St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-01-06
THE FIRST STRIKE.
Livy, the Historian Has Recorded
the Date-:SlO 3. c.

Livy, the Historian Has Recorded
the Date-3lO 3. @.
The first historical account that we
have of a strike is recorded in the pages
of Livy. 1t occurred three hundred and
ten years before Christ, and broke out
among the flute players who were en-
ployed to play at the public sacrifices.
because they were not allowed to hold
their repasJs in the temple of Jupiter,
says Every Saturday. 1t was culnpro-
missed by concession of the strikers.
This strike was not regarded as a
novelty, since the historian says that
he only mentions it by reason of its con-
nectiOn With religion.
In 1883 fragment of Greek in
scrpti0n was discovered relating to an
ancient strike, being proclamation
made by Roman governor of Magnesia
during the time of the Empire of the
East, on the occasion Of strike on the
part of the bakers. 1t forbidS them to
organize into fraternities, and CON-
mands them to obey the magis-
trates, by furnishing labor for
the making of bread, so that
there should be no lack of it. The fol-
lowing is translation Of this fragment:
s'And the blindness of the sedi
lions of the bakers in the market place,
ssditions for which those who have been
sent to US deserve to be punished. But
since the interest or the city is to be re-
garded rather than their chastisemenI,
we have decided to reform them by an
ordinance. Wherefore we proclaim this
ordinances: The bakers shall not unite
themselves in fraternities- Instead
of adopting audac1ous methods of
their own choosing they shall
yield implicit obedience to the magis-
trates who have been placed over them
for the public good, aud snail supply
the city all necessary labor for the
making of bread, so that there shall be
no lack of it. Henceforth if any one Of
them shall be convicted of belonging to
any such brotherhood, contrary to this
prohibition. or of having fomented any
trouble or sedition, he will be sent to us
and will be punished according to the
nature of his Offense; and if any one
dare, in order to injure the city. to con-
ceal himself, he will be arrested and
subjected to like punishment"
In the reign of ZenO, who assembled
the imperial throne in the year of Christ
474, WOrkmen engaged in building
would, after having begun their work.
the employer could not engage others
in their place, because they all belonged
TO all association TINT forbade all mem-
beers to continue or finish work begun
by other members. Under these cir
cumstanceS, the employer could only
accede to the demands of the strikers
or abandon his undertaking. This
course by the workDen occastoned
an imperial ordinance that pro-
n0unced a punishment for the strikers,
and for those who refused to continue
or finish their work. This ordinance
reveals the existence of labor organiZa-
tons that had long been known. having
succeeded to clans of ruder times, and
which were succeeded in their tarn by
the working guilds of the middle ages,
conspicuous among which were the
guilds of maSonS and builders that
erected the churches and cathedralS
that at present adorn all the cities of
Europe and which. by the unity of
their architecture, betray the unity
of their origin. The ordinance referred
to above, after prescribing a. punish
ment for strikers, proceeds as follows:
mo one shall hinder another from con-
tinuing a work that has been begun by
another, as we are advised certain arti.
sans and contractors have dared to do,
not being willing themselves to finish
what they have commenced, nor to let
others finish it, and so have caufed seri-
Gus loss to those who had employed
them. And if any one refuses to finish
Work for the sole reason that it has been
commenced by another. he shall suffer
the same punishment prescribed for him
who suspends work which he has con-
tracted to do"
1t would be a mistake to suppose that
these guilds were at all similar to our
modern trade unions. In those days
the master occupied no higher rank in
the social scale than the wOrkmen he
employed. They were all plebeians
alike; the master took part in the
common labor. Guilds, established i'll
the interest of the craft, includ-
ed both, both classes being indif-
ferently represented at the same
council board. Their hostility was not
directed against each other, but against
the patricians or the aristocratic ele-
ment of society, that imposed on them
restraints ttat were alike hateful to
both master and servant. AS most OF
the work was then done by the piece in
the homes of the workmen. the relation
between them and the master was much
less exacting than that which exists be.
tween the same classes In modern times.