[3] Owen became interested in socialism and translated multiple works by anarchist Peter Kropotkin into English.

He spent two years at the Klondike during its gold rush, which influenced his attitudes towards capitalism and land exploitation.

[3] Owen became an activist for anarchist, labor, and prison reform in southern California.

[3] With the Mexican Revolution in the early 1910s, Owen befriended the Mexican anarchist Ricardo Flores Magón and for six years remained close while Owen edited the English-language section of Magón's anarchist newspaper Regeneración.

With advance notice[3] and faced with deportation, Owen absconded for England, where he supported Kropotkin's call for Allied support in World War I and wrote for the English anarchist periodical Freedom,[1] of which he later became an editor.