Jack London first became acquainted with ideas of socialism through the works of Karl Marx. For Marx, socialism was merely a stage between the age of capitalism and communism. Though Marx himself did not see socialism as a goal, many in the America and the United States believed in socialism as a cure for the economic, political, and social ills plaguing the industrialized West. Through socialism, ownership of the means of production and distribution are communally owned rather than privately owned.

During his early years in Oakland, California, London joined the Socialist Labor Party of Oakland. By 1897, the Oakland Times labeled him the "boy socialist." London's involvement in the Socialist Party continued through most of his life. He even ran for mayor of Oakland as a socialist candidate in 1901 and 1905. He lost in both elections, receiving 245 votes in 1901, and 981 in 1905. His candidacy were more a political statement than a serious quest for a career in government. London was always a great believer in individualism, but individualism must also be mixed with a social concern for the welfare of other. He wrote in "How I Became A Socialist" (1905):

The women of the streets and the man of the gutter drew very close to me. I saw the picture of the social pit as vividly as though it were a concrete thing, and at the bottom of the Pit I saw them, myself above them, not far, and hanging on to the slippery wall by main strength and sweat. And I confess a terror seized me. What when my strength failed" when I should be unable to work shoulder to shoulder with the strong men who were babes unborn.

Socialism provided the answer to this question. Through the adoption of socialism, men and women would no longer be thrown into the industrial Pit of poverty and death. London's frustration with the Socialist Party's inability to bring about the type of change he expected lead to his resignation from the Socialist Party of the United States in 1916. He retained his radical beliefs nonetheless.