Democratic Industry; A Practical Study in Social History (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II GREEK AND ROMAN TRADE UNIONS ORE interesting than strictly historical is the description Plutarch has left us of the origin of the Roman labor J?ilds, which he attributes to Numa Pompilius.1 /To blend together by common interests the racial1 factions in the newly founded city of Rome, and so to end the deadly party strifes between the Sa- bines and the Romans within the same walls, the politic ruler is said to have devised a plan of dividing the citizens into groups according to their art,and crafts. r The distinct craft gilds mentioned by this historian as founded during the reign of Numa are eight in number. A ninth was added into which were gathered all the remaining trades. Departing somewhat from the customary interpretation of the Greek text, we may classify the eight Roman craft gilds as follows: I. flute players, 2. goldsmiths, 3. builders, 4. dyers, 5. tailors, 6. tanners, 7. coppersmiths, 8. potters. That all these trades existed in a specialized form at this early period, about the seventh century before our era, is seriously to be questioned. Other employmcnts, moreover, which probably were then of greater importance, are not at all mentioned. 1 Plutarch, " Numa," 17. One thing alone is historically certain: that a century before Christ trade unions existed at Rome which in the popular mind dated back to time immemorial. /These ancient unions were regarded with special respect by the Romans so that they outlived (he laws which proved fatal to other organizations According to a method sufficiently common at a period when historic criticism was not too exacting, the origin of the labor gilds was naturally ascribed to the rather mythical Numa Pompilius to whom Rome was said to be indebted.for other important public institutions. For similar reas...