Malta: Political Parties, Trades Unions and Pressure Groups Material

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0101 PP.MM
Held at	: Institute of Commonwealth Studies   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://commonwealth.sas.ac.uk/resources/library ›
Full title	: Malta: Political Parties, Trades Unions and Pressure Groups Material
Date(s)	: 1955-
Level of description	: Collection (Fonds)
Extent	: 2 boxes
Name of creator(s)	: Institute of Commonwealth Studies
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

A large proportion of the material held here dates from the 1950s and 1960s, encompassing the build-up to and eventual realisation of Malta's independence in 1964. Amongst the significant debates of this period were the question of the consequences for Malta's economy of any reduction in the British military presence on the island and the merits of the various options of integration, interdependence and independence. The collection also covers the post-independence electoral struggle between the two main parties, the Nationalist Party and the Malta Labour Party, led for a long time by Dom Mintoff, whose writings and speeches feature prominently here. The antipathy of the Catholic Church to Mintoff's Labour Party led to the formation of alternatives, such as the Christian Workers Party, and there are holdings for these alongside those of other minority parties, trades unions and pressure groups.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Newspapers, journals, pamphlets, speeches, press releases, policy declarations, reports, press excerpts and other miscellaneous materials, from 1955 onwards, issued by the Christian Workers Party (Malta), the Democratic Christian Party (Malta), the Democratic Nationalist Party (Malta), the General Workers' Union of Malta, the Malta Labour Party, the Maltese Labour Movement (U.K.), the Nationalist Party (Malta), and the Progressive Constitutional Party (Malta).

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English and Maltese

System of arrangement:

Alphabetically by group, and then in rough chronological order.

Conditions governing access:

Open to all for research purposes; access is free for anyone in higher education.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies can usually be obtained - apply to library staff.

Finding aids:

Records at item level on library catalogue (SASCAT).

Archival Information

Archival history:

The ICS political parties collection was begun in 1960-1961, with special emphasis being placed on primary material such as party constitutions, policy statements, convention reports and election manifestos. Since then, the main method of gathering material has been to appeal directly to political parties throughout the Commonwealth, though contributions from Institute members and staff following visits to relevant countries have been significant. More recently material has been collected by means of downloading documents from the websites of the major parties.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Institute of Commonwealth Studies

Allied Materials

Related material:

See also Political Party, Trades Unions and Pressure Group Materials for other Commonwealth countries and related material in the library's main classified sequence, all held at the ICS.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Description compiled by Daniel Millum, Political Archives Project Officer at the Institutes of Commonwealth and Latin American Studies.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Created 21/05/2003 AIM25