Mintoff, the firebrand in his very own words
Anthony Manduca lists some of Mintoff’s more memorable quotes.
Dom Mintoff was a controversial divisive figure who played a dominant role in Maltese politics for close to 40 years. A firebrand charismatic left-winger, he clashed with the Catholic Church, turned Malta into a Republic, greatly increased welfare benefits, expanded the role of the state in the economy, established close ties to Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya and Communist China, had a love-hate relationship with Britain and presided over a period of political violence and an erosion of civil liberties and the rule of law.
In December 1986, two years after he stepped down as Prime Minister, he was instrumental in convincing his Labour Party to agree to a constitutional amendment on majority rule which paved the way for the Nationalist Party to win the May 1987 election.
In 1998 he voted against his own party in Parliament which led to the collapse of Alfred Sant’s Labour government. The Nationalist Party consequently won the September 1998 election (and the following two elections) which ironically paved the way for Malta to join the European Union in 2004, something which Mr Mintoff had always opposed.
“We were poor because we were ignorant and they left us in an ignorant state on purpose. Not because God wanted us to be poor, as today there is the same God”
– Speech in Qormi, March 27, 1976.
“French and German workers don’t have more than two meatballs. However, they have greater eagerness, willpower and a greater sense of responsibility than you have”
– Addressing drydocks workers in Cospicua, March 15, 1973.
“Children should be trained at an early age in the merits of socialism”
– Addressing the annual conference of the Young Socialists as the Church schools dispute hotted up, March 16, 1984.
“It is not my style to crush opposition. All my life I have striven to convince. This country is too small to remain divided for long. I hope you believe me”
– Letter to Mabel Strickland after The Times building was set on fire and ransacked by a mob of Socialist thugs, October 18, 1979.
“Shut up Luns! Who the hell do you think you are? Are you God? I am not going to be treated like some Indonesian nigger”
– Shouting at Nato secretary general Joseph Luns during negotiations in Rome, December 1971.
“How could Malta remain neutral if it joined the European Union?”
– Speaking to university students during the EU referendum campaign, February 18, 2003.
“What happened was the result of spontaneous actions after provocations and systematic incitement by the Leader of the Opposition in his newspapers and the incitement of Nationalist MPs in the Council of Europe”
– Mr Mintoff’s reaction shortly after Eddie Fenech Adami’s house was ransacked by a Socialist mob on October 15, 1979.
“When we took office, we had an English Governor-General, an English Queen, English currency, a Bank of England man as the head of our central bank ... We had a police force run by a commissioner who stated openly that his loyalty was to the British crown and nobody else. This was only eight years ago. Now Malta is a republic. Everything has changed. Nothing is British anymore.”
– Interview with The New York Times, 1979.
“I wish to tell the opposition that if I had at any time hurt them, I did so in the heat of the moment, and not out of hatred”
– Resignation speech in Parliament, December 22, 1984.
“If only this dream were to come true! It would make all members of the Labour Party dance with joy, unfold the Union Jack and embrace every Briton armed or unarmed”
– Writing on integration with Britain, in The Knight, February 1954.
“Today there are two Europes, the Europe of Cain and the Europe of Abel. The Europe of Cain is oppressive, the Europe of Abel, progressive. We can come to an arrangement with the latter”
– Speech in Parliament, November 7, 1978.
“I will not govern unless I have the majority behind me”
– Speaking before the 1981 election. Mr Mintoff’s Labour Party nevertheless governed for five-and-a-half years after that election despite the opposition Nationalists gaining an absolute majority of votes in the December 1981 election.
“What we do not accept is that the presence of the American and Russian fleets in our Mediterranean Sea is inevitable”
– Speech in Athens, April 1974.
“If Britain continues to play games like these, we will remove the George Cross from the Maltese flag”
– Speech in Parliament, March 4, 1980.
“Had it not been for the steadfast support of President (Muammar) Gaddafi, his Revolutionary Command Council and the people of Libya, we would have literally starved into surrender”
– Mr Mintoff addressing the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, September 28, 1978.
“I know that in order to believe in Christ one does not need to go to Church, and I do not go to Church”
– Addressing the Young Socialist League conference, April 1981.
“I can guarantee that when the Labour Party is in office there will be jobs for everyone”
– Addressing a Labour Party meeting in Birkirkara, February 24, 1964.
“I do not agree with the Budget measures and I cannot vote in favour of them unless I am taken seriously and my proposals seriously considered”
– Criticising Labour Prime Minister Alfred Sant’s Budget in Parliament, November 13, 1997.
