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Tite Uni\Tersity of Maniîoba Refor-Ií, I,Íar, and Industrial TITE UNI\TERSITY OF MANIÎOBA REFOR-Ií, I,ÍAR, AND INDUSTRIAL CRISIS IN MANITOBA: F. J. DIXON AND TIü FRÀYE'I,IORK 0F CONSENSUS, 1903-1920 A T}TESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRANUATE STUDIES IN PARTIÄL FIJLFILTME}TT OF THE REQUTRIIßNTS r',OR TllE DEGR-EE OF MASTER OF A,I{TS DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY BY DUNCÀN NORMAN IRVINE WINNIPEG, MANITOBA AUGUST 19BI REFORM, I.JAR, AND ]NDUSTRIAL CRISIS IN MANTTOBA: F. J. DIXON AND THI FP,AI4EhIORK OF CONSENSUS, I 903-I 920. by DUNCAN NORI4AN IRVTNE Â tlrcsis st¡Lrrrittcrl to tlte f:rrr.'rrlty ol'(ìraclrrate Stt¡rl ics ol tllc L.inivcrsit,,' rrÍ \llnitot-r;¡ i¡1 partiul fìrlf ill¡ncnt ot'tllc rcrlLrire rrrcr.rts cif iltr'rì.'grcc oi- MASTER OF ARTS o' lgBl [)c¡,nission ir;.is L¡e,-'n gnrntt'rl to the LIBIIARY Of.-'f tilr UNIVi..lì- Sl'fY ()1" MAìrjl-t'(JU¡\ to lcncl or se.ll copies of this tlicsis, to tlrc NÅ.1 ION¡\L L.llJIì¡\lì\' OF CANADA to niicrofilnr this tlre:;is anrl to ltild r,,r-srli co¡rics of'the filnr, and UNIVERSITY Nll( lìOl:lL-\{S ro prrblrslr ln lbstract of this thesis. I'ìit ur¡tlror r,¡se rve s othe r pLrblicatiorr rights, ancl neithcr tltc tlrcsjs ¡ror c\lcltsivù c\tfiìe ts l'rollr it rrray be prinied or otlicr- ii'is': i'cirr\i,.1 u.u(l r', itlroirt tlrt: authr;r's written ¡tcrntissioir. rl- ,ASSTRACT This thesís is an atteflpt to study the career: of l¿rbor If .L"Á." FrederLck J. Dfxonu one of }fanl_tobaes most successful politícfans, Ín Che contexÈ of the three great upheavals of his tfme: the }fanitoba reform movement (f903-1916)" the Great War (1914-1918), ancl the industrial crisis of 1918-1920, Díxon basecl all hfs act.ions on a belief ín fnalÍenable human rights, individual and clvil, and the view Ís Èalcen here that: Dixon was articulatÍng the components of an early consensus which unclergirdecl Manitoba life at a time of apparenL class-confllct. Part Onr: deals rviih the }fanitoba reforrn ntovementþ a'd suggests that the legislati-ve session of 1916" orie <¡f thei nost rernarkable in Lhe provincets young history" l¡as emble¡natic of a consensual nioral urge on the part of mos;t. peopl e Lo restore lost righËs to the social envirormeut. Part Trvo deals r¿it.h the Great I^Iar ancl conscrÍpti-on, and conclucles Ehat opínion for and against both uas rooted Ín a desíre to prot.ect Ëhe rigllts ancl 1Íbelrtíes of Brirish subjects. part Three d Íscusses the :-ndustrial crisis of lgt8-l-920, ancl concludes that the Winní-peg General Strike was noÈ a class-s;truggl_e in the }farxist sense, but r,¡as instead a crl.sis of rigirts, with worlcers defending theÍr Ínciivídual rÍglit to bargain collectfvelyo and the rest of socìety defending its cívil right to be govern_ ed by <lemocracy. LndivÍclua] ¿ind civl_l rights, the trvfn coni)onents of consensuse rvere j.n crisis ín 1919. They \ì'ere rcconr:ilecl by Frecl Dixon in his celebrated Acldress t,. ¡l.q Jur.y, as r,¡elI as i' his massive electoral vicÈorv in the provincial election of lgZO Dixon¡s public career encled pïematurely in l-:gl3, due to ill-ness; he die.d at the relativel-y young age of fif ty j.n 1931. An llpÍlogue discusses the format,ion of the Inclependent Labor Party of Þfanitoba, one of Dixone.s f inal po1:Ltical acts, ancl rlescribes the tremendous rcsi)ect shor¡n for him at his deaLh. f11 ABBREVIATIONS CPR Canadfan Pacific RailwaY SPC Socialist Party of Canada DLL Direct Leglslatfon League SDP Soclal Democratlc PartY LRC Labor Representation Committee DLP Domínfon Labor PartY OBU One Big UnÍon ILP Independent Labor Party CLP Canadlan Labor Party { rr ACI{ì{OWLEDGE}'ffiNTS I would llke to thank the followlng person's or lnstitutlons for their assisËance: the staff of the Legislative Líbrary of Manitoba; the Douglas-Coldr'¡ell Foundation; Allen MiIls for sharing hls research on f'.J. Dixon and S.J. Farmer; Mrs. 011ie Rosnyk, who tirelessly typed the manuscrlpt; Ross McCormack and \^lalter St,e1n; rny noÈher and father; ny w1f e, Sarah; and my wÍse and PatienE advisor, Brian McKlllop' Special thanks are clue to Professor C'R' Ner'reombe, formerly of the Unlversiey of VtrinníPeg, who suggested this topic to me several years ago. Thls l'¡ill I l¡ould r.rndoubtedly cause him rauch embarrassuent ' but like hi_m to know that Ehis has been wrltËen for hi¡0. TABLE OF CO}IIENTS ABSTRACT t_ l_ 111 ASBR-EVIATIONS { rr ACIC{O\.\rLEDGüßNTS IMRODUCTION I PART ONE TH.E R-EFORM l"iOVElßNT, 1903-1916 10 L'11 l-hqnl.arv.¡sY e Þr t The Search for SoluËions /,t nL^*È^vurléPLçr 2 The Promise of Polítics ' ' a l'hrnfer 'Fha!!