On August 6, 1916, Ċetta tax-Xiħ from the heart of Il-Bastjun, Cospicua, gave birth to her third child, her first son. It was the day of St Dominic’s demise, but the feast of Our Saviour according to the liturgical calendar. She and her husband Wenzu baptised their new born Dominico, Giuseppe, Concetto.

They were a big family, 11 in all. Wenzu appertained to an old Gozitan family of British maritime employees, but his father Daniel had made Phillipeville, northeast of Algeria, his base from where, in liaison with his brother Ġanni and in-law Wiġi Refalo, he carried out mercantile activities throughout North Africa.

Dom Mintoff, whose name was destined to be engraved on the list of famous politicians of all time in the history of humankind, including the roll of honour of the world-famous Oxford University, was born to an ‘international’ family within the Grand Harbour town of the largest workforce under the British Admiralty and rule.

The young Dominic was brought up in a religious household. His father, a stowaway promoted from cabin boy to chief petty officer, long-serving in the kitchens of both the merchant and royal navies, and later at the Castille mess, affectionately called Mastru Wenz among his comrades, was extremely Catholic.

He attended Mass every day at St Francis’ church (Ta’ Putirjal), Valletta, and would see to it that all the family members followed suit out of a sense of obligation. Wenzu’s favourite newspaper was the weekly Leħen is-Sewwa, which the Archbishop’s Curia had started issuing at the height of the State-Church full-blown confrontation of 1927-1930.

Mintoff was a seminarian and, from his tender age, intelligent enough to draw distinctions between an institution and the people who composed it. He would differentiate clearly between religion and Church, faith and clergy, Christianity as charity and as a diocesan force. He was to be for many years in personal, albeit genuine clashes with Archbishop Michael Gonzi, another dramatis persona in Malta’s annals of the 20th century.

Nevertheless, one of his happiest red-letter days was when he and the spiritual leader made peace in 1969, soon after they had reached an epoch-making agreement in terms of which the Curia commited to keep aloof from politics once and for all.

Mintoff was disturbed by the politico-religious questions that had escalated in the previous decade, and aggrieved by the imposition of the interdict and the effects of the ‘mortal sin’ that had led to interments at Il-Miżbla (the rubbish tip).

He was horrified by the thoughts that haunted him on the terrible fate of the victims of his ideology. He made regular visits to the profane and wall-separated area of the Addolorata cemetery during repeated winter evening excursions.

Angelo Ghigo from Mqabba, who taught at the seminary, was one of the first individuals to discern Mintoff’s innate scientific and humanistic capabilities, coupled with unique vision and charisma. Mintoff was already endowed with brilliant mental faculties when he matriculated to the University of Malta and demonstrated a stupendous organisational mind, which he continued to shape and enhance academically within the groves of his Alma Mater.

Mintoff had an unrivalled gift of the gab, yet he loved the written word. He read voraciously but perused every comma and full-stop

His schematic approach and initiatives, which would be observed only in statespersons, came out in the course of his tenures of office as Prime Minister, but also in other capacities at diverse levels. His methodical adroitness underpinned by his philosophy of making Malta Svizzera fil-Mediterran (a Swizerland in the Mediterranean), the bridgehead of commerce between three continents, could well be read into his government’s five-year development plans, the erection of industrial estates, the consolidation of the welfare state, the expansion of the economic system, the conversion of Malta from a military arsenal into an oasis of tourism, and above all, the reduction in unemployment and mass emigration.

He eulogised Dr Enrico Mizzi for advocating workmen’s compensation and dwellings under his first government. He proceeded to establish national insurance and assistance, as well as provide housing on the lines of the former Nationalist forerunner.

His knowledge on finance was far-flung as to comprise extensive knowhow on banking. Dr Giorgio Borg Olivier, the other political giant who co-shared, by contrast or compliment, the main events of the post-World War II story of our motherland, entrusted Mintoff with a principal role on the committee that was set up by the Nationalist Party in government to fashion and promulgate the Central Bank Act. Indeed, Mintoff’s orderly and punctilious style would be noted in homely occasions and, needless to say, every time he offered dinners to his friends at his Tarxien and Delimara abodes!

Mintoff entertained the belief that policy had to be brought to fruition by virtue of legislation. A towering personage and reformer, to use Prof. Oliver Friggieri’s inimitable description of him, he piloted over 500 primary enactments through Parliament that did away with anachronistic laws and obsolete administrative regimes and were set to make Malta move closer to the signs of the time and winds of change following Independence and in the era of the Republic.

He brimmed with new ideas and would be quick to accomplish them. No doubt, he deemed reform a must – a compulsion – and not infrequently fought for it by drawing on unorthodox strategies. Mintoff was the youngest primus inter pares as Premier and the longest-serving Member of Parliament.

He was Minister for Reconstruction, who rebuilt his war-ravaged heartland in the aftermath of WWII. He engineered social benefits aimed at elevating the living conditions of the lower strata of society. He embarked on amendments and additions to the Civil and Criminal Codes that introduced civil matrimony and recognised divorce in mixed litigations.

Nevertheless, his greatest achievements turned around the lifting of women’s status, the implementation of a minimum wage and the performance of a universal, free education programme. He emancipated the mother-wife role in the family, and secured equality of sexes as much as he could by entrusting portfolios to female colleagues.

He undertook his mission to eradicate intellectual poverty and cultural discrimination through the ministerial appointment and assistance of Agatha Barbara, who was one of his buttresses from the beginning of her career, and later nominated her as the first female President of Malta. Thus, he was often identified limitedly, and wrongly so, with the extirpation of material destitution.

In point of fact, he hated ignorance and emargination, and resisted the temptation to fall into the impoverishment trap. He went on to build on the edifice of compulsory instruction by extending it to the age of 16 because he attributed lack of schooling to whoever lived from hand to mouth.

Mintoff had an unrivalled gift of the gab, yet he loved the written word, not merely in statutes to bring his measures to bear but in literature and prose to express the beauty of tongues. He had his rooms furnished with publications of all sorts. He read voraciously but once again he perused every comma and full-stop.

He knew bestsellers in detail, ranging from the Holy Scripture to Karl Marx. He listened to the Rediffusion and BBC news bulletins and enjoyed classical operas and musicals. He admired nature and creation. He was impressed by Prison Notes by Antonio Gramsci, who inculcated respect for the countryside, the environment.

Mintoff had a soft spot for trees and urban embellishments. His garden was a veritable zoo and was replete with plants. He had a predilection for animals. He was delighted by dogs and fascinated by horses. He was a formidable sportsman, athlete and swimmer. He was probably one of the first citizens to try windsurfing. He was adamant on healthy eating and gave priority to physical fitness.

Notwithstanding his inborn talents and acquisitive brain that enabled him to anatomise every bit and piece under heavens, he preferred simplicity in his methods and dealings. He felt more comfortable addressing masses on a second-hand lorry than sitting opposite a cameraperson inside a decked television studio.

He prognosticated and would anticipate developments, varying from the humanitarian to the technological. He was instrumental in the drawing up and execution of master plans relating to transmission networks and paved the way for the digitalisation and modernisation of telecommunications and the media.

He sought to keep au courant with progress across the globe. He dreamt and talked about alternative energy long before foreign experts experimented with it overseas. He was full of determination and resolute in decisions, but would consult more qualified authorities on such potential materialisations as he did with regard to many a project his governments suggested and brought into effect.

Mintoff cherished whatever concerned his nation and people. He was fond of his language – il-Malti – which he articulated with majesty and eloquence, whether by discourse or in writing. He tried his utmost to derive terms, coin expressions and enrich the diction of the local standard vernacular on the strength of the Semitic triliteral model.

For one, he managed to popularise the word mitjar (aerodrome), a mimation of the verb tar (to fly), when he ushered in a new airstrip and inaugurated Air Malta. He saw to it to revive the traditional għana (folk songs) by inviting għannejja to public ceremonies and celebrations.

He delved with facility and serenity into domestic and general history, and was a connoisseur of the lives and contributions of his indefatigable predecessors – Dr Fortunato Mizzi and Lord Gerald Strickland occupying pride of place. His native land came first and foremost. He was synonymous with the expression “Malta l-ewwel u qabel kollox” (Malta first and foremost).

His objective was invariably and indubitably one: Malta’s wealth and prosperity on all counts and fronts, even at the cost of swinging the pendulum. He proposed full integration with the UK and later on switched to give support for complete Independence so that he was a crucial factor in Dr Borg Olivier’s manoeuvring with London.

In the interval, he wrote thoroughly on neutrality, which he eventually succeeded in incorporating with non-alignment in the Constitution. He embraced socialism and was surely no communist. His subsequent nationalisation of broadcasting, aerial transport and so on, were more a nationalist enterprise.

He excelled as a shrewd negotiator on the international scene, whether he resorted to diplomacy or abrasive behaviour

He was in a class of his own not only for his oratory but also for his tactics and style. He excelled as a shrewd negotiator on the international scene, whether he resorted to diplomacy or abrasive behaviour. He often left prospective investors gasp for breath by his exploits, even in premature situations or on momentous issues.

He was inevitably seen as complex and controversial, and gained a double-edged reputation for certain actions and deeds. Unquestionably, he became legendary, and his myth gave a hagiographic significance to his image of Il-Perit (The Architect) smoking the pipe (a symbol of creativity) and wearing a belt with a huge buckle displaying the torch (an emblem of dynamism).

Mintoff was a staunch believer in democracy, so much so that he put it above his own immediate interests and those of his movement. He staked his reputation and future to assert and ensure the fundamental right of the electorate to have the party of its choice at the helm.

He relinquished the reins because he no longer enjoyed the majority of the plebiscite. His severest critics admitted that, true to his principles and character, and in the face of heavy odds and strong opposition from his grouping, he ensured that what he qualified a “perverse” result in 1981 would not be replicated, that is to say, the number of seats had to reflect the number of votes; constitutionality had to be compatible with democracy.

He single-handedly convinced, if not coerced, the Labourites to back him, and, in the event, he received the acceptance of the whole House of Representatives. He kept his promise to the end, and reconciliation ensued in the wake of a very turbulent period.

In retrospect, it was no surprise that the Constitutional Court, the highest judicial tribunal, declared in a human rights case he instituted in 1996 that he “doubtlessly predominated Maltese history and influenced the destiny of the Maltese people...”.

Marriage and family

Dominic Mintoff married Moyra de Vere Bentick in the church of Our Lady of Mercy, Żejtun, on November 22, 1947. She was the daughter of a British major, Reginald Joseph Bentick, and Florence née Beanclerk.

He met Moyra after he had availed himself of a lodging scheme provided by the Red Cross, while he got stranded in England as an Oxonian student pursuant to a Rhodes scholarship in the course of WWII.

He used to cycle from Oxford to Cheltenham to have sojourns in her family’s residence during holidays when he was unable to escape to Malta owing to the emergency circumstances.

His future consort had once visited a fortune teller to be informed that she would soon wed an individual always surrounded by crowds. Moyra imagined that she would have a policeman as her husband!

They had two daughters, Anne McKenna and Yana Mintoff Bland.

Prof. Raymond Mangion is a graduate in literature, linguistics, communication studies, patrology, law and history.