“Malta has arrived at its moment of truth”
– Speech in Parliament on the need for the government and opposition to agree on a constitutional amendment to ensure majority rule, December 11, 1986. A few days later the Labour Party conference unanimously agreed to support such an amendment.
“This is the beginning of a Socialist generation”
– Addressing a Labour meeting in Mosta, February 28, 1976.
“I warn the black right wing forces that at the slightest sign that they are helping the Nationalist opposition in Malta to break laws, the workers’ movement will even ask the devil’s help to smash them”
– Labour Party meeting in Valletta, January 30, 1982.
“The Labour Party chose to follow the constitution and democracy”
– Addressing General Workers’ Union delegates on January 27, 1982, a few weeks after Labour remained in office despite the Nationalist Party receiving an absolute majority of votes.
“We have a right, if we want it, to membership of the Arab League”
– Interview with MEED (Middle East news, data and analysis), May 23, 1980.
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Henry S Pace
Aug 27th 2012, 15:49
' In 1998 he voted against his own party in Parliament which led to the collapse of Alfred Sant’s Labour
government '
When mintoff voted against the government of Alfred Sand , the latter went to Birgu (Vittoriosa) and called
him a 'TRAITOR'
Whatever has been said in the last week the word 'TRAITOR' has never been withdrawn either by
Alfred Sant or by the Labour Party. '
John Scerri
Aug 27th 2012, 08:14
What great men stood beside him during his speeches, real workers, real leaders, !!!!!! and of all the world great leaders who was so close to him ? !!!!!!
''If I will not have the majority of the people behind me I will not govern'' pre election speech 1981
He governed for 5years and 6 months against the will of the majority of the people. 1981 - 1987
Pule' Carmel
Aug 27th 2012, 00:00
**At Castile when Mintoff was in power, there were a number of people from the Labout Party serving him and who supported him before his election to Prime Minister, but as Mintoff did not repay them back generously as they had expected, they hated him and behaved somewhat irrisponsibly towards him. He got to know and was rather hurt. It was this that started the convention or custom that a Maltese Prime Minister carries his own thermos flask. Has anyone ever found the reason for this? Well I know all about it.
Here are a few other amusing incidents, unlike the one above.
**One man who had the keys to the Tarxien Villa was with him when Mintoff came to the age of 90 years and as a sign of respect, when they were together he told Mintoff that, " I have prayed to God that he will terminate my life now at the age of 50 and the 50 years will be subtracted from your age and so you will take over the running of Malta." Mintoff without hesitation turned on him and said, " For heaven's sake stop praying becasue going into politics was a wrong decision as it wasy to run Malta for a year, and it is hell to run it for five years and it is even worse than that to do what I did running Malta for so long, and so for my sake, leave me in peace and stop praying!!"
** Mintoff once, about 40 years ago, had bouthgt a parafin stove with four burners and about six years ago he remembered about it and asked one person , " what did we do with that four burner parafin stove we had about forty years ago, go and find it for me?" and this very faithful servant actually went looking aorund all nicks and cranies till he found the historic four burner enameled stove and Mintoff actuall wanted to use it.
** Some time ago Mintoff had heard that at a local foreign College, they had cut lots of trees and he did his best to persaude the Principal of the school to give him the cut trees for his wood burning stove which he had at Tarxien. This is one occassion which I know where Mintoff did not get his way as the Principal would not give the tree trunks to Mintoff.
** I once heard that on one occassion Mintoff did not want to pay his water bills and the service was going to be cut, till some benefactor actually paid it for him. I never checked if this last one was true or not, but I would not put it past Mintoff to do a thing like this.
** There are a few other amusing incidents as to the manner in which Mintoff used his petrol or diesel allowance or ticket, but I have to be certain of these amusing stories,which come my way so unexpected.
I just wonder if instead of history depicting Mintoff as a Politician and Political Events, we would depict him as a normal man in his moments of rest as any one of us. I suppose we all have our domestic stories and Mintoff dies have his.
** Oh I just remembered another one. When Mintoff was once swimming at Delmara, it was rather rough and he had some colleagues ready to assist him. Before he jumped in, he called the others a few names because they were scared of the rough sea and did not bother to jump in. Mintoff did. When he came to return to land the wave motion near the landing place was absolutely terrible and Mintoff was faced with some difficulties. The people who told me this offered to help him by extending their arms to take his at the right moment, but Mintoff seemed to refuse the assistance, he managed to land on his own is a heavy sea but not without some scratches. The person who told me this event finished by saying, " he was so stubborn in not wanting me to help him, I still do not know how he managed to get away with only a few scratches!"
