Frederick John Dixon (1881-1931)

Gardener, journalist, MLA (1914-1915), MLA (1916-1920), MLA (1921-1922), MLA (1923-1927).

Born in Englefield, England, he apprenticed as a gardener and came in 1903 to Winnipeg, where he trained as a draftsman and worked for the Bemis Bag Company as an engraver. Although a social reformer, Dixon was highly critical of socialism because collective ownership would mean tyranny over the individual, whose rights he always held to be paramount. He was active in the direct legislation movement and the political equality movement, and was a supporter of Henry George.

Dixon was elected to the Manitoba legislature in 1915 as a labour member for Centre Winnipeg, his platform including direct legislation (initiative, referendum, recall), home rule for Winnipeg, women’s suffrage, public ownership of public utilities, opposition to subsidies for private enterprise, and a referendum on temperance. In the legislature, Dixon forced an investigation into the corrupt relationship between the construction firm that was erecting the Manitoba legislative building and the government of Sir Rodmond Roblin, which led to Roblin’s resignation as premier. Dixon became the first president of the Dominion Labor Party. A committed pacifist, in 1917 he addressed a meeting in Market Square, urging listeners to burn their registration cards and resist conscription.

Husband of suffragist Winona M. Flett.

During the Winnipeg General Strike he published the Western Star and Enlightener after the Strike Bulletin was suppressed. Tried for seditious libel early in 1920, Dixon defended himself and was found innocent on all charges. He was elected to the Manitoba legislature as a labour candidate in 1920 and was chosen Independent Labor Party leader of the House. He retired in 1923 because of ill health and died of cancer on 18 March 1931.

There are papers at the Archives of Manitoba.

More information:

“Single Tax, Socialism and the Independent Labor Party of Manitoba: The Political Ideas of F. J. Dixon and S. J. Farmer,” by Allen Mills, Labour/Le Travail 5 (spring 1980): 33-54.

“Reform, War, and the Industrial Crisis in Manitoba: F. J. Dixon and the Framework of Consensus” by Duncan Norman Irvine, MA thesis, University of Manitoba, 1981.

Profiles in Dissent: The Shaping of Radical Thought in the Canadian West by Harry and Mildren Gutkin (1997), pages 7-50.

Sources:

Death registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

Profile revised: 6 June 2009

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