Revamping Labour

Bittersweet is the adjective that best describes my election to Parliament for the first time. For one I achieved what many thought was unachievable, for the other my party suffered yet another defeat after all those years in opposition.

I grew up in a staunch Labour background. My first recollection of politics is inextricably tied with Dom Mintoff's Premiership. The first years of Labour saw to the setting up of a real welfare state. Workers were given their rights and proper pay. Bonuses and children's allowances gave us that little more that made a difference in our standard of living. For the first time, working class youths like me were encouraged to further their studies to improve their lot. The introduction of the pupil -worker and student-worker schemes made it financially possible for me and many others to actually pursue a tertiary education. My impression of the Labour Party then was obviously a very good one... until 1981 when my political world was suddenly shattered.

In 1981, the MLP lost the majority but clung to power. The years that followed were sad not just for the country and its people but for us Labourites. We witnessed our party tearing itself apart and inflicting wounds on itself that would fester for years to come.

The Nationalist Party then in opposition made sure that ample salt was thrown in Labour's wounds and lost no time in establishing itself as the people's party ready to build on the good that Labour had brought about while denouncing the anti-democratic stance taken up by a small yet uncontrollable Labour minority.

The PN's propaganda machine then was subtle and able. Come 1987, many Labour youths like me cast their vote for the PN. Notwithstanding the fact that Labour in government had given me the chance to be who I am, I had to make the heart-wrenching decision to forfeit my party in favour of what was then the good of my country. Grudgingly but with determination I had to cast my vote again in favour of the PN until the concept of full membership of the European Union was completely accepted by the MLP. I was in favour of full membership from the outset and, therefore, had no choice but to wait in anticipation for the day when I could fit once more in the party that had given me a chance in life. When the call came for me to rejoin I gladly accepted... and did my best.

This - 2008 - is a crucial year for Labour and my country. Our new leader has to be someone who can reconcile the party's roots with its present and future thinkers. It has to be someone ready to apologise for mistakes carried out by Labour in the past. The leadership has to give credit where credit is due, like when Labour, led by Mr Mintoff, brought Maltese workers out of the doldrums in the 1970s and set out to establish the economic structures that the PN in government built upon in later years. Due credit has to be given also to Alfred Sant who sacrificed the best years of his political life to clean and reform the party and its structures after the ravages of the 1980s.

Labour stalwarts and great thinkers need to be brought back into the party ranks to contribute to a truly unified and well-organised political force. Moreover, if Labour really wants to win the trust of the electorate within the timeframe allotted to us in opposition, it has to back up its chosen leader fully and from the outset.