Every intelligent boy of sixteen is a Socialist. At that age one does not see the hook sticking out of the rather stodgy bait.
Gordon and his friends had printed a Socialist leaning magazine whilst in high school. At sixteen, kids tend to feel that there is a lack of equality in their lives. Feeling ready to find, and be, themselves, but still expected to act in a way that is prescribed by others, they do not feel in control, and they also feel that they are treated unequally by those who have not earned this right; they just have a higher "rank", be it school teacher or other authoritarian figure.
Socialism offers clear opportunities for equality; it wants to take away any kind of social class hierarchy, so that everyone is equal, and nobody is "above" anybody. This is innately appealing to teen boys, because they are naive, and not cynical at all, and do not realize that what is being offered by socialism is not really equality, but the appearance of equality. At the age of sixteen, they see take the bait, but do not understand that it is just a hook to make them believe in socialism without understanding what it really entails.
Never let other people buy your drinks for you! The first commandment of the moneyless.
Gordon is tempted to go to the pub; opening the door he smells the familiar smell of cigarette smoke mixed with stale beer, and it is both familiar and comforting. He very much wants to go inside, and have a drink, However, he remembers that if someone buys him a drink, he will have to return the favor. He cannot just accept drinks from others without being prepared to buy his round when his turn comes. This is one of the rules he has to live by in his self-imposed poverty; never accept a drink from someone else because he can't buy them a drink in return.
He liked to think that beneath the world of money there is that great sluttish underworld where failure and success have no meaning; a sort of kingdom of ghosts where all are equal.
Gordon begins to derive pleasure from his penniless life, because it saves him from having to try anymore. He tells himself that his stance is about money, and his hatred of the way in which it seems to be the barometer by which success and failure are judged. In this underworld there is no success and therefore no failrue, and Gordon rather likes that. His idea of a place where the ghosts of the unsuccessful reside is, to him, confirmation of his belief in socialism, but this is also very convenient for him, and takes away any obligation that he has to make any effort to work, or to succeed at all.
By embracing the underclass, and praising any environment that does not have "success" or "failure" per se, he is giving himself an excuse for not succeeding, not making money, and making no effort to do so. At his heart, Gordon is rather self-indulgent, but by hiding behind his apparent belief in socialism he is able to excuse this by saying he is making a statement against the class system and the way in which money is used to quantify success.
