Plebs used to do general strikes pretty often when patricians weren’t doing what they wanted. They’d leave Rome and go have picnics and whatnot in the nearby countryside. This left the patricians alone in the city with all their slaves, which scared the shit out of them, so they’d cave to the plebians’ demands.
I wouldn’t call 5 times in 200 years “pretty often” and what ultimately stopped it was a formal equality declaration that mostly resulted in rich plebeians getting to mingle with patricians and get access to offices.
Plebs used to do general strikes pretty often when patricians weren’t doing what they wanted. They’d leave Rome and go have picnics and whatnot in the nearby countryside. This left the patricians alone in the city with all their slaves, which scared the shit out of them, so they’d cave to the plebians’ demands.
I wouldn’t call 5 times in 200 years “pretty often” and what ultimately stopped it was a formal equality declaration that mostly resulted in rich plebeians getting to mingle with patricians and get access to offices.
How many general strikes have we had in the last 200 years?
Even less, but that still don’t change the fact 5 times in 200 years is not “often”.