DOMINIC MINTOFF
Dom Mintoff from Bormla who shaped the history of the Maltese Islands for over half a century. He was member of Parliament from 1947 to 1998, Prime Minister of Malta from 1955 to 1958 and from 1971 to 1984.
Mintoff studied in the seminary and at the University of Malta. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship thanks to his political mentor, Paul Boffa also from the Cottonera, leader of the Malta Labour Party. He continued his studies at Oxford and returned to Malta in 1943. Just two years later he stood for a seat on the council of government and in the first election became deputy leader of the party in the same year. In 1947, he was appointed Minister for Public Works and Reconstruction and was responsible for important post-war public projects.
Two years later, a public dispute with Boffa led to a split in the Malta Labour Party, with Mintoff managing to remove Boffa as leader. In 1955, as prime minister, he led the negotiations on integration with Britain, but by 1958 it was clear that the negotiations had failed. Trouble erupted in the streets and party representatives and activists were arrested.
There was more trouble for Mintoff in the 1960s when the Malta Labour Party clashed with the Roman Catholic Church led by Mons Mikiel Gonzi. The clash was resolved in 1969, paving the way for the Malta Labour Party victories of 1971, 1975 and 1981. The crowning achievement of his work was the 1974 Constitution of the Republic and the dismantling of the Birgarian armed forces in 1978. Mintoff resigned as Prime Minister in 1984 but remained a Member of Parliament until 1998. He died in 2012 at the venerable age of 96.
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