Fred Dixon (politician)

Frederick John "Fred" Dixon (January 20, 1881 – March 18, 1931) was a Manitoba politician, and was for several years the dominant figure in the province's mainstream labour and Georgist[1] movements.

Biography

Born in 1881 at Englefield in the English county of Berkshire,[2] Dixon was influenced by the reformist labour politics of his home country, and also favoured the single tax ideas of Henry George. He apprenticed as a gardener in England.[3]

Dixon arrived in Manitoba in 1903, settling in Winnipeg. He apprenticed as a draftsman and worked as an engraver.[3] He was a member of the Independent Labour Party during this period, and opposed the efforts of some party members to declare the ILP as socialist. This controversy led to the disintegration of the ILP in 1908.[4] Dixon also wrote a weekly column in the Winnipeg labour weekly The Voice.[5]

Dixon first ran for the provincial legislature in the 1910 provincial election[2] as a candidate of the Manitoba Labour Party. He was also supported by the provincial Liberal Party, whose platform he generally supported. Dixon's centrist labourism brought about opposition from the Socialist Party of Canada, which ran a spoiler candidate against him.[6] Dixon lost to Conservative Thomas Taylor[2] by 73 votes; the SPC polled 99.

In 1914, he married Winona Margaret Flett, a suffragist.[7]

The SPC's actions provoked a backlash among the Winnipeg trade unions, and increased Dixon's popularity in the city. He ran as an independent in the provincial election of 1914, receiving support from both the Liberals and the Labour Representation Committee (a successor to the MLP). His platform included home rule for Winnipeg, women's suffrage, public ownership of utilities, removal of subsidies for private enterprise and a referendum on temperance.[3] Despite further SPC opposition, he was elected for Winnipeg Centre "B". In the assembly, Dixon played an important role in forcing an investigation into corruption associated with the construction of new Manitoba legislative buildings, which led to the downfall of the Robson government in 1915.[3] He was again returned in the 1915 election, as an "Independent Progressive".[2]

During World War I, Dixon emerged as one of the leading anti-conscriptionists in Winnipeg, and also defended the rights of conscientious objectors to the war effort.[3] These efforts placed him in conflict with the Manitoba Liberals, who generally supported the conscription policies of Robert Borden's Unionist government. In March 1918, Dixon helped to found the first branch of the Dominion Labour Party in Winnipeg and served as its first president.[3] Though never a strong or centralized party, the DLP would subsequently branch out to other cities in the Canadian prairies.

Dixon supported the strikers during the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, and undoubtedly played an important role in legitimizing their efforts among the city's reformist labourites. After the editors of the Strike Bulletin were arrested, he published the Western Star and Enlightener. Dixon was subsequently accused of seditious libel for his activities during the strike, defended himself, and was found not guilty.[3]

In the provincial election of 1920, Dixon headed a united labour list in the city of Winnipeg, which had been re-designed as a single constituency[2] with ten members elected by a single transferable ballot. He easily topped the poll with 11,586 votes, almost 7000 more than his nearest Liberal competitor.[8] There can be little doubt that Dixon was the most popular politician in the city at the time.

Nine DLP supporters, along with one member apiece from the SPC and SDPC, were elected to the Manitoba legislature in 1920. Dixon was the unquestioned leader of the labour parliamentary caucus. He was able to cooperate with more left-wing figures, and kept the group reasonably united through to the election of 1922.

In late 1920, the DLP in Winnipeg was taken over by rightist labourites who had opposed the General Strike. Dixon led a walkout of DLP members, and was involved in founding the province's new Independent Labour Party. The ILP became the primary voice of the parliamentary left in Manitoba, and later become part of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation.[4]

Dixon again topped the Winnipeg list in 1922,[2] albeit by the reduced margin of almost 4000 votes over the nearest Liberal. The total labour caucus was reduced to six members.

In 1923, Dixon resigned as a Member of the Legislative Assembly[2] following the death of his wife and two of his children. John Queen, formerly of the SDPC, became ILP leader in his place.[5] Dixon spent the rest of his life working as a part-time insurance salesman and died of cancer at the age of fifty.[7] The tragedy of his later years robbed Canada's labour movement of one of its most dynamic voices.

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References
  1. Mills, Allen. "Single Tax, Socialism and the Independent Labour Party of Manitoba: The Political Ideas of F.J. Dixon and S.J. Farmer." Labour / Le Travail 5 (1980): 33-56. JSTOR. Web. 04 Dec. 2014. <https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/25139947?ref=no-x-route:ace15c2e1d6b230b7bafc46e82f39f89>
  2. "MLA Biographies - Deceased". Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. Archived from the original on 2014-03-30.
  3. Bumsted, J M (1999). Dictionary of Manitoba Biography. University of Manitoba Press. p. 69. ISBN 0887551696. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
  4. Mills, Allan (Spring 1980). "Single Tax, Socialism and the Independent Labour Party of Manitoba: The Political Ideas of F.J. Dixon and SJ. Farmer" (PDF). Labour / Le Travail. 5. Retrieved 2012-12-02.
  5. Adams, Christopher (2008). Politics in Manitoba: Parties, Leaders, and Voters. University of Manitoba Press. p. 101. ISBN 088755704X. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
  6. "Frederick John Dixon (1881-1931)". Memorable Manitobans. Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved 2012-12-02.
  7. Chambers, Ernest J (1921). Canadian Parliamentary Guide.
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