Politics in Malta
ZEIDENFELT, ALEX
Politics in Malta By Alex Zeidenfelt Islanders debate possible change in ties with England Malta's Labor Government, formed this spring by Dominic Mintoff, is confronted with a host of...
...It represents the landowners and large business interests...
...The undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the Nationalists' lack of firmness and vision paved the way for the Labor victory in the elections last winter...
...However, it is necessary that 10,000 leave yearly if a healthy economy is to prevail...
...Recognizing that Malta cannot cope with her economic problems alone, he advocates complete integration with Great Britain, including the payment of direct taxes...
...Politics in Malta By Alex Zeidenfelt Islanders debate possible change in ties with England Malta's Labor Government, formed this spring by Dominic Mintoff, is confronted with a host of constitutional and economic problems...
...Malta's meager natural resources preclude the expansion of industry or agriculture...
...More than 47,500 people have migrated since 1946...
...Since the close of World War II, the Maltese have been living off the bounty of Great Britain...
...Considerable success has attended the Government's efforts encouraging emigration...
...The Nationalist party, heir to the pro-Italian, secessionist, prewar group that went under the same name, is the second largest party...
...After breaking with Dr...
...The headstone plank in Mintoff's program is his demand for "union of Malta with the political, financial and social institutions of England...
...The Socialist Workers party is led by Dr...
...Operation of the dockyard, which employs 12 per cent of the labor force, provides the single largest source of employment...
...Boffa, a right-wing Socialist who is conciliatory and moderate in his views...
...Miss Strickland opposes both the Labor party's plan for integration and the Nationalists' demand for dominion status...
...Although not yet 10...
...The McCarran Act, fixing an annual quota of 100, dealt a blow to the program...
...On September 19, 1953, the British Government announced its willingness to shift responsibility for the island to the Home Secretary...
...She feels integration would engender a great deal of conflict between two cultures and systems of government...
...She rejects the latter as impractical in that it would impose a disproportionate burden on the island: dominion status is a luxury only territories able to pay for their own defense can afford...
...Next in importance is agriculture, most of which is subsistence farming...
...Already they have received 361,554 from Colonial Development and Welfare funds and 32,000,000 as bomb damage compensation...
...A former Rhodes scholar, he came under the influence of Socialism while at Oxford...
...Upon returning home, he joined Dr...
...Approximately 315,000 people live on 122 square miles of land that can provide for no more than 250,000...
...Malta's population is increasing at an annual rate of 8,000...
...Mintoff has emerged as the island's most powerful and controversial political figure...
...Paul Boffa in the Labor party, but his extreme views and inordinate ambition made it impossible for them to work together...
...Mintoff's party took 23 seats in the Legislative Assembly to the Nationalists' 17...
...an amicable settlement should be possible...
...Conservative in composition and philosophy, it draws its support from the professionals and the wealthy, and has come out for dominion status...
...There is no demand for complete self-government, but there has been considerable sentiment in favor of transferring control of the island's affairs from the Colonial Office to either the Home Office or the Commonwealth Relations Office...
...He would accept rule by either the Home Secretary or the Commonwealth Relations Office...
...Periods of tension and war are, ironically, times of prosperity in Malta because only then is its position as a major military base fully realized...
...Maltese leaders met in London with British officials to work out a formula for the island's future constitutional status...
...The island's economic ills stem from an expanding population pressing down on a stagnant economy...
...Integration would make it possible to share with the British the benefits of their welfare state...
...Mintoff is willing to accept transfer of the island's affairs to the Home Office and wishes it to be represented at Westminster...
...The conservative pro-British elements support Mabel Strickland's Progressive Constitutional party...
...Malta's constitutional status has left large sections of the population dissatisfied...
...During the summer...
...While no agreement has been reached...
...Since legislative and administrative autonomy in internal affairs has been restored by the Constitution of September 22, 1947, there has been a vertiginous parade of governments, each enjoying a brief, uneasy tenure...
...Boffa, he built up a strong following among the young people, the workers in the dockyard and members of the General Workers Union, the largest trade union in the island...
...There are no industries to speak of...
...It is the party of tradition and restraint, intensely loyal to the Empire and fiercely proud of its British antecedents...
...The minor political organizations, the Socialist Workers party and the Progressive Constitutional party, are parties of the past, lacking popular appeal and held together by personal ties and sentimental attachment to a leader or a tradition...
Vol. 38 • October 1955 • No. 39
