Editing Strike action (section)

=== Pre-industrial strikes ===
[[File:Il cosiddetto 'Papiro dello sciopero' scritto da Amunnakht Recto.tif|thumb|left|The so-called "Strike Papyrus" written by Amunnakht, between 1187 and 1157 BC, [[New Kingdom of Egypt]]. [[Museo Egizio]], Turin]]

The first historically certain account of strike action was in [[ancient Egypt]] on 14 November in 1152 BCE, when artisans of the Royal Necropolis at [[Deir el-Medina]] walked off their jobs in protest at the failure of the government of [[Ramesses III]] to pay their wages on time and in full.<ref>François Daumas, (1969). ''Ägyptische Kultur im Zeitalter der Pharaonen'', pp. 309. [[Knaur Verlag]], [[Munich]]</ref><ref>John Romer, ''Ancient Lives; the story of the Pharaoh's Tombmakers. London'': Phoenix Press, 1984, pp. 116–123 See also E.F. Wente, "A letter of complaint to the Vizier To", in ''Journal of Near Eastern Studies'', 20, 1961 and W.F. Edgerton, "The strikes in Ramses III's Twenty-ninth year", ''Journal of Near Eastern Studies'', 10, 1951.</ref> The royal government ended the strike by raising the artisans' wages.

The first [[Jewish]] source for the idea of a labor strike appears in the [[Talmud]], which records that the bakers who prepared [[showbread]] for the [[altar]] went on strike.<ref>Talmud Yoma 38a</ref>

An early predecessor of the [[general strike]] may have been the ''[[secessio plebis]]'' in [[ancient Rome]]. In ''[[The Outline of History]]'', [[H. G. Wells]] characterized this event as "the general strike of the [[plebeian]]s; the plebeians seem to have invented the strike, which now makes its first appearance in history."<ref name="H.G. Wells 1920, page 225">H.G. Wells, Outline of History, Waverly Book Company, 1920, page 225</ref> Their first strike occurred because they "saw with indignation their friends, who had often served the state bravely in the legions, thrown into chains and [[debt bondage|reduced to slavery]] at the demand of [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patrician]] creditors".<ref name="H.G. Wells 1920, page 225"/>