To escape McCarthyism and as inspired by a trip he took around Europe, Rubinstein moved to England in 1952 to pursue a PhD at London School of Economics, where his doctoral thesis was on The decline of the Liberal Party 1880-1900.
[1] After graduating, Rubinstein joined the Labour Party, became a naturalised British citizen in 1964, and began teaching social history the University of Hull the following year.
[2] After leaving Hull in 1988, Rubinstein, a Francophile, taught at French universities in Tours, Angers, and Boulogne.
Back in England, he worked in local government in Tower Hamlets and Maidstone as a council and Labour Party adviser.
He traveled frequently and refused to own a car, relying solely on public transport and protesting rural service cuts.