Tuhia he haere tonu mo tenei whitianga - I uru ia ki te Young Communist League i te 16 o ona tau i te 1926 United Kingdom general strike
, a muri tata iho ka kitea ia e whakahaere ana i nga hui me te kaiarahi o te uniana o te uniana o Arthur Horner, a ka uru atu ki te CPGB. Ahakoa he mema ano ia o te roopu mahi a UK, i noho tonu ia hei mema mo te CPGB. I a ia e taiohi ana i Reading, i tautoko a Silverthorne i a ia ano ma te hoko i te "Daily Worker" ki nga kaimahi tereina, a, i mahi ia hei Nanny mo te mema o te Paremata Mahi mo Reading me te kaiwhakaara o te Socialist Medical Association (SMA), Somerville Hastings. I mohiotia a Hastings mo te tautoko i te wawata a Silverthorne kia noho hei kaiawhina. I te Poutu-te-rangi 1931, ka tiimata a Silverthorne ki te whakangungu hei kaiawhina i te Radcliffe Infirmary i Oxford, kei reira tana tuahine matua a Olive e mahi ana hei kaiawhina. I mahi ia hei kaitohutohu mo nga kaihauturu o Lancashire e haere ana ma Oxford i te National Hunger March, a he mea noa ki te "awhina i a ia ano ki nga taatai me nga taatai" mai i nga tari o te Radcliffe Infirmary. I a ia e noho ana i Oxford, i tapaina ia ko "Red Silverthorne" mo ana mahi komunista, a ka noho hoa ano ia ki te kaituhi hitori Marxist a Christopher Hill i tutaki ia ki a ia na roto i te hapori komunista o Oxford e mohiotia ana ko te Karapu Oketopa.