Next year the Partit Laburista will start celebrating its centenary. Born from the womb of the trade union movement, our party contested its first election in 1921. The founding delegates came from different walks of Maltese life, giving the party its vibrant range of colours which it never shed. Yet they all shared a burning desire to uplift the downtrodden.
Throughout its history, like any party which is alive and kicking, it has been run and manned by men and women committed to the cause but who always thought for themselves. Leaders came and went, some leaving their mark more than others, some capturing the moment and some being passed by it.
Yet all the leaders of our party shared a virtue. All remained faithful to our party’s roots and what it stands for. All of them were social democrats to the core, conscious that our mission was to help, educate, give opportunities and incentivise those who weren’t born with a silver spoon in their mouth.
Equally, as social democrats, they knew that wealth can only be redistributed if it is first created. For that to happen, the country needed entrepreneurs, men and women with the vision, courage and talent to invest and risk.
Like any valid set of political principles, social democracy moves with the times. Circumstances change and our principles are constantly being re-imagined and adapted to address them. This is exactly what we did after 2008 and it is was what brought about the political and economic sea change which made Malta a shining example of success in Europe.
Every party has its dark days. Today, I look across the other side of parliament and I see a living (so to speak) example of what happens to a political party which has lost its soul, its unity, and its purpose. A party unable to re-imagine itself.
This is a dark moment for our party too. But for a different reason. We have not forgotten our principles and what we stand for. We have not forgotten where we came from. We have not forgotten the phenomenal success we have made of this country since 2013. We have not forgotten to remain united.
Our darkness came about because of one thing and one thing only. As a party and as a government we have been betrayed from the inside, by our own. The knife in our back was held by whoever forgot why we are in politics and why we are in this party. We are not in the dark because we deserve to be but because one of ours switched off the light.
But I stand before you today to offer hope. With integrity, unity and vision we can - and we will - switch the light back on. We owe the greatest majority that ever gave a mandate no less.
That we have been betrayed should not demoralise us. On the contrary, it should encourage us more than ever not to betray the one hundred years of history, of struggles, of great leaders and their successes which brought us here.
We are social democrats running a government which is a member of the European Union. I want us to once again stand tall, shoulder to shoulder with our European partners as equals, in principles as much as in achievements. I am sure that with everyone’s help, we will get there.
Above all we are the Partit Laburista and we will rise to this national occasion like no one, and I mean no one, else can. Our roots, our story and our principles are all we need to get back on track and keep moving forward. The richness of our political heritage is the key to take this country even higher than the unprecedented heights we have taken it already.
All we need is to remember that we are, and always will be, the Partit Laburista.