He initially worked in the city's sweatshops, and there became interested in socialism; he was a founding member of the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB).
Baritz remained loyal to the SPGB, at times as its only member in Manchester, and he became known for heckling at meetings of rival socialist groups.
[4] He opposed British involvement in World War I, and in order to avoid conscription, he and fellow SPGB member Adolf Kohn moved to Detroit in 1915.
In June 1924, he presented a programme mixing speech and music, which has led some works to describe him as Britain's first radio disc jockey.
Despite requests from the company that he relocate to London, he refused to leave Manchester, claiming that he could not do his job without access to the Henry Watson Music Library.