** There are more, but at the moment they escape me. With what I knew of Mintoff whicle I met him at Castile, and other places, all I can say is that if Mintoff was not caught in the heatof politics he would have preferred to live a better family life, like many other politicians whose names I shall not mention but their suffereings ranged from losing thier children to not seeing their children grow up , all due to the time they spent in politics. I am a lucky man, I guess because I chose a family life with enough attention to a career to earn a reasonable living to support my family. Still I have to thank all politicains who do their job to look after Malta and miss out on their families and thier private life.
Pule' Carmel
Aug 27th 2012, 17:37
** It is said that in the last twenty years Mintoff found it very difficult to find domestic assistance for his Villa at Tarxien. The rate of change of the ladies who came to help him at his Villa started well but with his manners they did not last long as it was not so easy to work for Mintoff on a private basis. He paid right on time writing cheques, but the manners and voice control was not so easy to accept and so many left. Eventually it was not easy to find any who would work for him.
** Mintoff’s manners with engineers at the power station was not pleasant either and on one occasion when the power station chimney smoked heavily and Mintoff questioned the issue, the engineer told Mintoff that buying the cheapest oil and cheapest coal with such heavy sulphur was such that even the engineers are finding it difficult to keep smoking chimneys within limits. It was Mintoff who had ordered to buy the cheapest oils and coals and that saved Malta a lot of money! Mintoff never said much after that.
** Once it is said that one shaft of a large electric motor running through being coupled to the pump for a condenser was such that an engineer noticed that it was red in colour. An engineer passing by commented, “ Oh, someone painted the shaft RED!”
“ No” was the answer , “the shaft was red hot because the bearing needed replacement and it was forbidden to do preventive maintenance!” the engineer was advised to let the shaft break as Mintoff accepted a breakdown more than he accepted the down time for preventive maintenance saying that “ Workmen invented work to gain on unnecessary overtime!”
** Once the exciter of an alternator failed and Mintoff gave the engineer was given three days to repair it. This was impossible, and after a little more than a week a motor generator brought from Palermo was rigged to set the alternator going. Because the engineer did not finish the job in the time dictated by Mintoff, the engineer was suspended from work for more than six months.
When the authorites decided to build the Delimara Power station many said that the site Delimara was chosen to pay back and spite Mintoff on the decisions he took on the frequent suspensions of engineers at the Marsa power station for smoking chimeys ( on fuel accepted by Mintoff himself) other breakdowns at the power stations.
I can vouch that this was not true as many engineers wanted the powerstation to be built at San Tomas Tower I believe but this was too much in line with the runway at the airport. The Delimara Power station was built on that site not to spite Mintoff in any way but for other engineering reasons. In England I was once present at one of the meetings and it is a case of circumstances that made it appear to be what was not. I laugh when I think of these circumstances, in which Mintoff turned it to his advantage eventually, the clever dick, bless his heart. He was a smart guy and I believe he did well in helping the worker and helping himself more than he helped others. These politics is a nice tool to use people and gain out of it, they all do it with uncapped pensions and other benefits.
Bill Millam
Aug 26th 2012, 17:36
I shed no tears for Mintoff. Under his iron-fisted dictatorship, Maltese fought against Maltese, Maltin sawtu lill-Maltin ohra, freedom of expression was non-existent, freedom of speech was all but eliminated, he made a mockery of the Constitution, all with his blessings...the guy's best friends were some of the worst Communists dictators of the time, many of whom met an end they so justly deserved.
And the Partit Laburista want to memorialize this guy's barbarian rule with a monument?
Give me a break,
Bill Millam
Los Angeles .
