JACK LONDON, the man who wrote the famous definition of a scab, was born on Jan. 12, 1876 in San Francisco. London's bloodcurdling definition of a strikebreaker - a person who takes a striking worker's job and goes to work behind a picketline - follows:

"After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, the vampire, He had some awful substance left with which He made a scab. A scab is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul, a water-logged brain, a combination backbone made of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts he carries a tumor of rotten principle.

When a scab comes down the street men turn their backs and angels weep in Heaven, and the devil shuts the gates of Hell to keep him out. No man has a right to scab so long as there is a pool of water to drown his body in, or a rope long enough to hang his carcass with.

JUDAS ISCARIOT was a gentleman compared with a scab. For betraying his Master he had character enough to hang himself - a scab has not. Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Judas Iscariot sold his Savior for 30 pieces of silver. Benedict Arnold sold his country for the promise of a commission in the British Army.

The modern strikebreaker sells his birthright, his country, his wife, his children, and his fellow man for an unfilled promise from his employer, trust or corporation. Esau was a traitor to himself. Judas Iscariot was a traitor to his God. Benedict Arnold was a traitor to his country; a strikebreaker to his God, his country, his family, his class.

A real man will never scab."