Young started out as a generally apolitical Republican, but gradually became interested in left wing ideas, and by 1906 or so considered himself a socialist. Young would begin increasingly to associate with such political leftists as John Sloan and Piet Vlag, both of whom he would work with at the radical socialist monthly, "The Masses". He became firmly ensconced in the radical environment of Greenwich Village after moving there in 1910. He became politically active, and by 1910, racial and sexual discrimination and the apparent injustices of the capitalist system became prevalent themes in his work. Young would explain these sentiments in his autobiography, "Art Young: His Life and Times" (1939),