A Abela
Aug 26th 2012, 19:28
"he made a mockery of the Constitution", "iron fisted dictator" and yet he changed the constitution so that the party that gets the majority of votes govern. Now do you know any "dictator" who does that. Get a life siehbi
Joe Muscat
Aug 26th 2012, 23:07
Bill Millam....Did you actually live here in Malta during Mr. Mintoff's time? Maybe you should also have been here in the 60s...or do you chose to ignore the fact that freedom of expression was suppressed, more than you can ever imagine, where the Maltese were ruled by Britain, where people did not have enough money to live properly (strangely enough as is today), Or maybe the fact that if you showed support for Mintoff and his party, you were buried in a rubbish dump when you died...Maybe the fact that it was Mintof's government that gave women the vote bothers you, or else that he introduced a social service tat was the envy of many countries...You talk of Mintoff's friends? You do not mention that when the Nationalists came into government , the first person the New Nationalist Prime minister sucked up to was Gaddafi. Maybe the fact that Mintoff's government left Malta with Half a billion Malta lira in Malta's coffers when now we are 6 billion in the red. He never made a mockery of the constitution, He changed the constitution to suite a vote majority. You talk about barbarian rule? Shame on you , especially from someone who lives in one of the highest crime infested states in the US of A......Now that's barbarian....Come and live here on a regular wage and see how you would talk then.... Come and pay our ever growing bills now on 1000 euros a month and then tell me...In Mintoff's time ( which was far from perfect) we all felt rich, unless the be all and end all was munching on a piece of english chocolate... People had money in their pockets and lived well, paid cash and bought their own houses which they could afford..... Come see us now.... You speak from thousands of miles away.... come here and put your money where your mouth is
Ronnie Callus
Aug 27th 2012, 00:17
@ Bill Miliam:
Thats up to you Bill, whether you shed tears or not. Barbarians are all those who sent soldiers to be killed or killing other innocent peoples in their countries and not Mintoff who strived to bring better conditions to his people.
N. Bill Camilleri
Aug 26th 2012, 16:07
I am so glad we had a man like Mintoff in charge during the 70s. The world was a very different place back then - there was no room for soft leadership. Countries had to fight for everything and our tiny country held it's own. Malta survived and maybe even advanced during that period because of him.
I read people on hear saying they were afraid. I shudder at the thought of having someone like Gonzi or Muscat leading Malta in the 70s, and what Malta might look like today. If you think we would have been better off, you are either too young or have a poor memory.
A Abela
Aug 26th 2012, 13:40
I remember the Luns incident but i don't remember the quote "indonisian nigger" I am under the impression that he told him "we are not a dutch colony"
Gerry Cowie
Aug 26th 2012, 13:16
The Vatican has put the phone off the hook in the saint-making department!
I'd love to have heard his explanation for his administration imprisoning the Pace brothers after the BICAL affair. They lost precious years of their lives and so did their families. All for nothing as their names were cleared, as they were innocent men!
mike fenech
Aug 26th 2012, 12:42
@ Hossam Helwani,
Mr.Helwani, I don’t know who you are or where you come from and to be honest with you I don’t care to know.
We Maltese of the 40’s 50 and 60’s are the ones that levied under the British and Church ‘s rule. Mr.Dom Mintoff educated us and he gave us dignity.
So PLEASE do us all a favour and get lost.
anthony borg
Aug 26th 2012, 12:07
R.I.P Dom we will never never forget what you done to make Malta proud .
mario genovese
Aug 26th 2012, 11:47
Grazzi ta kollox Perit - l-ebda bniedem ma kien perfett imma int ersaqt hafna vicin.
Ronnie Callus
Aug 26th 2012, 12:26
Proset Genovese. Hundred percent correct. Only 'GOD' is perfect.
stephen debono
Aug 26th 2012, 11:43
@ Hassam Hawwadni
You know when I was horrified? When I learnt, that before Mintoff Malta was broke, when Labour won in 1971 the govt at that time had no money to buy food for it`s citizens, that it what horrifies me the most Mr Hawwadni!!!! Mintoff managed to built Malta from scratch, most of what we have today is Mintoff`s legacy. May I mentin a few? Social services, free health care to everyone, voting rights for women and 18 year olds, free eduacation, pensions, AirMalta, seaMalta, BOV and Mid-Med, maltacom, Enemalta ( during your time of the 60s only parts of the island had electricity), most of the manufacturing industries that we have today including ST microelectronics the biggest manufacturer in malta, tourism was kick started after Airmalta was set up, before that we there was only a handful of hotels and restaurants, there was no freeport and the airport had only a small runway which was not suitable for jetliners. The list goes on and on Even the archbishop of Malta acknowledged this yesterday during Mintoff`s mass, we certainly do not need a foreigner to re-write or history and incite hatred among the maltese, go back to your country.
Carmel Camilleri
Aug 26th 2012, 11:07
So it seems that after the ransacking of Eddie's house and the beating of his family, Mintoff showed no remorse but justified the action by stating it was the spontanious result to provocation instead of bringing the culprist to courts for their actions.
