In 1881, Wallace was elected as the first president of the newly formed Land Nationalisation Society. In the next year, he published a book, "Land Nationalisation; Its Necessity and Its Aims", on the subject. He criticised the UK's free trade policies for the negative impact they had on working-class people. In 1889, Wallace read "Looking Backward" by Edward Bellamy and declared himself a socialist, despite his earlier foray as a speculative investor. After reading "Progress and Poverty", the best selling book by the progressive land reformist Henry George, Wallace described it as "Undoubtedly the most remarkable and important book of the present century."