The definitive life story of Dom Mintoff, father figure of the old Labour Party, has yet to be written. There was a time when he was reported to be writing his auto-biography. Maybe it is still in the oven.
Historians have no access to Maltese official papers relative to the Mintoff era. The main local sources of information consist of (a) contemporary newspaper reports, which were highly partisan and (b) hearsay from survivors, on both sides of the political divide.
An enterprising survivor who was in the thick of the maelstrom, John Manduca, has broken new ground by gaining access to the British National Archives, and to the despatches of the eight UK High Commissioners in Malta between 1972 and l987. His version of events, which is partly autobiographical, seeks to tell a good part of the story from a foreign perspective. Even so, where reference has been made to the aforesaid despatches, “minor incisions were made for legal reasons”. (The Flavour of the Mintoff Era)
The author, John Manduca has the right credentials. A former deputy editor of The Times of Malta and Malta correspondent with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Manduca was subsequently appointed chief executive of the Malta Broadcasting Authority and, later, managing director of the Rediffusion Group of Companies in Malta until the take-over of the group by the Mintoff government. Between l987 and 1990, he served as Malta High Commissioner in London.

Chequered career
Mintoff made his first foray, with Cabinet status, on the Maltese Parliamentary scene in l947, in the dual capacity of deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Works.
He spearheaded the movement that split the party and toppled Prime Minister Boffa from the party leadership. After regrouping and building up his forces, Mintoff became Prime Minister for the first time in l955. Before the end of one legislature, the Labour party was in the wilderness, with the Malta constitution suspended.
Mintoff was out in the cold until l971, when he became Prime Minister, by which time Malta had won its independence under Dr George Borg Olivier. From l971 onwards, Mintoff accumulated power and wielded it with characteristic aplomb, sometimes flamboyantly. He enjoyed several years of uninterrupted power, at the end of which he had more funds at his disposal than was the case at any previous time in Maltese history—some of it squeezed from the British Government, and in terms of a financial protocol with Italy, and some from diverse Arab sources, as well as China.
While in office, the Mintoff government decided, as a matter of deliberate policy, to intervene in major areas of economic activity, until the public sector became massive and preponderant. Yet the Maltese economy fell on hard times. The prevailing climate deterred private enterprise. Unemployment reached a historical record.

Noisy impact
Malta was too small a playground for the old fox. He took to the world stage and certainly made a noisy impact. He was a master tactician who could play rough and twist the tail of history. He consorted with unpleasant allies such as Ceausescu and Kim il-Sung to suit his purposes, not to mention the Soviet Union and AAPSO. His most spectacular coup was when he threw a spanner in the wheels of CSCE Final Act omnibus.
Even so, Mintoff was never idle on the Malta scene. His regime was associated with unspeakable offences against the constitutional rights of Maltese citizens, with a head-on clash with the Church, pressure on the judiciary, the run on the National Bank, the expulsion of the “Blue Sisters”, the doctors’ strike, and much more besides.

Mintoff’s heritage
Having said all this, Mintoff must not be denied the credit that is due to him. He will certainly be remembered, among other things, for giving impetus to the improvement of the social services, for some decisive constitutional amendments, which saw Malta reverting to Republic status, and shored up the democratic process. In my personal view, his greatest and unalloyed merit was his brave decision to demolish the Manderaggio, when he was still a minister serving under Dr Boffa. It took courage to remove that festering sore.
The above is not concerned with Mintoff the person, but with his judgement, and with the hallmarks he left on Maltese history. By this, I mean history unalloyed, and not Maltese history according to people with jaundiced eyes. History will not concern itself primarily with an assessment of Dom Mintoff’s brand of leadership, but with his stewardship and his heritage.
John Manduca has captured the piquant flavour of the Mintoff era. There is a significant aspect of his story which has been left unstated – and this is the story about the mountain which Mintoff’s successor, Alfred Sant, had to climb, to restore to New Labour an acceptable face and its due democratic legitimacy – only to be torpedoed once again by the old gladiator.