Born in Valletta and brought up in extreme poverty and illiteracy, Dimech spent significant portions of his early life in the Maltese prison system, mostly on charges of petty theft.

Dimech spoke freely among the social issues facing the populace of Malta, earning him great support and popular approval.

After the Governor of Malta grew frustrated by Dimech's growing support among the Maltese populace, he was permanently exiled to Sicily, Italy.

Despite pleas from high-ranking British officials, Dimech was refused permission to return to Malta, and he died in Egypt in 1921.

[1] His family was poor and lived in a single room that was part of a common tenement house with over sixty people.

[2] His ancestors on his father's side were genuine artistic sculptors, though up till Dimech's birth his family had fallen on difficult times.

[19] Dimech adhered to a philosophy that he called 'of action', a position very close, though directly unrelated, to the contemporaneous pragmatism of the United States.

He came at this position through his acquaintance with the philosophy of Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and other British Empiricists and philosophers of utilitarianism.

Amongst these one can find other newspapers in foreign languages (of short duration), two novels, grammar books (in Italian, English, French, and Maltese), and pamphlets.

Dimech's main objective with these publications was to form a political class from amongst the people, especially young men and women who had not the possibility of acquiring an education otherwise.

His main aim was to reform social inequalities whether they were maintained by the colonial government, the Catholic Church, the privileged class, the landed gentry, or whoever.

His strategy was to begin with the political education of a new grass-root group of people, and subsequently permeate the illiterate, underprivileged and destitute masses.

[28] Definitely back to Malta from Italy in 1911, Dimech founded what he called Ix-Xirka ta' l-Imdawlin (The League of the Enlightened; pronounced ishirka taal imdaaulin).

[29] This was a sort of union in the modern understanding of the word, in the sense that it was a social club, an organisation militating for workers' rights, a school of adult education, and a political party all in one.

The then mighty Catholic Church pounced on him, and first condemned Il-Bandiera tal-Maltin and Ix-Xirka ta' l-Imdawlin,[31] and shortly afterward excommunicated Dimech himself.

[35]Dimech had won against all odds, and immediately re-established his former organization with the name Ix-Xirka tal-Maltin (The League of the Maltese; pronounced ishirka tal maltin).

[41] For the remaining days of his life, for seven long and miserable years, Dimech lived in prisons or concentration camps either at Alexandria or Cairo.

[citation needed] A small group of young followers of Dimech continued to be somewhat active in Malta well after his deportation in 1914.

Dimech's work was published in 2012 by Sensiela Kotba Socjalisti, SKS, as Aphorisms: Wisdom of a philosopher in exile.

[54] In April 2013, Karl Fiorini composed a work called 'Sinfonietta Pro Populo' based on the 'Innu Malti' (the Maltese Hymn) written by Dimech.

The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, notwithstanding all the problems with which it was faced, emerged triumphant under the musical directorship of Brian Schembri.

[57] As a sign of national recognition, on November 10, 2012, the President of Malta, George Abela, unveiled in St John Street, Valletta, a commemorative plaque marking the birthplace of Dimech.

[58] A year later, on October 13, 2013, the Prime Minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat, unveiled in Qormi another commemorative plaque marking the spot were, in 1912, Dimech had been stoned by a mob.

[60][61] In 2021, a musical about his life was written and subsequently staged at Kordin prison where Dimech spent a large part of his formative years.