Čabrinović found himself in a difficult financial position after leaving home, but was also bitter because of the social situation of the working class in general. As an opponent of "class exploiters", he participated in organizing a series of strikes in Sarajevo and other cities in Bosnia, for which he was often politically persecuted and expelled from various cities. At a very early age he started to read a variety of books and at one point lived in Zagreb and Trieste while trying to become financially stable on his own. He finally found a good job at a print shop in Belgrade. There, he came into contact with Krsta Cicvarić and became familiar with anarchist literature. By his own account, he earned 90 dinars per month, which was not enough to pay for rent and food, let alone books, which, for Čabrinović, were "the only sign of life."