But "scab" referred to people who replace striking workers, who acted to undermine organized struggles. It also sometimes referred to official and unofficial thugs (police, military, private for hire groups like the Pinkertons, umpaid volunteer thugs like the American Legion who were violent strikebreakers). In spite of Jack London's use of the word in a broader context it normally did not apply to people who worked more cheaply than norm or worked harder than the norm in the absence of such struggle. For that matter Martin Eden was explicitly asked by fellow workers not to work so hard. So even there, he acted against calls for solidarity from an informal organization. Why is it scabbing to work for free if it advances your personal self-interest in the absence of an organized movement asking you to do otherwise?
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