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University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 3PA
Gerry Zammit (1 August, 1930 – 6 July 1961) was a prominent figure in the Labour movement of the 1950s and worked side by side with The Labour Party leaders in the fight for Malta's liberation. He was a founder and the first Secretary of youth of the Labour Party and later Secretary of the Gwu Government Section. He was one of those who led the national strike of April 1958. He served a prison sentence shortly before he was due to go to Oxford to prepare for a larger activity for his country. He was still in Oxford when cancer killed him abruptly in 1961 at the age of 30 shortly before his great friend Joseph Ellul Mercer also died. Zammit has been romantically linked with Joseph Flores.
Gerry was a generous person and an intellectual type who reads a lot and always with newspapers or books under his arms. His brother Joseph describes him as very brave but of few words and at the age of nine he came first in the Lyceum exam. George Agius, a friend of Gerry's who later became General Secretary of the GWU, describes him as a very sympathetic and loyal man who was always impressed by the way he analysed a situation. Labour veteran Anton Cassar says Gerry was one of the party's foremost and among the most motivated in left-wing ideals. In those years, Gerry Zammit was mentioned as a rising star of the Labour Party along with the likes of Patrick Holland and Joe Micallef Stafrace and later Lorry Sant and Lino Spiteri, all prominent young people who began to be burdened with great responsibilities within the Labour Movement. Lino Spiteri describes the 'aura' around Gerry and says that he used to impress Mintoff with his arguments. Richard Matrenza, who like Gerry studied at Ruskin College, was also Secretary of the Gwu Government Section describing Gerry as a young man prepared for the leadership of the movement. Lino Cassar, who means Gerry as a pure socialist, had found out when they printed the newspaper The Dawn at Mayfair House. Later, he went to visit the hospital in England in December 1960. J.G. Vassallo, who later became Secretary of Boffa's Party, describes him as a 'fire brand' and agitator who formed part of mintoff's core group. Effie Mifsud, who in the 1960s was a party official of Toni Pellegrini, says that speaking to whoever you talk to, everyone tells you that Gerry was a star.
Gerry Zammit started his work with the Labour Party shortly after he became the Party's 'slit' in 1949. Mintoff had taken the party leadership while the former leader, doctor Paul Boffa, founded another workers' party. Gerry was only 19 years old and was an apprentice in the yard. It was during those days that he was forcefully thrown into labour within the Party. Within a few months he played a key role in setting up the Labour Party Committee in Gżira, as well as in setting up the Youth Union of the Party known as the Labour League of Youth. Gerry started looking for Labour from Gżira who worked at Dockyard to join him with a view to setting up the first Labour Committee on the Island. The first general meeting of the locality took place on 2 November 1949 and Gerry was appointed first secretary. J.M. Baldacchino, who was the first assistant secretary and later became secretary instead of Gerry, recounts how serious Gerry was in his job, of the point and kind of being deeply committed and that by his work he put the Gżira committee on a solid footing.
According to the minutes of the party's National Executive of 3 October 1950, Gerry Zammit sent a letter in which he proposed a youth union within the party. Dom Mintoff responded by appointing a commission of three people to prepare a plan for the establishment of the union. This included the Party's General Secretary, Joe Attard Kingswell. The Executive of 6 November 1950 decided in favour of the proposal and a meeting was called for young Labour people on January 14, 1951 in the City. The meeting, in which the statute of the union was approved, was addressed by the Party's Deputy Leader, Attorney Joe Flores, who had turned a blind eye to Gerry and strongly encouraged him. The chairman of the meeting was Danny Cremona. This meeting was reported with prominence in the newspaper Is-Sebħ of 18 January in which a notice signed by Gerry Zammit also appeared calling for members to submit nominations for the official positions of the union. The meeting was resumed on 28 January with a speech by Mintoff, who explained how from the youth union he wanted to build the solid foundation to strengthen the Labour Party in the fight for freedom from colonialism. Gerry was appointed the union's first secretary. Later, Gerry Zammit also served on the Labour Party executive until in 1953 he decided to go to work for a number of years in England. He remained in England until 1957. He also worked for a long period boarding merchants with a view to avoiding conscription. In that period, Gerry traveled widely around the world, including in Asia and Australia. Yvonne Micallef Stafrace, the first woman employed by the GWU, mentions how Gerry liked to tell stories about his travels, in particular the way he was impressed by the poverty he encountered in certain Asian countries. In 1957, at the insistence of the leaders of the Labour movement, Gerry returned to Malta and spent a year in the post of Section Secretary in the GWU until he went to Oxford in September 1958. From England he continued to help the party anyway and represented the Labour Party in a number of international meetings. The most prominent was in March 1960 when Gerry joined the Labour Party delegation in the famous 'Goodwill Mission' which led Dom Mintoff to the Middle East before attending the Council of Socialist Internationals in Israel. Anton Buttigieg and Ġużè Cassar went with Gerry and Mintoff.
