The Sette Giugno: A Riot, a Revolt or a Revolution?

Prof Paul A. Bartolo brings an interdisciplinary perspective on the Sette Giugno. He holds post graduate degrees in history, education, and psychology. He is currently coordinator of the professional training of psychologists at the University of Malta. Before specialising in Educational Psychology, he obtained a BA(Hons) and MA in History with a dissertation on War and social change: Malta 1914-19, and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education in the teaching of history. These led to his study and the publication in 1979 of the first edition of X’kien ġara sew fis-Sette Giugno 1919. That was based mainly on the documents available at the National Archives of Malta. A revised and extended 100 anniversary edition of that study has been enhanced with use of the documents at the National Archives of the UK. He has also published two chapters on specific aspects of the events: The Sette Giugno: How the Imperial Government pushed the Maltese into rebellion, and Sehem il- ħaddiema fis-Sette Giugno. Prof Bartolo’s interest in the study of Political Psychology also led to his recent monograph on Winning people’s hearts: How inclusion and exclusion informed the Malta General Election campaign of 2013.

 

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Sponsored by the Alfred Mizzi Foundation. The Sette Giugno: A riot, a revolt, or a revolution? Following the establishment of the Sette Giugno as one of the National Days in 1989, there is consensus among historians and Maltese society that the Sette Giugno events were an important milestone in Maltese political history. There is still, however, a variety of perspectives with some characterising the 1919 events as bread riots, criminal outrages, a class struggle, or a Maltese revolt or revolution. This presentation first sets out the primary sources at the National Archives of Malta and of the UK and newspapers of the period which were subjected to a qualitative documentary analysis. This leads to an understanding of the Sette Giugno from the point of view of those who lived that tumultuous experience themselves. Evidence is provided for the ways in which all the major sections of the Maltese population of the time were asserting their needs and rights in different ways while coming together in the widely representative National Assembly. The Sette Giugno thus emerges as the widest Maltese national development that confronted the British Empire, while at the same time creating the opportunity for the development of democratic processes among the Maltese themselves.

 

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