Mr Sammut, I read your open letter to our Prime Minister, Dr Joseph Muscat. You did this because Dr. Muscat has appealed to the “soldiers of steel” to once again help their own party by voting PL on 24 May, and to convince others to do the same.

It seems that you associate “soldiers of steel” with those who defied the Church authorities in the 60s and voted Labour. I, on the other hand, consider “soldiers of steel” all those who believed and still believe that the PL in government is far better for both our country and our people than any PN government can ever be. This was proved in the past, when Paul Boffa’s Labour government introduced the first legislation – the introduction of income-tax – which made it possible for the government to take the first steps in the social revolution that was to follow later during Dom Mintoff`s time. As you and all Maltese people know, Dom Mintoff changed Malta into a Welfare State.

But you are just judging Mintoff for what he did for our country and the Maltese people. I also judge Mintoff by what he did to our party, which is very different to what he did for our people. It is a fact that the PN always benefitted from Dom Mintoff`s way of doing things. When Mintoff had challenged Boffa for the leadership, and the party ended divided into two parties, who benefitted? The PN! From just seven Members of Parliament in 1947, the PN won 13 seats in 1950, if I remember correctly. And Labour ended in Opposition up to 1955.

Yet again in 1959, when Mintoff resigned in protest against the British government`s intention to start sacking thousands of workers from the Dockyard – something with which the majority of the people had agreed. But then, at the same time, gave the PN and the Church – the traditional ally of the PN – a perfect excuse to start a “holy war” against our party, when Mintoff spoke openly about the famous SITT PUNTI (six points). Although today all Maltese appreciate that there was nothing wrong with those six points, Mintoff should have known that he would be offering an electoral victory to the PN, since the Church, led by Archbishop Michael Gonzi, would grasp the opportunity to mount a crusade against the Labour Party and thus help the PN get to power. Our party then spent nine years on the Opposition benches.

Mintoff seemed to have learnt his lesson because he came to terms with the Church in 1969. Nothing was said about the six points. And when Labour won the election in 1971, the six points were then introduced. But it did not take long for Dom Mintoff to again help the PN get to power, when he started the Church schools saga. But he left this red-hot potato on Dr Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici`s lap because he resigned from prime minister and leader of the party. This was the main issue which caused our party`s defeat by just 5,000 votes in 1987.

But Dom Mintoff`s worst action and which once again offered electoral victory to the PN on a silver plate, was his wilful decision to bring Dr Sant’s Labour government down in 1998, just 22 months after having won the election in 1996. This fact not only stopped Labour from governing for at least a full legislature, but gave the PN a clear road to get Malta into the European Union! And yet, you say that Mintoff was against Malta joining the European Union. If he truly was, he should have known that defeat in 1998 made it plain sailing for the PN to return to government and stay there until March 2013. I must add that the PL failed to win in 2008 by just 1,500 votes, due to the fact that a few thousands of Mintoffians like you preferred not to vote, or indeed voted for the PN just to spite Dr. Alfred Sant from being once again prime minister. I knew a few of these Mintoffians personally

I have given you the other side of Dom Mintoff which you may have never thought about. Thank God, in Dr Joseph Muscat our party has found just the right leader to take on our political adversaries. Dr Muscat has not only inflicted a historical defeat on the PN but has attracted many thousands of people even from sectors that were traditionally PN voters. Dr Muscat`s first year as prime minister has already shown that the great majority of Maltese and Gozitan voters had made a very wise choice on 9 March, 2013. This is why I, contrary to you, appeal to all labourite “ soldiers of steel “, to once again rally behind their leader and party on 24 May, to give a strong message to those who have victimised them in the past , and still want to ridicule them today.

One thing you did not mention about Dom Mintoff was that Dr Muscat had also succeeded in bringing back Dom Mintoff to PL Headquarters where he embraced our young leader. Were he still alive today, Dom would have been the first to also appeal to all “soldiers of steel” to vote for PL candidates so that they may defend Malta’s interest in the European parliament, something PN MEPs cannot be trusted with due to their pro-EU fanaticism!

Eddy Privitera

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