They sent him to Hull, there to undermine a local union so as to ensure it was replaced by the national one. He was there for six months, and in June 1889 was arrested, convicted and fined for assaulting a blacklegger, at which point the union replaced him. Reid travelled to the United States, seeking to cement connections between that country's Atlantic ports and the UK-based National Amalgamated Sailors' and Firemen's Union. He succeeded in getting branches of the union established in New York City and Boston by the end of 1889. He was also instrumental in establishing a short lived New York-based International Brotherhood of Dockside Labourers. In the December issue of its magazine, Seafaring, the NASFU stated that Reid's actions on behalf of the group in the U.S. were unsanctioned and claimed that he was misusing the union's funds. At the union's New York convention in April 1890, Reid was expelled from the organisation. Stout nevertheless thought it likely that Reid had travelled to the United States with "some kind of mandate from his Union, however vague". Remaining in the U.S., Reid next decided to stand for election, something which would have required him to have become a U.S. citizen. In 1892, he stood for the 10th Congressional District of New York as a candidate for the newly founded People's Party. He gained 287 votes, approximately 1% of the total cast. Return to Britain: 1893– Reid returned to Britain, where in 1893 the Proletarian Publishing Company of Clerkenwell published his pamphlet, The Natural Basis of Civilization. The pamphlet expressed the populist ideas of the People's Party with anarchism, condemning the mainstream political parties and government for mistreating the workers. It called for the abolition of government and the implementation of "a state of voluntary or Anarchist Communism". Stout later noted that there was "a distinctly millennial feel" to the pamphlet. Personal life According to the historian Adam Stout, Reid was "ill at ease with the values and the limitations of contemporary civilization", and thus sought for evidence to undermine it in the ancient past. He is related to Jamie Reid, the artist behind the Sex Pistols graphics. Reception and legacy Stout described him as "the founding father of modern Druidry", and noted that it was he who "put Druidry at the heart of the Stonehenge summer solstice". References Footnotes Bibliography Neo-druids Founders of modern pagan movements Scottish modern