After a break of over 20 years, the Communist Party of Malta has made a comeback, with party secretary Victor Degiovanni saying it was not defunct but had been inactive.

"We will slowly get going again," he said. At this point in time, however, there are no plans to contest the next general election.

The party first emerged in 1969 when a group of left-wing militants left the Malta Labour Party. It contested the 1987 election with disastrous results.

The party released a statement yesterday saying it fully supported the struggles of working people in Greece against the onslaught launched by the Social Democratic administration, supported by capitalist parties to install severe anti-social measures instigated by the big capitalist countries in the EU and the International Monetary Fund.

"The Greek working class has reacted courageously and is fighting back to defend their standard of living and that of their families."

The Communist Party of Malta said it fully understood the struggle because a similar situation had arisen in Malta under the present centre-right government, whereby workers were facing anti-social policies and the dismantling of the worker's rights. Maltese workers, like Greek and other workers elsewhere, were being made to pay for the failure of neo-liberal policies.

Poverty in Malta was rearing its head again and about 2,000 families had their electricity and water supply cut off as they could not afford to pay the bills, while 17 per cent of the population risked slipping below the poverty line.