A hundred years ago Malta was passing through interesting moments. An initiative had been launched which promised to bring about gradual, though profound, change to the social and political fibre of the Maltese islands. However, this had sent a shiver down the spine of the established classes, who wanted to stop it in its tracks.

The initiative was taken by a group of young men led by Manwel Dimech, a self-proclaimed political activist and social reformer. They proposed to start an organisation, called Ix-Xirka tal-Imdawlin (the Fellowship of the Enlightened) for the unification of the workers, the emancipation of women and the general improvement of the standard of life for all Maltese.

Why was such a plan deemed to be so threatening to the bourgeoisie and especially to the Catholic Church? The main reason was that it had in its sight, the ultimate transformation of the social, political, economic and religious structures of Maltese society. Dimech and his colleagues believed that such structures were the direct and indirect cause of the real and psychological misery the Maltese were going through, and hence had to be changed.

Despite expected hardships and repercussions for its founders and members, the Xirka was established on October 21, 1911. The Bishop of Malta, Peter Pace, reacted with great forcefulness: he excommunicated Dimech and set off a whole year of serious harassment and persecutions for the man.

Dimech did not falter. He resisted the powerful assault, continued his Xirka and his other activities, including his private school and the publication of his weekly Il-Bandiera tal-Maltin. Unfortunately, this was only for a year and half, because he was then deported to Egypt by the British colonial government, and died in exile.

These remarkable events will be commemorated at a conference at the Osborne Hotel, South Street, Valletta tomorrow from 6.30 p.m. Four talks will be delivered to explore, beyond Dimech’s story, his connection to various areas of scholarship.

The event will also include the launching of a book in Maltese edited by Mark Montebello. It brings together a unique collection of Dimech’s original writings, including the novels Ivan and Prascovia and Majsi Cutajar, the statute of the Fellowship of the Enlightened, together with hundreds of citations from Dimech’s works, especially from his weekly Il-Bandiera tal-Maltin.