contemporary readers.
The book succeeds on multiple levels: as rigorous ancient history, as innovative methodology, and as implicit commentary on present-day labor struggles. Bond has recovered voices that traditional histories have ignored, revealing the agency and strategic thinking of workers who have been reduced to background figures in grand imperial narratives.
Strike is essential reading for historians, labor activists, and anyone interested in understanding how power operates across time. Bond has produced a work that is both academically groundbreaking and politically vital—a reminder that the struggle for worker dignity and fair treatment is as old as civilization itself, and that solidarity remains our most powerful tool for change.
November 26, 2025
Incredible read
August 25, 2025
Super fascinating read, I learnt a lot from this book. Definitely dry at times. I think her central thesis was very strong-- assocations of laborers in many forms have existed far before the industrial revolution/middle ages, and have used their strength in numbers to advocate for themselves, while also suffering for it-- but the evidence was patchy and so sometimes there were leaps of assumptions or just descriptions of associations versus hammering home her point. These descriptions were very interesting, and forced a different POV, but I struggled at times with the "and so?" of it.
I think this is a very important book for anyone interested in history of labor and antiquity. The bias of the modern era is so pervasive but we have to remember battles like this go back to the earliest recorded history.
I think this is a very important book for anyone interested in history of labor and antiquity. The bias of the modern era is so pervasive but we have to remember battles like this go back to the earliest recorded history.
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September 14, 2025included so many Roman episodes that I had not heard of - definitely worth the read!
November 28, 2025
painfully boring
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews