Communist Party of Malta
Communist Party of Malta Partit Komunista Malti | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Secretary | Victor Degiovanni |
| First Secretary | Anthony Vassallo |
| Founded | 1969 |
| Split from | Malta Labour Party |
| Ideology | Communism Marxism-Leninism Anti-imperialism |
| European affiliation | INITIATIVE |
| International affiliation | IMCWP ICS (defunct) |
| Website | |
| communistpartymalta | |
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]
The current secretary of the party is Victor Degiovanni, who took over the post from Anthony Vassallo in 2004.
Creation[]
In the 1920s secret communist cells existed; however they have always been small in number. After the 1933 sedition trials[4] 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 Communist Party of Great Britain, in the Partito Comunista Italiano (English: Italian Communist Party) 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[5] members. The PKM also takes part in international seminars.
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.
References[]
- ^ a b International Communist Affairs. Yearbook on international communist affairs: 1983. Stanford, Calif: Hoover Inst. Pr, 1983. p. 458
- ^ Malta: Political Parties Archived 7 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 August 2007. Retrieved 7 August 2007.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "The sedition case and George Bernard Shaw". Times of Malta. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
- ^ Research, United States Department of State Bureau of Intelligence and (1973). World Strength of the Communist Party Organizations.
External links[]
| Represented in Parliament |
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- Communist parties in Malta
- Political parties established in 1969
- 1969 establishments in Malta
- Eurosceptic parties in Malta
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- International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties