Anthony Pellegrini (1924-1996) used to be secretary of the Malta Labour Party, which he left in 1962 when het founded the Christian Workers Party (CWP), after the party did not return to parliament in 1966. Pellegrini returned to the MLP. When I met him in June 1973 he was Director of Information. We met in his office at Auberge de Castille.
PHOTO: Pellegrini (cenre) with Miss Mabel Strickland (left) and Dom Mintoff.
Mr. Pellegrini was first reluctant to talk to me; ‘Read the newspapers’. I had to convince him to reveal his perception of what happened.in the sixties when he broke with the MLP ‘because that party went too far in its conflict with the church. When you accept the six points of Mintoff I will leave. The church supported me and some other political parties financially. Father Bilocca canvassed for us. That was his good right. If a doctor may be active in politics, why not a priest?
I am still behind my political ideas of those days, even with respect to independence. I am still against it, we are not ripe for it. I believe in God, in a protestant way. I am scarcely practising. Religion is a financial matter. You give five pounds for the festa of your patron saint and the latter tells God: “let’s help this poor fellow”.
Borg Oliver was a shrewd and clever politician. He took care that the Independence Constitution could only be changed with a two thirds majority. He did not want a referendum, but coute que coute independence. The British were against it, but accepted it when they imposed their finance and defence aid on Malta. That’d why Mintoff was right when he undid this. The British press attacked him wrongly. The landlord sets the rent. Moreover Malta had been receiving the least of all Commonwealth countries from the British in the last 50 years. Even Uganda, Kenia and Cyprus got more.
In parliament I voted with the CWP 7 out of 10 times for the PN government, because I thought they were right. Mintoff told me: “That’s not the task of the Opposition.”
After the 1960 “treaty” there was no more reason for a Christian Labour Party. I dissolved my party and joined the MLP again and supported them moderately in the 1971 elections.
Since Mintoff’s victory he tried to persuade we several times for this position (Director of Information; AK0. I finally gave in for Malta’s sake. I could have holded this position under the Nationalists as well under the same conditions. I make no propaganda. I think I will be fed up with it after two years. I have other sources of income. This salary goes mainly to the taxes. I don’t have to do this. I am lazy.
I refused to become chairman of the Broadcast Authority, because I cannot stand as a candidate for elections within three years. I was to leave all possibilities open. I like to fight and I can talk my head off. I can convince the people.
The bishops are all parasites, the archbishop is senile. Gerada is clever, but a diplomate. Galea can only talk about the church.
The MLP government is not of the same caliber as the Nationalists. They have performed nothing so far.
The Peace Corps is a good thing. Let them work for their unemployment benefit. A fure Nationalist government will certainly keep this measure.
If we had elections now the MLP would loose substantially. I would give them no more than 15 seats, they cannot keep their pants on.’
After boasting that Prime Minister Mintoff needed him to stay into power Mr. Pellegrini explicitly told me: ‘If you publish this now I will call you a liar and I will sue you’.
I did not want to repeat this rather awkward experience and told my self that this would be my first and last interview with this unreliable man. I never met him again.
(originally posted on Facebook, 15th July, 2023)