He joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and became known as one of their best public speakers, regularly drawing large crowds at The Domain, Sydney speaking against conscription, and for militant direct action against the war and capitalism.

[1] Tom Barker, the editor of the IWW newspaper Direct Action, was arrested, convicted and sentenced to six months prison for publishing the famous anti-war poster, which said: To ARMS!

Agitation for a review of the case and the release of all twelve prisoners started immediately and included a Royal Commission which found that Grant had been wrongly convicted.

[1] Disillusioned with the IWW hostility to parliamentary politics, Grant was the Industrial Socialist Labor Party candidate for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Sturt in the 1922 state election.

[1] At the age of 71 in 1959 he failed to gain endorsement from the Labor party and retired from politics to his Sydney home where he died on 11 June 1970.