I think that everybody will immediately agree that Joseph Muscat has brought about a very positive change in Maltese politics. I belong to the generation which had to endure the purgatory of the confrontational style of politics in the 1970s and 1980s, with violent political incidents becoming an unwelcome aspect of life in those days. As such, I believe that we owe a debt of gratitude to Muscat for succeeding to change the face of Maltese politics, hopefully forever.

The tremendous PL success at the general election has blinded us to the ideological vacuum that has been created

In doing so, one should also pay tribute to the pioneering efforts of former Labour leader Alfred Sant, who was the first to start the long process of bringing about such a change.

Having lauded Muscat’s efforts, I must turn to some problems which I feel need to be solved if the PL Movement is to prosper. Today, it almost makes no sense at all to speak of a “Labour Party” because what we have witnessed during the past years is, in my opinion, nothing less than the demise of the Labour Party and the creation of something which is radically different, i.e. the Labour Movement.

Some might think that I am simply playing around with names or political terminology but this is not the case.

The reality is that Maltese politics, like all European politics for that matter, has changed in the light of a changed political context.

Today, the idea of a political party with a rather limited and, therefore, intrinsically exclusive political power base has become outdated.

The concept of a political entity which does not encompass all shades of political opinion, all types of sub-cultures, all sexual orientations, all religious beliefs or the lack of them, etc., belongs to the past.

Muscat’s genius lies in the fact that he recognized this before everybody else and had the courage to go about the task of changing the Labour Party into the PL Movement.

At first, perhaps few really understood what Muscat was doing and it is only now that we have a clear picture of what he has managed to achieve. “Malta Tagħna Lkoll” (Malta for all) is not just the slogan that won the 2013 general election, it is also the principle underlying the whole existence of the PL Movement.

However, all this has also brought problems with it. The PL Movement is all-inclusive, it has to cater for the needs of all Maltese citizens, its political goals are vast and the national interest remains its main aim. All well and good but this is where the problems start.

Is this really a “Labour” Movement? As it is, it incorporates within it people who belong to the left, the centre and the right of the political spectrum.

Its policies also reflect a mixture of different political ideologies. That is why I earlier remarked that the “Labour Party” in Malta is dead and that a new political entity has taken its place.

This new entity is far different from the Labour Party as we have known it since its beginning in 1920.

The problem is that we still need to give a distinctive character to this new movement.

As it is now, I see it as a hybrid entity without a soul. A sense of disequilibrium has been created for many Labourites.

Many are asking: “Why have such things as the PL emblem and the PL anthem been discreetly relegated into the background?”; “Why have so many people who have been loyal to the PL through thick and thin over the years been forgotten and ignored while the famous so-called political ‘switchers’ have been given so much importance and even responsibilities denied to the former?”

The PL Movement does continue the work carried out by the former Labour Party in that its policies seek to redress the balance in favour of anybody or any social group suffering any form of discrimination or disadvantage, for example gays, the victims of precarious work, women.

However, that is the only connection I manage to find between today’s PL Movement and yesterday’s “Partit Laburista”.

I laud the fact that Muscat has eliminated the idea that a government is there to reward its supporters only and has put his foot down against any sort of government clientelism.

However, I believe that we must not try and show how impartial we are by also destroying the very identity of Labour.

We should not be ashamed to call ourselves “Labourites” or even “Socialists”.

We need not be ashamed of our past, although we should be the first to admit that sometimes we made serious mistakes when in government.

The questions we have to ask ourselves are crucial: “What do we really stand for?”; “Where are we going?”; “

Do we have a specific political ideology or is this new movement really based on not having a particular one?”;

“To what extent is the new movement based on continuous change, on always adapting to changing circumstances?”

We have destroyed the Labour Party and created the PL Movement. Is this, therefore, the end of ideology? Can we be popular without being populist?

The tremendous PL success at the general election has blinded us to the ideological vacuum that has been created.

We need to give a soul to the PL Movement. We need answers ... now!

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