By all accounts, post-war photographer Guido Stilon was largely apolitical, yet throughout his active years he attended numerous political activities spanning the range of the local spectrum. 

While family and friends say Stilon had little appetite for the content of the political rallies, his instincts as a photographer drew him to the showmanship and theatrics of the political situation that was unfolding during his time. 

Active between the 1950s and the 1970s, Stilon’s prolific documentation of Malta also captured its formative years as a sovereign state and before that, the long road to independence. 

In his book The Origins of Maltese Statehood, historian Henry Frendo features a newspaper cartoon that depicts Dom Mintoff and George Borg Olivier walking side by side and coming to a stop at a steep precipice. Below them, circling in the water, are two sharks.

George Borg Olivier addressing a meeting.

One is called “qgħad” (unemployment) while the other is called “għaks” (poverty). 

“Independence itself was a very tricky proposition,” Prof. Frendo told The Sunday Times of Malta.

 “Both Borg Olivier and Mintoff believed in it, but the smaller parties who were afraid of independence didn’t.

“They reckoned Britain had afforded us security, defence and employment and that independence would put all those things at risk.” 

While independence today is widely regarded as a success, the issue at the time divided the nation with its two protagonists, Mintoff and Borg Olivier, differing in everything from mannerism to foreign policy. 

Stilon’s photographs of the two prime ministers at various stages of their political life, as well as rallies showing supporters listening intently, capture only moments of the tension and turmoil that characterised that era of our history. 

A Labour Party meeting at the Gżira stadium

However, as measures were made to see new industry set up shop in Malta, the country made leaps and bounds in transitioning from a colony to a sovereign state, Prof. Frendo said, even experiencing return migration as the diverse workforce continued to grow.

“The fact that the country was gaining momentum and recognition and accessibility as an independent state induced a number of big enterprises to start looking at Malta,” he said.

“So, it was a big transition, definitely, but a successful one, because the prophecies of hunger doom and gloom and starvation, they were all proven to be unfounded in the end.”

During this time, the influence and reach of the Catholic Church cannot be understated, particularly under the stewardship of Archbishop Mikiel Gonzi, who infamously interdicted members of the Labour Party. 

“Gonzi was very paternalistic, he saw himself as the leader of the flock,” Prof. Frendo said.

“And so because he saw himself in this pastoral role, any deviation, so to speak, from the rest of the flock was considered an act of disloyalty.” 

Archbishop Michael Gonzi at a clerical meeting.

Much like in Ireland or Poland, the Church served as a rallying point for people against their colonisers and still commanded a lot a power. Independence could also spell doom for the scope of its influence, as well as Mintoff’s at the time during a bold proposal to separate Church and State. 

“For all intents and purposes, Gonzi and the Church were one and the same,” Prof. Frendo said. 

“Certainly, interdiction was used against those who deviated from the flock.” 

Archibshop Michael Gonzi with Prime Minister George Borg Olivier (third and fourth from left).

Mikiel Abela Il-Bambinu entertains the crowd.

George Borg Olivier addressing a meeting.

Photographer Guido Stilon.

Archbishop Michael Gonzi at a clerical meeting.

A Labour Party meeting at the Gżira stadium

A Labour Party meeting in 1959.

Veteran broadcaster Victor Galdes

The Guido Stilon photography collection

Photographer Guido Stilon.

The Guido Stilon collection, which has been digitised by the Magna Żmien project, is a prolific archive that documents Malta between the 1950s and the mid-1970s.

Stilon’s photography is the subject of the exhibition Malta in Transition, which will run at the Malta Postal Museum in Valletta from February 11 to March 7.

Mikiel Abela Il-Bambinu entertains the crowd.

Veteran broadcaster Victor Galdes

Former General Workers’ Union general secretary Joe Attard Kingswell addressing a rally.