Gerry Zammit became Secretary of the GWU Government Section in September 1957 in place of J.C. Saliba. Although he only lasted a year in this post he made a strong impact on the work of the section. The minutes of that year's GWU Council give a clear indication of Gerry's dedication to the union's work. It would have been at the heart of many of the initiatives that would have been taken. During that year Gerry had taken a prominent part in the national strike organised by the GWU in April 1958. Alfred Sant in his book '28 April 1958 – Bread and Deliverance' explains in detail the background to the event. The protest against the British Government was held because the British failed to honour their obligations. Sant's book concludes that the road to freedom and neutrality had its beginnings in the event of 28 April. Gerry had shown great courage and initiative that day and along with other union officials served a prison sentence on a charge of intimidation. The details of the court proceedings against Gerry and his associates are documented in Alfred Sant's book. When he was released from prison on July 19, The Torch newspaper brought a prominent report to its façade with a photo of Gerry surrounded by union officials, including Secretary General Reggie Miller. The title of the report read Last of the "Terrorists" in reference to the way the British referred to those brave Maltese who organised the national strike. J.C. Saliba thinks that Gerry would have reached out to the General Secretary of the Union if he had finished studying in England, because the members of the GWU Council had great confidence in him.
Shortly after starting the study at Ruskin College Oxford, Gerry met Ann Johnson, who was an English student studying at the same college. They were studying together and attending various University activities. Soon they became great friends and later inseparable. They married Oxford in 1960, when signs of illness had already begun to appear in Gerry and she kept his surname to this day. Ann Zammit now lives in France, and has made a career as an economist within the framework of the United Nations. In the 1970s she worked as an economic adviser to the Maltese Government. Ann has very clear memories of the sufferings Gerry endured in the last months of his life. She tells how, despite the pain, Gerry continued to show great courage in his study. After completing the diploma at Ruskin College, Gerry began another course of study at Wadham College, Oxford. But after the first two months, he was diagnosed with cancer and continued to study at home and in hospital. He was visited weekly by his friend Frans Massa, who lived in London and was the only person apart from Ann who knew of the fatal illness he was suffering. In March 1961, three months before he died, Gerry visited Malta for the last time together with Ann. From shortly after he became Labour's 'spruce' in 1949, Gerry had won Mintoff's trust and confidence and continued to help him in the party's work until the end. After just a few days of being in Malta, Gerry fainted at Mintoff's residence and was ordered by his doctor to return to England immediately to be given special medicine. That was to be Gerry's last trip.
It was Ann Zammit who got the news of his death which took place on Thursday, July 6. The news shocked the Labour Party and the GWU greatly. It further shocked his family, who until then were still unaware of the seriousness of his illness. It was Gerry himself who didn't want them to know not to worry. Ann remained in Malta during that summer staying at mintoff residence. For Mintoff, the loss of Gerry was one of the greatest heartbreaks he has endured in his life. Gerry's death came at a time when relations between the party and the church were very bad. In that year the entire party executive was given the interdict and Gerry himself, according to Ann, was threatened with the same interdict even on the deathbed. By the end Gerry had not given up on his Labour principles. He had decided that after his death, his body would be used for medical research which was radical and controversial at the time. This research lasted eight months until April 1962. Ann recounts that they found it difficult for Gerry to be properly buried in Malta so a decision was made to bury England. Like James Dean, the artist he admired and who worked the film 'Rebel without a cause', Gerry was charismatic and stood out both because he was a capable human being, and because he was short-lived. Gerry Zammit is also a rebellious symbol who was an inspiration to many people who followed him. The memory of Gerry Zammit deserves to be worshipped by everyone who cherishes the values of freedom for which he fought so hard with dedication.
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