¡ç Tri,rmnhILrl-uHr¡ v!of RefOfn! oÕ arì PART TWO THE WAR AND CONSCRI?TION, 1914-1918 Chapter Prologue to ConscríPtion 117 lllrrnt-or ttDead l'[entt !r / 1/,) PART THR.EE TfiE TNDUSTRIAL CRrSrS, t918-1920 1/, 1 ulldPLsLnL--¡^- 6 Labor Divíded l-1r¡nfor 7 Tv¡o Stríkes: A Questlon of Rights 1rl? utldynL.. - !LEI ^e An Address to a JurY EPILOGUE L920 - 1931 ¿JÖ 258 NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY 299 INTRODUCTION Novr, if we Erace out the lar¿s which govern human life 1n society, we find that Ín the largest as in the sruallest cornmuniËy, they are the salne. I'Ie find that what seem at first sight like divergencies and exceptionse are but nanj-festations of Ehe same orinciples. Ilenry George, Progress ald Povert''¿ (1879) In June, LgzO, Frederick J. Dixon vras re-elecËed to the Manitoba Legislature with the largest lo¿jority ever afforded a candidaÈe in the provÍ-ncers hlstory. The extent of hl-s vlctory was really quite stunnÍng. On a proportional ballot, wlEh forty other candidates fn Ehe constit.uency of Winnipeg, he receíved trqenty-f1ve percent of the flrst- place ballots cast. Furthermore, 1E was estimated later that eighty percent of the voters put his nâme so¡uev¡here on thelr ballots' He outpolled most of the other cand.idat,es on the first round by a factor of ten to one, and Ëhree men were elecEed wlth the help of his surplus' Of noLe was the fact that he polled well across the cíty, although he was particularly popular in working-class areas" The latter rras not unusual: he was runnfng as a labor candlda¡e, havlng just been acquitted, after a brilliant self-defence, of charges sËeunÍng fron hís participatlon j¡. the tr^Iinnipeg General SLrike. tr,hat 't as curious' instead, was his popularity wíth people out,side the v¡orking-class. couing as lt did only one year aft.er the General St.ríke, Dixouts victory suggested that there were certain fundameotal beliefs Lhat nûost i'IínnÍpeggers shared, regardless of their class, or their opinion of the Strike. This idea--that Ehere were values Lhat all the classes shared--does not confonû to the class-conflict model currently being used by many historians who r¿-rite workÍ-ng-class history" Based upon a Marxist notj-on of economic class Structuresr and borrov¡ed from the soCial science, Ehe class-conflict model has been in increasing use in historical circles since S.R" Me-aling poínËed out in 1965 how loaÈh hlstorl-ans had been to use class as afl anâlytlcal device. MealÍ-n'g advisedo ín a guarded \,¡ay, Ehat hísËorians adopt the currenE postulate of social science--Ehe function of class as a social deEerminant-- 1 and use it to develop a history of the labori-ng classes.- Such a call either prompted or divined Èhe trend of hlstorical fnquiry to follow. In fact, in the years since 1965 class has becoroe a converitional tool of analysis. The emphasís on social differences, however, as the sÈudy of social and economj-c classes implies, sometlmes leaves little room to explaln contradlctfng phenouena such as Fred Dlxonts election vicEory in 1920" Moreover, it has led to the logical extreme of ineviÈable class strugglee no\.r being advanced by the advocates of the "new social hlstory." According t.o two such proponents, Gregory Kealey and Peter Warrian, class really refers to "the relation- shíp of exploiEation that exlsts beËween capftallst and wage labourer." Kealey and Warrian suggest that class-struggle, and eventual revolutlon, are inevítable; it is even Che task of the hl-storian to ease this Process al-oDg.-L I^Ihile historians who have stuciied I^Iinnipeg in the last decade have not taken this extreme }farxist view, they have assumed, eonetheless, that Ehe major animating force r,¡as class-conflict. David Bercuson, in studying Èhe Winnipeg General SErike, descrfbed the steadily increasing class-polarization that took place fn Lhe years prior to 1 the Strike as the city converted Èo indusEriaL capitalisro.- Studying an earlier period i:l the ciEyrs history, Alan Artibise observed the nrnr.yLvurr lívírv of fho ^ir-.¡rc ôñfrênfenegfs tO deVelOp the City in theif /, ol/n economic interests, wit.hout concern for public welf are.- J.E. Rea dlscussed how Èhe class-po1-arity of Che days of Lhe General Strike q $/as perpetuated fn Ehe chamber of the City Cor:ncil .- In a more general sEudy of West.ern radicaltsn, A.R" McCormack took Bercuson's class-polarization thesis a step iurther by puttÍng ít 1n the context a of the enti-re Canadian i,Jest.o But if hfstorlans st,udying l^Ilnnipeg (or, as ln McCormackts case, radicalísm 1n the West) have used Ehe class-conflÍct model, they have had to reconcile its use v¿ith a contradicËing set of historical realities.
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