Communist Party of Malta

Last updated

Communist Party of Malta
Partit Komunista Malti
General SecretaryVictor Degiovanni
Founded1969 (1969)
Split from Malta Labour Party
Ideology
Political position Far-left
European affiliation INITIATIVE
International affiliation IMCWP
Website
communistpartymalta.blogspot.com

Communist Party of Malta (Maltese : Partit Komunista Malti) is a communist party in Malta. PKM was founded in 1969 at a secret congress in the town of Gwardamangia, following the departure from the Malta Labour Party of a group of left-wing militants that had been active in the struggle for national independence. [1] Anthony Vassallo was the founding general secretary of the party. [1] The party first contested the national general elections of 1987 when it obtained 0.1% of first preference votes and no parliamentary seats. [2] Since then it has not stood for any other election whether at a European, national or local level. [3]

Contents

The current general secretary of the party is Victor Degiovanni, who took over the post from Anthony Vassallo in 2004. [4]

Creation

In the 1920s secret communist cells existed; however they have always been small in number. After the 1933 sedition trials [5] dockyard workers and intellectuals were imprisoned for the "crime" of possessing socialist literature. Progressive movements have faced large setbacks due to the sedition trials. Maltese communists militated either in the Partito Comunista Italiano (English: Italian Communist Party), in the Communist Party of Great Britain or worked undercover within the Malta Labour Party. Maltese Communists did not have their own party before the secret congress in the town of Gwardamangia in 1969.

Post-independence Activities

After George Borg Olivier's administration was defeated the PKM officially went into the open. The PKM organised protests and meetings as well as commemorations to Maltese Working class figures in support of emancipation such as Manwel Dimech. According to the US intelligence department by 1970 PKM's membership was around 100 [6] members. The PKM also takes part in international seminars. It has positive relations with the Workers Party of Korea and a Juche study group called The Juche Philosophy and Songun Policy Study Group. [7]

The party has collaborated with the left-wing non-governmental organisation (NGO) Moviment Graffitti, who used to hold meetings at the Communist Party headquarters in Valletta. In 2016, the two groups published a joint statement appealing for a reformation of the neutrality clause in the Constitution of Malta to ban warships from all countries from docking in Maltese ports. [8]

Political organisation in the Post-Soviet Era

PKM participates in Maltese politics by campaigning in joint-solidarity with international issues and talk about local issues.

Electoral performance

ElectionLeaderSeats

contested

Votes%SeatsRankStatus
1987 [9] Anthony Vassallo
0 / 69
?0.1
0 / 69
4thExtra-parliamentary

Related Research Articles

The Zinoviev letter was a fake document published and sensationalised by the British Daily Mail newspaper four days before the 1924 United Kingdom general election, which was held on 29 October. The letter purported to be a directive from Grigory Zinoviev, the head of the Communist International (Comintern) in Moscow, to the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), ordering it to engage in seditious activities. It stated that the normalisation of British–Soviet relations under a Labour Party government would radicalise the British working class and put the CPGB in a favourable position to pursue a Bolshevik-style revolution. It further suggested that these effects would extend throughout the British Empire. The right-wing press depicted the letter as a grave foreign subversion of British politics and blamed the incumbent Labour government under Ramsay MacDonald for promoting the policy of political reconciliation and open trade with the Soviet Union on which the scheme appeared to depend. The election resulted in the fall of the first Labour government and a strong victory for the Conservative Party and the continued collapse of the Liberal Party. Labour supporters often blamed the letter, at least in part, for their party's defeat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People's Action Party</span> Political party in Singapore

The People's Action Party is a major conservative centre-right political party in Singapore and one of three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament, alongside the opposition Workers' Party (WP) and Progress Singapore Party (PSP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nationalist Party (Malta)</span> Political party in Malta

The Nationalist Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Malta, along with the Labour Party.

The General Confederation of Labor - Workers' Force, is one of the five major union confederations in France. In terms of following, it is the third behind the CGT and the CFDT.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dom Mintoff</span> Maltese politician (1916–2012)

Dominic Mintoff was a Maltese Socialist politician, architect, and civil engineer who was leader of the Labour Party from 1949 to 1984, and was 8th Prime Minister of Malta from 1955 to 1958, when Malta was still a British colony, and again, following independence, from 1971 to 1984. His tenure as Prime Minister saw the creation of a comprehensive welfare state, nationalisation of large corporations, a substantial increase in the general standard of living and the establishment of the Maltese republic, but was later on marred by a stagnant economy, a rise in authoritarianism and outbreaks of political violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Labour Party (Malta)</span> Political party in Malta

The Labour Party, formerly known as the Malta Labour Party, is one of the two major political parties in Malta, along with the Nationalist Party. It sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratic Alternative (Malta)</span> Political party in Malta

Democratic Alternative, sometimes referred to as AD – The Green Party, was a green political party in Malta. The party was initially founded by a coalition of former Labour Party members and environmental activists in 1989. On 1 August 2020 the party announced a plan to merge with the Democratic Party to form a new party called AD+PD. The merger was conducted on 17 October 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enrico Mizzi</span> Leader of the Maltese Nationalist Party and Prime Minister of Malta in 1950

Enrico Mizzi was a Maltese politician, leader of the Maltese Nationalist Party from 1926 and briefly Prime Minister of Malta in 1950.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moviment Graffitti</span>

Moviment Graffitti is a left-wing radical environmentalist non governmental organisation and pressure group in Malta.

