The Christian Workers' Party (; ''CWP'') was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

during the 1960s.

Creation

The party was established in 1961 by Toni Pellegrini, a former secretary general of the Labour Party.Vincent E McHale (1983) ''Political parties of Europe'', Greenwood Press, p. 630 Pellegrini had fallen out with

Dom Mintoff Dominic Mintoff ( ; often called ''il-Perit'', "the Architect"; 6 August 1916 – 20 August 2012) was a Maltese socialist politician, architect, and civil engineer who was leader of the Labour Party (Malta), Labour Party from 1949 to 1984 ...

during the 1961 politico-religious crisis, and the new party was a direct answer to Mintoff's dispute with the Catholic Church in Malta then led by Archbishop Michael Gonzi. It was designed to attract the Catholic vote of traditional Labourites refused to vote for Mintoff's Labour Party due to its anticlerical stance. It was often cited to be a resurrection of the (Catholic) Labour Party founded in 1921 by Michael Gonzi and sought to expound Catholic (leftist) social teaching. Its other aim was to deny Mintoff's party as many votes as possible and still be a party loyal both to the Church and the Queen.

1962 elections

The CWP contested the

1962 elections The following elections occurred in 1962. Africa * 1962 Algerian independence referendum, Algerian independence referendum * 1962 Chadian parliamentary election * 1962 Gambian legislative election, Gambian legislative election * 1962 Northern ...

under a manifesto promising "Work for all first and foremost." It contested under the "umbrella" of the Catholic Church. The 'umbrella' was a reference to the four parties that contested the 1962 elections: the Nationalist Party, the Christian Workers' Party, the Democratic Nationalist Party and the Progressive Constitutionalist Party. It had the approval of the Maltese Catholic Church. Pellegrini's party received 9.5% of the vote and won four of the 50 seats in

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. The Nationalists gained 25 seats, the Labour Party 16, the DNP 4 and

Mabel Strickland Mabel Edeline Strickland, (8 January 1899 – 29 November 1988), was an Anglo-Maltese journalist, newspaper proprietor and politician. Family and personal life Strickland was the daughter of Sir Gerald Strickland, later the 4th Prime Ministe ...

's PCP 1. In all, the 'umbrella' won 34 seats. The Nationalists hailed this as a great victory, but the Catholic Church considered it as a defeat; 36% still voted for the Labour Party under pain of interdiction. During the course of the legislature, independence was gained in 1964, but soon after the CWP soon lost a member of the Party, Daniel Micallef resigned from politics, disappointed at the fact that Pellegrini negotiated independence with a pro-British rather than a pro-Maltese agenda even though the party's manifesto stated that the CWP was against independence.

1966 elections

Even if peace with the Church and the Labour Party was not to be achieved until 1969, the interdict had been lifted in 1964 (but still the ecclesiastical ban on Labour newspapers remained in force while it was still a mortal sin for the faithful to attend Labour Party meetings). As a direct result, Mintoff increased his party's share of the vote at the expense of the CWP. The 1966 election results were catastrophic for the CWP, which saw its vote share reduced to 6%, resulting in it losing all four seats. Following the elections, the party was dissolved. Pellegrini was later readmitted into the Labour Party and became a director of Xandir Malta.

Ideology

The CWP was pro-church and anticommunist. It supported independence from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

by a gradual process of

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

. It wanted to reduce economic dependence on the British military presence and to abolish

direct taxation Although the actual definitions vary between jurisdictions, in general, a direct tax is a tax imposed upon a person or property as distinct from a tax imposed upon a transaction, which is described as an indirect tax. There is a distinction betwee ...

in order to become a

tax haven A tax haven is a term, often used pejoratively, to describe a place with very low tax rates for Domicile (law), non-domiciled investors, even if the official rates may be higher. In some older definitions, a tax haven also offers Bank secrecy, ...

References

{{Authority control Defunct political parties in Malta Political parties established in 1961 1961 establishments in Malta Political parties disestablished in 1966 1966 disestablishments in Malta Catholic political parties