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How organized labor shames its traitors − the story of the ‘scab’
The term “scab” has historically been used to shame workers who betray labor solidarity. Its implications highlight complex issues of class, race, and ethical labor practices.
Ian Afflerbach, University of North Georgia
Over its long history, the American labor movement has displayed a remarkably rich vocabulary for shaming those deemed traitors to its cause.
Some insults, such as “blackleg,” are largely forgotten today. Others, such as “stool pigeon,” now sound more like the dated banter of film noir. A few terms still offer interesting windows into the past: “Fink,” for example, was used to disparage workers who informed for management; it seems to have been derived from “Pinkerton,” the private detective agency notorious for strikebreaking during mass actions like the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.
No word, however, has burned American workers more consistently, or more wickedly, than “scab.”
Any labor action today will inevitably lead to someone getting called a scab, an insult used to smear people who cross picket lines, break up strikes or refuse to join a union. No one is beyond the reach of this accusation: United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain called former president Donald Trump a “scab” in August 2024, after Trump suggested to Elon Musk that striking workers at one of Musk’s companies ought to be illegally fired.
While working on my book “Sellouts! The Story of an American Insult,” I discovered that labor’s scabs were among the first Americans identified as sellouts for betraying their own.
Reinforcing class solidarity
The use of scab as an insult actually dates to Medieval Europe. Back then, scabbed or diseased skin was widely seen as the sign of a corrupt or immoral character. So, English writers started using “scab” as slang for a scoundrel.
In the 19th century, American workers started using the word to attack peers who refused to join a union or worked when others were striking. By the 1880s, periodicals, union pamphlets and books all regularly used the epithet to chastise any workers or labor leaders who cooperated with bosses. Names of scabs were often printed in local papers.
Scab likely caught on because it directed visceral disgust at anyone who put self-interest above class solidarity.
Many of labor’s scabs clearly deserved the label. During a strike of Boston railroad workers in 1887, for instance, the union bombarded its chairman with cries of “traitor” and “scab” and “selling out,” because he gave in to company demands prematurely, just as the union’s funds were also mysteriously depleted.
The most powerful expression of this shame comes from the pen of Jack London. Best remembered today for adventure tales such as “White Fang,” London was also a socialist. His popular 1915 missive “Ode to a Scab” captures the venomous contempt many have felt about those who betray their fellow workers:
“After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, and the vampire, He had some awful substance left with which He made a scab… a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul… Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles… No man has a right to scab as long as there is a pool of water deep enough to drown his body in.”
In 1904, however, London had written a longer and less famous essay, “The Scab.” Instead of shaming scabs, this essay explains the conditions that drive some workers to betray their own.
“The capitalist and labor groups,” London writes, “are locked together in a desperate battle,” with capital trying to ensure profits and labor trying to ensure a basic standard of living. A scab, he explains, “takes from [his peers’] food and shelter” by working when they will not. “He does not scab because he wants to scab,” London insists, but because he “cannot get work on the same terms.”
Rather than treat scabs as vampire-like traitors, London asks his readers to see scabbing as a moral transgression driven by competition. It is tempting to imagine society as “divided into the two classes of the scabs and the non-scabs,” London concludes, but in capitalism’s “social jungle, everybody is preying upon everybody else.”
Driven to scab
London’s words ring with a harsh truth, and we can illustrate his point by looking at the discomforting status of Black strikebreakers in American labor history.
During their heyday from the 1880s through the 1930s, major labor organizations such as the Knights of Labor and American Federation of Labor did include some Black workers and at times preached inclusion. These same groups, however, also tolerated openly racist behavior by local branches.
Historian Philip S. Foner tells the story of Robert Rhodes, a union bricklayer in Indiana whose “white union brothers refused to work with him.” The Bricklayers and Masons International Union of America did have a fine of US$100 for such discriminatory practices, but Rhodes was stymied in efforts to get any money, and his racist co-workers punished him for trying. He ended up being accused of “scabbing” by the union, and, in a brutal irony, fined. Rhodes quit and changed his career.
Civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois once noted that among the major working-class trades in America only longshoremen and miners welcomed Black workers. In most fields, they had to try to join unions that were often implicitly – if not explicitly – segregated.
To find work as masons, carpenters, coopers – or any other skilled trades dominated by unions that would often discriminate based on race – Black laborers often had to work under conditions that others would not tolerate: offering their services outside the union, or taking over work the union had done while its members were striking.
In short, they had to scab.
Class and race collide
It shouldn’t be hard to see the competing moral claims here. Black workers who had struggled with racial discrimination claimed an equal right to work, even if this meant disrupting a strike. Unions saw this as a violation of working-class solidarity, even as they overlooked discrimination within their ranks.
Managers and corporations, meanwhile, exploited this racial friction to weaken the labor movement. With tensions high, brawls often broke out between Black strikebreakers and white strikers. An account of the 1904 Chicago miners’ strike noted, “some one in the crowd yelled ‘scab,’ and instantly a rush was made for the negroes,” who fought back the mob with knives and pistols before city police intervened.
As this ugly pattern repeated itself, a stigma began to cling to Black workers. White laborers and their representatives, including American Federation of Labor founder Samuel Gompers, often called Black people a “scab race.”
In reality, Black workers were just a small percentage of strikebreakers. Most often, strikebreakers were white immigrants, who, like their Black counterparts, could face discrimination by unions. Black Americans also had a long history of labor activism, struggling for union membership, improved working conditions and better wages in cities such as New Orleans and Birmingham.
In his 1913 essay “The Negro and the Labor Unions,” educator Booker T. Washington urged unions to end their discriminatory practices, which forced Black Americans into becoming “a race of strike-breakers.” Nonetheless, this racial stigma persisted. Horrendous racial violence in the “Red Summer” of 1919 followed close on the heels of the Great Steel Strike, during which nonunion Black workers had been called in to keep steel production humming along.
Preventing fissures among workers
While terms like “scab” and “sellout” have often been used to reinforce labor unity, these same terms have also worsened divisions within the movement.
It’s too reductive, then, to simply shame scabs as sellouts. It’s important to understand why people might be motivated to weather scorn, rejection and even violence from their peers – and to take steps toward removing that motive.
In 2024, Canada’s Parliament passed landmark “anti-scab” legislation, which prohibits 20,000 employers from bringing in replacement workers during a strike.
This law will not only force companies to listen to their workers’ needs during a time of crisis, it will also create fewer divisions within the labor movement – and fewer opportunities for any worker to become a scab.
Ian Afflerbach, Associate Professor of American Literature, University of North Georgia
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Former President Barack Obama recently sparked headlines, social media debates, and a fresh wave of UFO chatter after a brief remark during a podcast interview. The comment quickly ricocheted across news outlets, with many asking: Did Obama just confirm aliens exist? And just as quickly, Donald Trump weighed in.
Let’s unpack what was actually said — and what it means.
🎙️ The Comment That Ignited the Conversation
During a rapid-fire question segment on a podcast hosted by Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama was asked directly:
“Are aliens real?”
Obama’s response:
“They’re real, but I haven’t seen them.”
That short answer fueled immediate speculation. Clips spread online, often stripped of context, with some interpreting the statement as a bombshell confirmation of extraterrestrial life.
🧠 What Obama Meant
Soon after the comment gained traction, Obama clarified his meaning.
His explanation aligned with a position he’s expressed before:
✔ He was referring to the statistical likelihood of life elsewhere in the universe
✔ He was not claiming evidence of alien visitation
✔ He emphasized that during his presidency he saw no proof of extraterrestrial contact
In other words:
Obama was speaking philosophically and scientifically — not revealing classified information.
This interpretation matches mainstream scientific thinking: given the size of the universe, life beyond Earth is plausible, but confirmed evidence remains elusive.