Harry Vassallo was the Chairperson of the Maltese Green political party, Democratic Alternative from 1998 till 2008. He was succeeded by Prof. Arnold Cassola.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University Students' Council (Malta)</span>

The University Students' Council, also known in abbreviation as KSU, is a Maltese national students' union. It is the oldest extant student organization in Europe. The KSU was established by Arturo Mercieca (1878-1969), later Chief Justice Sir Arturo Mercieca (1924-1940), in 1901 as the Comitato Permanente Universitario, also previously known as University Permanent Committee. The students union is involved in students' national and international politics.

The Communist movement in Korea emerged as a political movement in the early 20th century. Although the movement had a minor role in pre-war politics, the division between the communist North Korea and the anti-communist South Korea came to dominate Korean political life in the post-World War II era. North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, continues to be a Jucheist state under the rule of the Workers' Party of Korea. In South Korea, the National Security Law has been used to criminalize advocacy of communism and groups suspected of alignment with North Korea. Due to the end of economic aid from the Soviet Union after its dissolution in 1991, due to the impractical ideological application of Stalinist policies in North Korea over years of economic slowdown in the 1980s and receding during the 1990s, North Korea continues to nominally uphold Communism, but has replaced Marxism-Leninism with the Juche idea. References to Communism were removed in the North Korean 1992 and 1998 constitutional revisions to make way for the personality cult of Kim's family dictatorship and the North Korean market economy reform. The Workers' Party of Korea under the leadership of Kim Jong Un later reconfirmed commitment to the establishment of a communist society, but orthodox Marxism has since been largely tabled in favor of "Socialism in our style". Officially, the DPRK still retains a command economy with complete state control of industry and agriculture. North Korea maintains collectivized farms and state-funded education and healthcare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom</span>

Socialism in the United Kingdom is thought to stretch back to the 19th century from roots arising in the aftermath of the English Civil War. Notions of socialism in Great Britain have taken many different forms from the utopian philanthropism of Robert Owen through to the reformist electoral project enshrined in the birth of the Labour Party that was founded in 1900.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Popular front</span> Coalition of different political groupings

A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition especially of leftist political parties against a common opponent".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of Marxism</span> Overview of and topical guide to Marxism

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Marxism:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 European Parliament election in Malta</span> 2019 election of members of the European parliament for Malta

The 2019 European Parliament election was held in Malta on 25 May 2019. 8 different political parties took part in the election, of which, only 2 won seats in the European Parliament; the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party, with 4 and 2 seats respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019–2020 Maltese protests</span> 2019 protest movement started in Malta

The 2019–2020 Maltese protests started in Valletta and other urban centres of Malta on 20 November 2019, mainly calling for resignations after alleged political links to the assassination of journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia surfaced following the arrest of businessman Yorgen Fenech. The protesters also targeted government corruption and the lack of action on money laundering. The protests consisted of demonstrations, marches, sit-ins, and civil disobedience and have been unprecedented in Malta's political history since its independence from the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ideology of the Workers' Party of Korea</span> Ideology of the ruling party of North Korea

Officially, the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) – the ruling party of North Korea – is a communist party guided by Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism, a synthesis of the ideas of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. The party is committed to Juche, an ideology attributed to Kim Il Sung which promotes national independence and development through the efforts of the popular masses. Although Juche was originally presented as the Korean interpretation of Marxism–Leninism, the party now presents it as a freestanding philosophy. The WPK recognizes the ruling Kim family as the ultimate source of its political thought. The fourth party conference, held in 2012, amended the party rules to state that Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism was "the only guiding idea of the party". Under Kim Jong Il, who governed as chairman of the National Defence Commission, communism was steadily removed from party and state documents in favour of Songun, or military-first politics. The military, rather than the working class, was established as the base of political power. However, his successor Kim Jong Un reversed this position in 2021, replacing Songun with "people-first politics" as the party's political method and reasserting the party's commitment to communism.

Mark Camilleri M.Q.R is a Maltese historian, writer, blogger, and publisher. Camilleri served as chairman of the National Book Council from 2013 to 2021. Following this, he became an outspoken critic of the ruling Labour Party and of prime ministers Joseph Muscat and Robert Abela.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maltese Democratic Party</span> Short-lived anti-establishment Maltese political party

The Maltese Democratic Party was a short-lived Maltese political party formed by Lino Briguglio to contest the 1987 general elections. The party ran four candidates across eight of the thirteen electoral districts. The party ran with the slogan "The Citizens first!", this slogan would later be adopted ten years after by the Labour Party.

References

  1. 1 2 International Communist Affairs (1983). Yearbook on international communist affairs: 1983. Stanford, California: Hoover Institute Press. p. 458. ISBN   9780817978617 via Google books.
  2. "Malta: Minor Parties". Archived from the original on 7 August 2007.
  3. "-Political Parties: Acronyms, Names and Election Years". Archived from the original on 5 August 2007. Retrieved 7 August 2007.
  4. "Maltese communist party makes a comeback". The Times of Malta . 15 March 2010.
  5. "The sedition case and George Bernard Shaw". Times of Malta . Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  6. United States Department of State Bureau of Intelligence and Research (1973). World Strength of the Communist Party Organizations via Google Books.
  7. "Juche Philosophy Study Group (Malta)". Archived from the original on 10 January 2023. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  8. "No to harbouring of Military Vessels – Communist Party & Moviment Graffitti". Gozo.News. 30 March 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  9. Schiavone, Michael J. (1992). Elezzjonijiet f'Malta 1849 - 1992 - Storja, Fatti, Ċifri[Elections in Malta 1849 - 1992, History, Facts, Figures] (in Maltese) (1st ed.). Pietà, Malta: Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipendenza (Independence Publications). p. 437.