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This is a very interesting social phenomena and I'm glad someone randomly linked to it since I never heard of it. I imagine the effectiveness of it stood in th

This is a very interesting social phenomena and I'm glad someone randomly linked to it since I never heard of it. I imagine the effectiveness of it stood in the fact that cities were self-sufficient. Since cities are no longer self-sufficient, a protest like this in the modern age would be meaningless. All the plebs of New York could leave the city and nothing would change, except that some patrician would get richer by exploiting the plebe that chose to partake in this (or punish it).

vezycash 8y ago
>I'm glad someone randomly linked to it since I never heard of it. Didn't know there was hn.postRandomLink() feature. I would have used it. :)
dmurray 8y ago
The last garbage workers strike in New York lasted two weeks before the city caved.
- Angostura 8y ago
  But did it have any actual effect on the modern-day equivalent of the patricians? I imagine they just took a private jet to Monaco until it blew over.
  - olefoo 8y ago
    Our society is much more complex and populous than Rome was at that time. Sure the idle rich could and did vacate but it's hard and expensive to move the massive investment in social infrastructure that any organisation that feels a need to be in New York City has made.
  - palerm 8y ago
    This. Most modern strikes affect other working class people instead of the "1%" (?) they are supposed to be targeting.
  - mreome 8y ago
    Who drove them to the airport, loaded their luggage, prepared the in-flight meals, fueled up the jet, and flew it?
pjc50 8y ago
> cities were self-sufficient Rome was highly dependent on grain imports. > All the plebs of New York could leave the city and nothing would change All of them? Transport would break down fairly rapidly, since you'd have no public transport, no cabs, and no Uber drivers. Even if you could get into work there would be nobody to buy lunch from, and no childcare or schooling available to leave your kids with. Most of the financial services companies in NY would be rendered inoperable.
- boomboomsubban 8y ago
  >Rome was highly dependent on grain imports. I doubt this was true during the period described. Rome was little more than a city state in 492, and the first period of expansion was just starting in 450.
jahaja 8y ago
Now I'm really confused. Surely it's the other way around? Do you mean that nothing would change during a general strike because there would be plenty of scabs around?

vezycash 8y ago

>I'm glad someone randomly linked to it since I never heard of it. Didn't know there was hn.postRandomLink() feature. I would have used it. :)

dmurray 8y ago

The last garbage workers strike in New York lasted two weeks before the city caved.

Angostura 8y ago
But did it have any actual effect on the modern-day equivalent of the patricians? I imagine they just took a private jet to Monaco until it blew over.
- olefoo 8y ago
  Our society is much more complex and populous than Rome was at that time. Sure the idle rich could and did vacate but it's hard and expensive to move the massive investment in social infrastructure that any organisation that feels a need to be in New York City has made.
- palerm 8y ago
  This. Most modern strikes affect other working class people instead of the "1%" (?) they are supposed to be targeting.
- mreome 8y ago
  Who drove them to the airport, loaded their luggage, prepared the in-flight meals, fueled up the jet, and flew it?

pjc50 8y ago

> cities were self-sufficient Rome was highly dependent on grain imports. > All the plebs of New York could leave the city and nothing would change All of them? Transport would break down fairly rapidly, since you'd have no public transport, no cabs, and no Uber drivers. Even if you could get into work there would be nobody to buy lunch from, and no childcare or schooling available to leave your kids with. Most of the financial services companies in NY would be rendered inoperable.

boomboomsubban 8y ago
>Rome was highly dependent on grain imports. I doubt this was true during the period described. Rome was little more than a city state in 492, and the first period of expansion was just starting in 450.

jahaja 8y ago

Now I'm really confused. Surely it's the other way around? Do you mean that nothing would change during a general strike because there would be plenty of scabs around?