🛸 Why the Comment Resonated
The remark landed in a cultural moment where:
• Interest in UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) is high
• Government transparency around UFO reports has increased
• Space exploration discoveries (exoplanets, water worlds) dominate science news
Even a casual statement from a former president can ignite intense discussion.
🇺🇸 Trump’s Reaction
Former (and current political figure) Donald Trump responded critically.
Trump characterized Obama’s comment as:
• A “mistake”
• Potentially involving “classified information”
He also reiterated his own stance:
He does not know whether aliens are real.
Trump pivoted the conversation toward disclosure, suggesting he would support or consider declassifying UFO/UAP-related files — a theme that has periodically surfaced in political rhetoric.
⚖️ Politics vs Interpretation
Trump’s reaction highlights how statements about extraterrestrial life often become political flashpoints, even when the original comment is speculative or philosophical.
Key distinction:Obama’s Clarification Public Interpretation Life elsewhere is likely “Obama confirmed aliens” No evidence of contact “Government disclosure”
🔬 The Scientific Reality
Organizations like NASA and the broader research community maintain:
✅ Life beyond Earth → statistically plausible
❓ Intelligent civilizations → unknown
❌ Confirmed alien contact → no verified evidence
Investigations into UAPs consistently conclude:
• Most sightings have conventional explanations
• Some remain unresolved due to limited data
• None confirmed as extraterrestrial craft
🌌 Why These Stories Keep Captivating Us
Conversations about aliens sit at the intersection of:
✨ Science
🧠 Curiosity
🛸 Mystery
🎭 Pop culture
🏛️ Politics
When a former president comments, the intrigue multiplies.
📌 Bottom Line
Did Obama say aliens are real?
Yes — but in the sense that life elsewhere in the universe is likely, not that aliens are visiting Earth.
Did he claim evidence?
No.
Trump’s response?
Critical, skeptical, and framed around classification and disclosure.
If you’re fascinated by this topic, you might also enjoy exploring:
• How scientists search for alien life
• What counts as real “evidence”
• Why UFO sightings are so often misinterpreted
Want me to craft a follow-up article like “How Close Are We to Discovering Alien Life?” 🚀👽
Related Links & Further Reading
- NASA – Search for Life
- NASA – Exoplanet Exploration
- SETI Institute – Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
- U.S. Department of Defense – UAP Reports
- How Close Are We to Discovering Alien Life?
- What Are UAPs? Explained
- A Brief History of UFO Investigations
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The Long Track Back
Why Downtown Los Angeles Feels Small Compared to Other Cities
Downtown Los Angeles often feels “small” compared to other U.S. cities, but that’s only part of the story. With some of the tallest buildings west of the Mississippi and skyline clusters spread across the region, LA’s downtown reflects the city’s unique polycentric identity—one that, if combined, could form a true mega downtown.
Last Updated on February 18, 2026 by Daily News Staff
Panorama of Los Angeles from Mount Hollywood – California, United States
When people think of major American cities, they often imagine a bustling, concentrated downtown core filled with skyscrapers. New York has Manhattan, Chicago has the Loop, San Francisco has its Financial District. Los Angeles, by contrast, often leaves visitors surprised: “Is this really downtown?”
The answer is yes—and no.
Downtown LA in Context
Compared to other major cities, Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is relatively small as a central business district. For much of the 20th century, strict height restrictions capped most buildings under 150 feet, while cities like Chicago and New York were erecting early skyscrapers. LA’s skyline didn’t really begin to climb until the late 1960s.
But history alone doesn’t explain why DTLA feels different. The real story lies in how Los Angeles grew: not as one unified city center, but as a collection of many hubs.
Downtown Los Angeles
A Polycentric City
Los Angeles is famously decentralized. Hollywood developed around the film industry. Century City rose on former studio land as a business hub. Burbank became a studio and aerospace center. Long Beach grew around the port. The Wilshire Corridor filled with office towers and condos.
