 He joined the workers' movement after World War I and became a trade union activist.In 1920 he was made one of the leaders of the League of Workers with Food and Water ("lixae" or "živežari" - salespeople in markets, workers in food storages, cooks, waiters, waterworkers)

In 1929, after the January 6 Dictatorship was proclaimed in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the State Court for the Protection of the State in Belgrade sentenced him to five years in prison, which he served in the Sremska Mitrovica prison.After he got out of prison, he was forced to live back home in Ivanec, and there he helped organize the miner strikes of 1936 and 1937, which resulted in higher salaries and better working conditions for the miners in the region.