Saturday, July 23, 2016

Public Health Care should not be taken over by private entities



The Communist Party of Malta said that “the Government should invest more in public healthcare and not in the private sector. The proposed measure to incorporate the private in the running of public healthcare dentistry services in the community, shows, that public services in Malta are being taken over by private entities.

“Workers in the public health service should be aware as privatisation will push-down their working conditions and wages, as new workers will be employed under precarious conditions that include jobs on a definite contract, and others under temporary agency work contract”.


The Communist Party of Malta added that “Healthcare care should remain public and not transferred to profit-oriented entities as this threatens the concept of having a universal welfare system. Government should not use public finances to subsidise private hospitals and clinics”.

MADRID ADDRESS



Address of the Communist Party of Malta to the 10th Congress of the Communist Party of the People of Spain which was held on the 10th to 12th June 2016 at Torrejon de Ardoz Madrid.

Comrade President, Comrades,

Allow me to deliver the well wishes and Greetings of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Malta to the Leadership and all the cadres gathered here in Madrid for the 10th Congress of the Communist Party of the People of Spain and to auger success to the deliberations of this gathering

The Communist Party in Malta started to be really active in Malta in 1969 at first it worked under a semi clandestine conditions it was still difficult to work openly although Malta was independent on paper since 1964 there was still a strong British presence on the island practically Malta was still a colony with a British Governor representing the English Monarch who at the time was the head of state. Malta was governed by a right wing conservative administration which was undemocratically elected, through the imposition of moral sanctions by the Catholic Hierarchy which still had hegemony.  This was a Party that prior to the Second War had a notorious Fascist past as its leadership was implicated in collaboration with the Mussolini regime in Italy. At that time British imperialism the Catholic Church and the local Bourgeoisie held Malta in a tight grip.

The Communist Party was never a big party in Malta as workers give support to the Labour Party a Social Democratic Party which was led a by a charismatic leader Dom Mintoff who had promised to achieve full independence by expelling the British and NATO out
The General Elections in 1971 resulted in giving victory to the Social Democrats. At that time Dom Mintoff’s party  was on the left of the Socialist International (Second International) It was an enigmatic Party as the first thing they did when it came to was to rid itself of the Communist elements that were within its rank. This was a blessing for the still young Communist Party as most of them joined the Party and ended up in the leadership
In its own way the labour administration was progressive as it nationalized the banking system in Malta, took control of broadcasting, Malta’s Port and airport, which all were still in British hands. The Communist Party gave critical support and help to that Labour administration and even acted as go between in the dealings with the Soviet Union and the Socialist Community in Eastern Europe

Furthermore that administration amended the Maltese Independence Constitution.
The Changes that came about were:,
 Malta’s Status was changed from a Monarchic state became a republic with a Maltese head of state
A Neutrality Clause was entrenched in the new Constitution.  
With these new instruments in hand Malta joined up with the non-aligned movement and started on the road to close down the British and NATO military bases on the island. In 1979 Malta became free from military bases.
The contradictions within the labour party came to head. In the mid 1980’s   Mintoff left the leadership and in 1987 the Labour party lost the general elections. The ideological weakness of that administration led to corruption and cronyism which alienated the working class. The Communist Party tried to intervene by standing up for general elections with the hope of gaining the votes lost by labour. The results were disastrous as the electorate was already decided. The Labour Party had given socialism a bad name,  also, the fact that in the last minute Dom Mintoff convinced the Party conference to change the rules of the game which favoured the right wing conservative Nationalist Party. Through these disastrous results obtained in the elections the Party lost most of its members. In 1989 with the fall of the Soviet Union and Socialist Community in Eastern Europe the party took another blow. It took almost a decade for the party to recover

At the present moment in Malta is once again governed by another Labour administration This time  it is difficult  to determine where this administration politically stands. The Labour Party today is more a liberal Party than Social Democratic Party. It is now very easy for the bourgeoisie to associate themselves with this party and when challenged the present leader denied that it was a workers and described the party as a “party of labour”.  The Labour Party returned to power in May of 2013 after an absence of 25 years The Party had   been in opposition with the exception of 22 months as in1996 the then Malta Labour Party was in government for a short period until they were brought down by their former leader Dom Mintoff who did agree with the Blairite new labour policy adopted by the then leadership
The gains the working class had made were slowly taken away by the   conservative Nationalist Party which was once more again in office. This administration applied for European Union membership. Slowly the Banks were once again privitised and an austerity policy was started to get Malta’s economic situation within the EU specifications thus the working class in Malta started to feel the crunch long before the capitalist economic crises came to a head in the rest of Europe Privatizations became the order of the day, nd all public amenities were privitised.

 Malta became a European Member State in 2002 and in 2004 the Euro was introduced eventually the high level of corruption took its toll and in the 2013 General elections they suffered a heavy loss.
The Communist Party managed to survive the crises that had overtook took it in the early 1990’s and is still recovering. The Party has yet to reach to the level of the 1980’s but today the conditions are there
Today’s Labour administration is a far cry from the Dom Mintoff administrations of the 1970’s. Today’s administration has continued on the same neo liberal policies adhered by the previous conservative administration. This is alienating its grassroots, and if the Communist   Party overcomes certain logistical problems it can once again grow in membership. This will give the Party a more influential role than it had up to now.

Long Live Marxism Leninism
Long Live The Communist Party of the People of Spain.