It is the duty of all Labourites to be honest about the party's past. We owe this to posterity because the true knowledge of our past history helps us to avoid repeating the same mistakes in the present and in the future.
Malta, just before and after Independence, was quite different from the one we know today. Compulsory elementary education was only introduced in 1946 and secondary education for all in 1970. This meant that in the 1960s there were many Maltese who lacked even a basic education. Intolerance, bigotry, superstition were rife in those days.
When Labour leader Dom Mintoff presented progressive ideas to modernise Maltese society, the floodgates opened against him. What happened during the politico-religious dispute of the 1960s cannot be excused on any grounds. Can anyone justify such incidents as the infamous attack on the Labourites who attended the Gozo meeting of May 21, 1961, for instance? Of course not!
Even at the time there were progressive members of the clergy who opposed what was going on. One of those who showed his dissent was Monsignor Pietru Pawl Saydon, the famous scholar, who openly declared that what was happening was wrong. This action alone has immortalised his name.
The really negative outcome of the politico-religious dispute of the 1960s was the fact that some Labourites came to associate power with persecution of the powerless minority in the country. When the MLP gained power, they would behave in the same way.
What about the role of the Nationalist Party in the 1960s? The PN presented itself as the political party which was not in conflict with the local Catholic Church and it made much political capital out of this fact. The PN did not encourage violence but neither did it do anything to stop it. I am being as fair as possible in stating this and historical evidence confirms my statement. From February 1962 to June 1971, the PN was in government. Thus, it must bear a part of the responsibility for not doing more to stop the psychological and physical violence endured by the Labourites.
When the MLP came to power in June 1971, the clash with the Catholic Church had come to an end after the agreement of April 1969. Mr Mintoff now set about ushering in progress and modernity. In doing so, he clashed with several social groups that did not want to divest themselves of their traditional privileges.
The period from 1971 to 1976 was not particularly troublesome in terms of political violence. The spectacular Labour victory of September 1976, however, seems to have robbed Labour of its self-restraint and, in a bout of arrogance and over-confidence, it began the road towards a period of political polarisation accompanied by political violence against the Nationalists. Such incidents as the burning down of the printing press of The Times in October 1979 and the attack on Opposition Leader Eddie Fenech Adami's private residence can only be described as shameful and condemnable.
The situation was exacerbated by the perverse result of the December 1981 general election. The more the Nationalists opposed the Labour government, the more violent was the reaction of several Labour supporters. Just mentioning the name of Raymond Caruana is enough to evoke memories of that terrible time.
Even here, we need to set the record straight. It was only a small group of Labour supporters who instigated and carried out these acts of violence. For the sake of fairness, remember the other Labourites who detested what was going on and who had no part in these acts of violence. Some of us even stopped acts of violence on PN supporters. On the day of the Imnarja protest action by the PN in 1982, I myself successfully intervened to stop two thugs from beating up a Nationalist supporter who had openly expressed his support for the PN action.
The Labour government of the time has to plead guilty to the charge of doing little to stop the violence. However, one must also point out that it was only two or three ministers, renowned for their violent language and personal retinue of thugs and criminals, who were mostly to blame.
Today, political tranquillity reigns in Malta thanks to the efforts of Alfred Sant towards eradicating violent elements within the MLP. For that alone, his place in history is assured.
Yes, the political violence perpetrated on the Nationalists in the 1970s and 1980s should always be condemned as should the violence suffered by the Labourites in the 1960s. I sincerely wish that with Lawrence Gonzi and Joseph Muscat at the helm of the PN and MLP respectively, reconciliation and cooperation will be the order of the day for the benefit of all Maltese citizens.