Malta commemorated half a century since becoming a Republic on Friday - marking another milestone in the country's history. 

The legacy of what happened on 13 December 1974 is still, for many, up for debate, and its history largely unknown.  The Malta Independent on Sunday delves into the significance of this day in Malta's history, its origins, and its legacy today.

Origins of the Republican ideal

The first ideals for Malta to become a Republic were not born in the 1970s, but came considerably earlier.

The patriot Mikiel Anton Vassalli is today widely seen as not just the father of the Maltese language, but also one of the early promoters of republicanism within the Maltese context. 

Born in 1764, he lived during a period of upheaval for Malta: the Knights of St John were in decline, and new ways of thinking about what could - or perhaps should - follow next were emerging. 

Vassalli had one such view: he proposed that the Order should stop fighting against Muslims, should open Maltese harbours for commerce with all powers, and should open a langue for Maltese who wished to become knights.

The suggestions, perhaps expectedly, did not go down well.  Vassalli fell into rank with the Jacobins - the most famous of revolutionary factions in France - as a result.  These republican ideals led him to his arrest: on 12 June 1797 the Order uncovered a coup d'etat which Vassalli was leading and he was imprisoned in Ricasoli before escaping to Italy. 

He returned when Napoleon took over the island on 10 June 1798, with the emperor describing Vassalli as the wisest man among the Maltese - but his stay would be short-lived.  On 28 September 1799 he was arrested as he tried to escape Valletta's blockade, jailed, and in January 1801 exiled from Malta for 15 years by the British.  He was eventually allowed to return in 1820, and died in poverty in 1829.

Just over 30 years later, Manwel Dimech was born in Valletta. He had a tough upbringing, culminating in his imprisonment at just 17 years of age for involuntary homicide.  Released from prison in 1897, Dimech went to Italy, and he was taken by the socialist ideals which were emerging over there at the time.

Dimech soon returned to Malta and he developed his political thoughts to become an advocate of a Malta which was independent of the shackles of colonialism: a republic that could sustain itself and decide for itself.  Most importantly, these were thoughts which he was not afraid to say out loud.

His newspaper Il-Bandiera tal-Maltin and his political movement Ix-Xirka ta' l-Imdawlin rattled the establishments of his time: he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church in 1911 and eventually exiled from the country by the British administration, spending seven years imprisoned as in prisoner of war camps in Alexandria, Egypt, which is where he died in 1921.

The road to the Republic

The road to Malta becoming a Republic had many twists and turns. Malta first achieved self-governance in 1921 - the same year that Manwel Dimech passed away in exile - but it would not before 1964 that the Maltese people voted for independence from British rule.

Malta officially became an independent nation state on 21 September 1964 after a referendum a few months prior.  Both Malta's major political forces - the Nationalist Party and the Malta Labour Party - agreed that Malta should strive for independence, but the way in which this should be achieved was the major conflicting point.

The Nationalist Party - led by George Borg Olivier - wanted to attain independence and then join the Commonwealth while also maintaining close ties with Britain through the signing of a financial aid and defence treaty. The Malta Labour Party - led by Dom Mintoff - meanwhile wanted to first attain independence and then decide with whom to negotiate for aid and defence issues.

The PN won the 1962 election within the context of this desire for independence but also within the context of significant social issues, as the MLP and the Catholic Church clashed - leading the Church to declare a "personal interdict" on the entire Labour Party executive, making it a mortal sin to vote for the party.

Independence Day came and went:  George Borg Olivier was the first Prime Minister of an independent Malta, while Sir Maurice Dorman who was Malta's last Governor as a colony became Malta's first Governor-General.  Queen Elizabeth II remained Malta's head of state - with Dorman as her representative.

The PN won the general elections of 1966, but - after Mintoff and the Church made peace - the MLP returned to power in 1971. His electoral slogan was 'Malta is ill; Labour is the cure' - which supporters quickly turned into 'Malta is ill; Mintoff is the cure.'

Electoral victory meant that Mintoff had the mandate to bring about the change that he had always dreamt of.

Many look to a politician's first 100 days in office as an indicator.  In Mintoff's case, the indicator came within the first 200 hours.

First Police Commissioner - the UK-born Vivian De Gray - was asked to step down, to which he obliged immediately.  The day after, it was Dorman's turn to depart.  He was replaced by Sir Anthony Mamo - Mintoff desired that a Maltese person hold the post.  The day after that, Mintoff dissolved British private interest in the dockyards.

The direction that the country was being led into was clear - and it was no less than what Mintoff himself had promised in the run-up to the 1971 elections.

The Republic of Malta was not something which - like an independent Malta - came about through a referendum.  Instead, it came through Parliament. Mintoff met Queen Elizabeth in July 1972 at Buckingham Palace where he advised her of his intention to have Malta become a Republic.

Two years later, Parliament had before it a proposed Constitution - one which required the backing of the PN, as it needed a two-thirds majority in order to pass. 

Its first article decreed: "Malta is a democratic republic founded on work and on respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual."

Ultimately, Borg Olivier gave his MPs a free vote on what was before them, and all but six PN MPs voted in favour of turning Malta into a republic.  Borg Olivier was one of the six to vote against.  Most notably, future PN leader and foil to Mintoff, Eddie Fenech Adami, voted in favour.

Republic Day today, 50 years on

Malta becoming a Republic meant that the head of state became the President - someone who has to be a Maltese citizen.  It's a post which eventually became associated with bringing national unity.

Yet what about the legacy of the Republic in the national psyche? How many people understand the meaning of being a Republic, and how many people consider the story that led to it?

Even today, Manwel Dimech - Malta's most famous purveyor of the ideal of the Republic - remains a lesser considered figure among the common man. 

One needs only to draw a comparison: 2021 signalled a century since Dimech's death.  In the same year, Prince Philip - the husband of Queen Elizabeth - passed away. There were more events - both official and unofficial - to commemorate the Queen's consort than there were to commemorate a century since Dimech's passing.

Yet it was Dimech that Mintoff was inspired by.  In his memoirs, brought to life by Fr Mark Montebello in his book The Tail that Wagged the Dog, Mintoff said that when he - together with Malta's first President Anthony Mamo - saluted the crowd and cheer the moment that Malta became a Republic, it was Dimech whom he thought about.

"'I can now look down from these Olympic heights,' he imagined Dimech as saying, 'and see my dream fulfilled in the Republic of Malta and rejoice for ever!'," Montebello's book reads of the moment.

 Legacies are difficult to ascertain precisely because of their subjectivity. No clearer is this than in determining the legacy of the day Malta became a Republic within Malta's political context.

Depending on who you speak to, there will be differing views on when Malta truly gained its independence.  Some will say that it was on 21 September 1964 - Independence Day; others will argue that it was on 13 December 1974 - Republic Day; and others will argue that it was 31 March 1979 - Freedom Day, when the last of the British forces left the island.

The fact that Malta has no agreed upon National Day up to this day shows that this is a debate which is still very much alive.