The Mauritius Labour Party takes great pride in its 73 years history of shaping a modern Mauritius where the values of human dignity, freedom and social justice prevail.  The legacy of the Labour Party runs like a golden thread through our numerous achievements as a nation.

In this section, we outline the main events which have marked the sure progress of the country from a doomed future (according to some Nobel prize winners) to a middle-income country which punches above its weight in various international forums.

On February 23 1936, following an invitation from Dr Maurice Curé, about eight thousand workers were gathered in the Champ de Mars. The raison-d’être of the rally was to change social structures, political and economic effects of a colonial society. This historical gathering marked the birth of the Mauritius Labour Party.

The labour movement encouraged the working-class to fight for their stolen rights. Demonstrations regarding working conditions and low wages were held, and hence, the Colonial Government had no choice but to appoint a Commission of Inquiry to shed light on the issues raised by the working class.

The Commission concluded that “Trade Unions in Mauritius as associations, were created for the mutual benefit of workers through which their claims to increased wages, shorter hours of work and better conditions of employment can be brought to the notice of employers and to the government through the Department of Labour.” This was the first victory of the Labour movement. 

On the 1st May 1938, Labour Day was celebrated in Mauritius for the first time. The crowd was estimated at over thirty-five thousand. The unanimous call of the workers was: The right to vote.

Two years later, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam was nominated to represent the working class at the then Legislative council. The fight against Colonial injustice was tough, but the right to vote for all was reviewed.  On the 29th December 1946, Emmanuel Anquetil passed away, and Guy Rozemont became leader of the Mauritius Labour Party.

In 1948, the Mauritius Labour Party won the elections. They won again in 1953. As a result of that victory, Guy Rozemont made a request to the Secretary of State to receive a Mauritian delegation so as to discuss constitutional reforms.

The 1st Constitutional Conference was held in London from 12 to 20 July 1955, and a 2nd one in February 1957. The Party reiterated their demands for (1) the right for all to vote, (2) a responsible and conscientious government, and (3) a system to include ministers and constituencies.

On the 9th March 1959, the alliance Mauritius Labour Party and Comité d'Action Musulman won the elections. In July 1961, the 3rd Constitutional Conference was held again in London. The Mauritian delegation asked for absolute autonomy in governing Mauritius to be followed by independence in 1964.

On 21st October 1963, the Mauritius Labour Party won the general elections, and two years later (September 1965), the British Government called for a 4th Constitutional Conference whereby the subject of independence was discussed. On 7th August 1967, general elections were held again. The Independence Party comprising of the Labour Party, Independent Forward Block and Le Comité d'Action Musulman won by an absolute majority of 56%.

On 12th March 1968, Independence was proclaimed at Champ de Mars. A new era for Mauritius began. Since then, Mauritius witnessed major revolutionary steps – such as free education and the right to vote to the youth of 18. The political empowerment of young Mauritians thus became a reality.

Inspired by the Enlightenment spirit, the Gandhian philosophy, and Fabian Socialism, Sir Seewoosagur could only build a nation on sane and sound values. However, the greed for power – without, if necessary, going through democratic elections - by some people led to unnecessary wild-cat strikes in the late 70’s. This caused a hindrance to foreign investments necessary to the country’s growth. Combined with the oil shocks of the 70’s, the economy took a turn for the worst.  This was aptly exploited by the then opposition and in 1982, the Labour Party lost the elections by 60-0.

But as soon as that new Government took office, the population experienced major disappointment from the new Government. Instability was the order of the day, and the government elected by 60-0 did not last long. In 1983 general elections were held anew, and the Labour Party came back to power in an alliance with the MSM and the PMSD.  Similarly for the 1987 general elections.

Among other achievements, the Labour Party succeeded in redistributing wealth, decentralising health, education and other infrastructural facilities and, reallocating them evenly throughout the country.

Tired but happy and having restored Labour into power, Sir Seewoosagar Ramgoolam retired to Réduit as the governor-general where he tendered advice to the new labour led government until his death in December 1985. Undoubtedly, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, the Father of the Nation, has left his permanent imprint on almost every walk of Mauritius life – Free education, housing facilities, health care, birth control, social services, widow's pensions, old age pensions, family allowance, National Pensions Scheme, Labour Legislation, paid leave and holidays, sickness benefits, employment policies, workers benefiting from Trade Union rights, employment security and participation benefits, advantages of a mixed economy, combination of public and private enterprises.

In June 1990 the Labour Party made an appeal to Dr. Navin Ramgoolam to lead the country for a better destiny. He temporarily left his law studies and rushed back home as a true patriot. The Labour Party under the leadership of Dr. Navin Ramgoolam won the December 1995 elections, and he was elected Prime Minister. 

Each time Labour has been in Government, the country has taken major steps forward.  And 1995 was no exception. The Labour Party, being the architect of the Welfare State, has always put the people first, starting with the most needy. The Labour Party’s vision to modernise the island started to take shape, and this is also the time when first steps were taken to build an ICT sector.

After a last minute alliance in 2000 between the MMM and the MSM, the Labour Party lost the general elections held in September that year.

The Mauritius Labour Party armed with tools such as the democratisation of the economy, could hear only one message from the population : “change”. The wind blew, and change happened. The Labour Party defeated the MMM/MSM alliance. Since then, the country has been transformed - Starting first with free transport which benefits both the elderly and the students. The vision of the Mauritius Labour Party is to pave the way for a fairer society where every single person has the opportunity to achieve his aims, regardless of his background, religion, community and status. The enactment of the Equal Opportunities Bill is an important milestone in that direction.

Other areas of development include : The Child Protection Act has been amended to explicitly address the problem of child abuse and to ensure that offenders are severely punished, the setting-up of the MRA which has modernised the tax administration system, a capacity building programme for gender equality and empowerment of women, a 24/7 economic model to make the country more resilient, the prohibition of smoking and drinking in public for our health, the inscription of Le Morne on the World Heritage List, a highly improving Health Care system and more recently the installation of CCTV cameras for our safety and numerous multilateral and bilateral agreements to promote trade and travel such as the AGOA derogation and the new Schengen visa-free regime.

Under this Government, Mauritius has outdone the traditional African giants to top the whole continent on the ease of doing business and has taken the 24th position in the global rankings. The remarkable performance of Mauritius is due to the three main areas of reforms on which the country has embarked: Starting a business, registering property, and access to credit. Under the Labour government, Mauritius has also been ranked  as the best run country in Africa, according to the Ibrahim index of African Good Governance, which added to the excellent international coverage Mauritius initially received in areas such as the Tourism sector.

Bearing in mind that we are facing an unprecedented global economic crisis, the Mauritius Labour Party Government is determined to preserve existing jobs, create new ones through the Empowerment programme and protecting the purchasing power of the population. The ICT sector has grown from near 0 % to 5 %, the creation of a new city bigger than Quatre-Bornes/Rose-Hill put together – the Highlands City, while our Tourism sector is just another success story, thanks to the liberalisation of the air space area.

The youth has always had its place within any labour government, and this time again, with the presentation of the National Youth Policy programme, the young generation feels complete. The population today is witnessing the changes the country has made since July 2005, and all of those projects have at heart a future green Mauritius. The Maurice Ile-Durable concept is indeed another innovating idea of the labour party, stemming from the leader Dr Navin Ramgoolam himself.

The biggest and perhaps, the most important project of this Government, is the larger than life project, which is the JINFEI (ex-TIANLI) trade zone area.

The Mauritius Labour Party has always demonstrated its commitment to the well-being of the population.  It holds the same consistent language both in opposition and in government precisely because we are driven by our founding values and principles.