Unlike other cities where downtown is the place for work, culture, and finance, Los Angeles spread its energy outward. Freeways and car culture made it easy for businesses and residents to operate outside of downtown. The result is a polycentric metropolis, with multiple “downtowns” rather than one dominant core.
A Resident’s Perspective
As someone who lived in Los Angeles for 28 years, I see DTLA differently. While some outsiders describe it as “small,” the reality is that Downtown Los Angeles is still significant. It has some of the tallest buildings west of the Mississippi River, including the Wilshire Grand Center and the U.S. Bank Tower. Over the last two decades, adaptive reuse projects have transformed old office buildings into lofts, while developments like LA Live, Crypto.com Arena, and the Broad Museum have revitalized the area.
In other words, DTLA is large enough—it just plays a different role than downtowns in other American cities.
View of Westwood, Century City, Beverly Hills, and the Wilshire Corridor.
The “Mega Downtown” That Isn’t
A friend once put it to me with a bit of imagination: “If you could magically pick up all of LA’s skyline clusters—Downtown, Century City, Hollywood, the Wilshire Corridor—and drop them together in one spot, you’d have a mega downtown.”
He’s right. Los Angeles doesn’t lack tall buildings or urban energy—it just spreads them out over a vast area, reflecting the city’s unique history, geography, and culture.
A Downtown That Fits Its City
So, is Downtown LA “small”? Compared to Manhattan or Chicago’s Loop, yes. But judged on its own terms, DTLA is a vibrant hub within a much larger, decentralized metropolis. It’s a downtown that reflects Los Angeles itself: sprawling, diverse, and impossible to fit neatly into the mold of other American cities.
🔗 Related Links
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The Knowledge
Century City: From Hollywood Backlot to Business Hub
Century City, originally part of 20th Century Fox’s backlot, transformed into a prominent business district in Los Angeles during the 1950s amid the decline of cinema. Developer William Zeckendorf envisioned a mixed-use urban center, leading to iconic skyscrapers and establishing the area as a hub for law, finance, and media, blending Hollywood history with modern business.
Before Century City became one of Los Angeles’ premier business districts, it was part of 20th Century Fox’s sprawling backlot, used for filming movies and housing studio operations. By the 1950s, as television rose and movie attendance declined, 20th Century Fox faced financial challenges and decided to sell a portion of its land.
Developer William Zeckendorf envisioned a “city within a city”—a modern, mixed-use urban center with office towers, hotels, and entertainment facilities. Branded Century City, the name paid homage to its studio roots while symbolizing LA’s vision for the future.
The first skyscrapers, including the Gateway West Building, set the tone for the district’s sleek, futuristic skyline. Architects like Welton Becket and Minoru Yamasaki helped shape Century City’s iconic look. Over time, it evolved from Hollywood’s backlot to a corporate and legal hub, attracting law firms, financial institutions, and media companies.
Today, Century City stands as a testament to Los Angeles’ postwar optimism, westward expansion, and multi-centered urban growth—a unique blend of Hollywood history and modern business.
Related STM Daily News Links:
- The Evolution of Los Angeles Public Transportation
- Why Los Angeles Grew Into a Sprawling City
- Downtown Los Angeles: Past, Present, and Future
Dive into “The Knowledge,” where curiosity meets clarity. This playlist, in collaboration with STMDailyNews.com, is designed for viewers who value historical accuracy and insightful learning. Our short videos, ranging from 30 seconds to a minute and a half, make complex subjects easy to grasp in no time. Covering everything from historical events to contemporary processes and entertainment, “The Knowledge” bridges the past with the present. In a world where information is abundant yet often misused, our series aims to guide you through the noise, preserving vital knowledge and truths that shape our lives today. Perfect for curious minds eager to discover the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of everything around us. Subscribe and join in as we explore the facts that matter. https://stmdailynews.com/the-knowledge/
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