“Mintoff’s National Interest”, a public lecture, will be delivered by Professor Joseph Pirotta in Gozo on Saturday, September 23, at 11am.

The lecture, which is free of charge, is being held at Il-Hagar Museum in Victoria.

Professor Pirotta will shed light on the Break with Britain Resolution moved by Prime Minister Mintoff which was unanimously approved by the Legislative Assembly on December 30, 1957.

Plans by Mintoff at the time to integrate Malta into the United Kingdom had stalled and finally broke down irrevocably by the end of March 1958.

This inevitably led to uncertainty about the future of the Naval dockyard culminating in the government’s resignation.

On 28 April, the General Workers Union called a protest strike in solidarity, marked by violent incidents and serious property damage.

In this lecture Professor Pirotta taps into a wealth of research collated in his new book “28 April 1958: Mintoff and the National Interest” on this period.

The lecture will seek to address questions such as who was behind the mayhem, whether these incidents were the spontaneous reaction of an angry population and Mintoff’s role in this, as well as the political consequences.

Professor Pirotta, the winner of the National Book Council’s Prize for Biographical and Historiographic Research will also explore Mintoff’s political mission and his efforts to fulfil it, examining Mintoff’s modus operandi and his conception of the national interest.

Signed copies of the book will be available for sale and visitors may also visit the exhibition of Pawl Carbonaro’s works.

Seat reservation for the lecture is recommended on: events@heartofgozo.org.mt.