GUEST POST: Dom Mintoff’s incubus

Dom Mintoff came of age at a time when the cause and the person were very much one and the same thing.

It was the age of Archbishop Makarios, Fidel Castro, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, Abdel Nasser, Bishop Desmond Tutu and Robert Mugabe. This was the aftermath of the Second World War, a war which ripped to shreds the economic, political and social life of humankind wherever they lived on this planet.

The curtain was falling on centuries of colonialism. It was supposedly the dawn of a new political struggle, dominated no longer by the conquerors and the conquered but by Left and Right political philosophies.

Thirty years down the line, we found out that the rules of the game had not really changed that much. We still ended up with dictatorships and occupied states.

The new conquerors preached equality but just like George Orwell had predicted, some were more equal than others.

Some had access to travel while most of the others had not. Some had access to western consumer goods, but most of the others could only dream about them.

Some had access to better education while most had to make do with whatever the state provided. It was the same with health care and work opportunities.

The system was not fuelled by meritocracy but rather by connections. The Communist system could not sustain itself through innovation and growth but did so by instilling fear and handing out favours.

History proved that wherever it was practised, albeit to varying degrees, the communist or extreme socialist system failed to deliver the goods. It failed to put food on the table; it failed to meet the expectations of the young and it stifled any opposition and censored or censured any criticism.

The communist system was fanned by personality cults where the party and the leader were made to be more equal and important than the rest. Ultimately history treated these leaders with the lack of respect they deserved.

This was Mintoff’s time.

Of course not all of the political class subscribed to this system. Some fought against it. Some paid with their lives. It was thanks to the sacrifices of these true heroes that today the world, certainly Europe, is a freer place.

Dom Mintoff did not distance himself from the misplaced egos and politics of his time. He embraced them and practised his own version of communism in his homeland.

Some might argue that he did so in the interest of a newly-born nation. Some might argue that his policies were meant to give Malta an international voice where previously it had none. Some might say that it was thanks to his leftist policies that Malta now enjoys a solid and robust social welfare system which offers a safety net to those who need it most.

Others argue equally vehemently that 15 years of socialism in Malta reduced our country to a underperforming, time-lagged, inward-looking country where the lines between what is legal and what is not were constantly and unashamedly crossed by those who wielded power and those who supported the regime.

Some might argue that Mintoff did more good than harm. This line of reasoning, however, will find little favour with those who suffered because of his policies and style of government. And that means most of us, would but most could see this.

Many left Malta. Others were harassed, systematically oppressed, arrested and beaten. They will continue to regard Mintoff as an aggressive bully, the sort of leader we associate with North Africa or the certain parts of central and south America. Let’s face it: when somebody walks into your house and smashes your most cherished belongings, then hands you a fiver, you don’t say ‘thanks’ and call him generous.

Mintoff did not punch anyone in the face but many did so in his name and with his blessing.

During the Socialist years, many, very many, suffered. Even now, we look back and wonder how we survived at all, how we managed to somehow stand it. It is precisely because it seems so incredible now that lots of people have chosen to disbelieve even their own personal memories, and to rewrite their own opinion.

Maybe Mintoff couldn’t have been so bad, after all. If he was as bad as we remember, then how did we get by? So probably, we’re not remembering correctly.

However the biggest disservice Mintoff did was to his own political party. He built that party around the cult of his personality. It wasn’t a political party, but a sort of religion: Mintoffianism.

Even after his departure, the Labour Party remained a leader’s party rather than a fully evolved, true political party driven by policies. That is still its problem today.

His legacy did not stop with the glorification of the leader. Dom Mintoff preached stinginess and a make-do-and-mend mentality. It was all right to accept second-best and second-hand goods and services that nobody else wanted. It was acceptable not to aim high, but just to get by.

University education was a luxury and not a necessity. Proper infrastructure was a waste of money. Information technology was a waste of money. This mentality is still ingrained in the Malta Labour Party. This is why it has consistently been on the wrong side of history and made such catastrophic decisions with terrible consequences.

Labour fought against Malta’s EU membership, against the introduction of local government, against open market policies and the free media. The root of all these wrong policy choices can be traced to Mintoff’s legacy.

The Labour Party is still led by people who believe that society is made of two classes: the political class and the class of others.

In the mind of these throwbacks, the non-political class is there to serve the political class and any policy that goes against this basic notion is dangerous. The European Union, free market and free speech were all policies that tipped the balance in favour of the non-political class.

These policies gave a voice to the non-political class and shifted powers away from the politicians in Malta. They promoted entrepreneurship and initiative rather than connections, something which was alien to Dom Mintoff and those who supported his way of doing things.

Mintoff is now a page in our history books, but his legacy is not. It is ingrained in the party he built and the people he mentored.

It is a legacy that can still do Malta harm because of the inability of the Malta Labour Party to truly change and shake off the Mintoffian incubus.