The same goes to the arson of the Times. No one was apprehended and brought to court inspite of the policemen being present at the scene..
No excuses. All those atrocities that happened during the 70s and the 80s had Mintoff's blessing and now some have forgotten all this and turned into saint.
Alfred Vassallo
Aug 26th 2012, 17:21
Believe me they NEVER had anybodys blessings. True and honest labourites ABHORED these instances and Labour paid heavily for these small band of hooligans who taught it fit that they can do whatever they want in Labour name. Perhaps what one can say is that things were getting out of control somehow.
James Catania
Aug 26th 2012, 11:03
Dear Mr. Manduca, although a good effort one cannot not notice, the message behind the very selective choice of quotes. Also a quote without any type of context whatsoever is left for the imagination of the reader which is not factual reporting. When you have two quotes, one against British rule and one in favour stating that he will embrace the Union Jack, this is not inconsistency or just as you might let the reader believe, that Mintoff ousted the British just because they denied Integration. One is in 1954 and one in 1973-79,Circumstances change and historians might know all what happened, but this is completely misleading and intending to put Mintoff into bad light by seeming to write an impartial article.
Lawrence Fenech
Aug 26th 2012, 10:59
Why do most fervent PN always get everything upside down, it was the church that clashed with Mintoff ask their church bells for a start.
It was Gaddafi who paid the cash for the the wages of the Civil Serivce and they went home with a paypacket in their pockets.
You also have to remember the China dock and that China is today's most prosperous country, what they both do in their countries is their affair.
T.F. Busuttil
Aug 26th 2012, 10:27
Well done TOM in publishing these quotes. beautiful, said by a hero, by a TRUE Maltese leader. A leader who was never afraid of no one, no country to fight for what is Maltese. When we were young tal Muzew use to scare us of komunisti and socjalisti. I remember tal gunta jew ta taht l-umbrella follows Mintoff the following Sunday meetings to bless the place. Yesterday although the Arcbishop was very mild surrounded by 2 dozen priest, HH The Pope Blessed Mintoff and Malta and I am sure that he thanked GOD for giveing us Dom.
Mr Joseph Carmel Chetcuti
Aug 26th 2012, 10:17
Mintoff was a complex man who was not afraid to change his position when circumstances dictated a change, his complexity lending itself to a great story. Indeed when other prime ministers will be forgotten many will continue to write about him, offering their particular slants of the man, the politician and the prime minister. Call him a firebrand if by that you mean a person of passion, passionate about his cause and determined to bring about change. He was a firebrand when Malta needed a firebrand.
B Testa
Aug 26th 2012, 10:09
Mr. Mandriva seems to have been reading these statements since they'd we're made and is again trumpeting statements on behalf of the PN. Everyone knows Mr. Manduca's inclinations and hence these are not a surprise, however it seems that there is no will to hear other people on Mr. Mintoff and it also seems that there is an instrumental and subtle attack to make sure that the Mintoff myth in Malta, that has again regained strength in the last couple of days, is now destroyed once and forever. Please Editor, I know for sure that you will not publish this, however stop acting as a puppet and show the people how to make proper journalism. Do not take the fame of other people and become just another (PN) puppet.
Ronnie Callus
Aug 26th 2012, 10:09
All facts in BLACK & WHITE. Mintoff was a great leader and he always read the future because he always did his homework well and studied whats going on around him together with what can result. If one has to study well his words / writings and move accordingly Malta benefits a lot.
John Neville Ebejer
Aug 26th 2012, 10:01
'......All my life I have striven to convince. This country is too small to remain divided for long. I hope you believe me” ....
This is so very true and of utmost importance for all seasons(legislations). With the limited human resources we have no Maltese Government can select the valid persons limiting himself to just to his own party supporters.
Meritocracy and technical ability should prevail in selection processes at all levels - expecially within Ministries and higher grades. No 'loyalty' to a party can substitute real merit. Both citezens and parties would stand to gain were this to be sacrosant aim of each government.
robert pace
Aug 26th 2012, 09:36
Great man great thinking ! He was one of the only who even thought of China in those days, look were they are today. Mintoff was one in a million and there will never be another in malta, the followers only did fairly well because he left all those millions behind and everything wa sin place to spend.
Thank you Dom we will definetly miss you!!!
Franco Farrugia
Aug 26th 2012, 10:55
Oh yes, I am sure we will!!!
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