What did anti-alcohol campaigns lead to in different countries?
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On September 11, Russia celebrated Sobriety Day. This date was first set in 1913, a year before the adoption of the Prohibition Law of Nicholas II. How anti-alcohol campaigns in different countries took place and how they turned out – in the Kommersant material.
Glass segregation
In 1898, a referendum was held in Canada, in which 51.3% of participants supported prohibition. However, turnout was not sufficient to impose a nationwide ban, so Each province has the right to restrict the sale of alcohol separately. For example, on Prince Edward Island the law was in effect for almost half a century – from 1901 to 1948, and in Quebec – for only a few months in 1919.
The production of strong drinks did not stop, which led to an ambiguous situation: ships loaded with legal alcohol were sent to their neighbors in the United States, where the booze turned into contraband. Within the country, get what you want the drink was available with a doctor’s prescription, so during the holidays Entire “epidemics” began.
The ban on the sale of alcohol to Indians remained the same. established back in 1876: representatives of indigenous peoples were allowed to drink only after renouncing their special status. It was believed that strong drinks reduced the efficiency of processing reservations. The Indians bought alcohol under the counter and immediately consumed it to avoid the consequences. Because of their rapid intoxication, a myth arose that they were intolerant to alcohol. They began to fight segregation after World War II, but they got rid of it only in the 1980s.
Beer corpse
At the first referendum in Iceland’s history in 1908 the idea of prohibition approved by 60% of participants. A complete ban on alcohol came into force on January 1, 1915, but did not last long: seven years later, under pressure from Spain and Portugal, the authorities were forced to legalize wine. Otherwise, the Pyrenees threatened to stop the import of salted cod, the main product of the Icelandic economy.
In 1934, after a second referendum, parliament lifted the restriction on strong alcohol, but banned beer with an alcohol content of more than 2.25%: the cheap drink was believed to have a detrimental effect on young people and workers. Then bars started serving bjorliki (Icelandic for “beer corpse”) is a mixture of non-alcoholic beer with vodka, schnapps or whiskey.
The situation did not change until the late 1970s, when entrepreneur David Thorsteinsson tried to bring back a few bottles of beer from a trip abroad. Caught at customs, he refused to pay the fine, saying that he should have the same rights as tourists buying a foamy drink in duty-free stores. Thanks to his persistence, since 1980, Icelanders were allowed to bring up to six liters of beer with them, and the ban was finally lifted on March 1, 1989. Since then, bjordagurinn (“Beer Day”) has been celebrated on the island.
Scandinavian tea party
In 1909, the Finnish Parliament passed prohibition, which came into force ten years later and prohibited private individuals from any manipulation with alcoholic beverages with a strength of more than 2%. Only alcohol for businesses and church wine were legally supplied. In addition, booze was prescribed in pharmacies as a cure for indigestion, neuropathy and other problems.
The ban led to the rise of bootlegging: within ten years the volume of surrogate seized from smugglers increased from 100 thousand to 1 million liters per year. It was mainly transported by water, using “alcohol torpedoes” – canisters of salt, which sank to the bottom when threatened. When the salt dissolved, the product floated. Despite Prohibition, it was not difficult to find booze: it was served under the guise of strong tea. A fashion has emerged to spend time in jazz cafes with dance floors. Since 1922 over 80% of crimes accounted for violation of prohibition.
In 1931, the authorities held a referendum, the majority of participants in which were in favor of lifting the ban. On April 5, 1932, the state-owned Alko chain of stores opened in Finland, which is still the only place where booze is officially sold. And the numbers in the return report “543210” took on a special meaning for the Finns (5.4.32, 10 am).
Disciplinary lesson
In August 1914, Russian Emperor Nicholas II, in order to strengthen discipline banned the sale of booze during the war. And although from the treasury immediately a fifth of the income was lost, which was provided by excise taxes, swept across the country wave of wine pogroms, and the closure of vodka factories left 300 thousand people unemployed, the positive effect was obvious: shower alcohol consumption decreased by 25 times and the associated mortality rate dropped to zero. However, in parallel the number of surrogate poisonings and the demand for hard drugs have increased.
In 1917, the provisional government abolished the emperor’s prohibition law. But with the Bolsheviks coming to power, the campaign against drunkenness resumed. The production and distribution of alcohol was again prohibited, and the penalty for violation was five years in prison with confiscation of property. This was largely due to the position of the non-drinking chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the RSFSR, Vladimir Lenin. The Bolsheviks were not distinguished by consistency, so already in 1920 wine returned to sale, and in 1922 – beer. In 1925, the first Soviet vodka was finally allowed – a 30-proof drink, which was popularly called “rykovka” after the name of the Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars, Alexei Rykov.
“Family business
The most famous anti-alcohol campaign took place at the beginning of the last century in the United States. Although some states have restricted the sale of alcohol since the mid-19th century, nationwide prohibition was established in 1919 by the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. In 1920, the “Volstead Law” came into force, which classified any drinks with a strength of over 0.5% as “intoxicating”, and also introduced punishment for them.
Prohibition led to the rise of organized crime and literally nurtured the mafia, which controlled the entire “life cycle” of underground booze – from smuggling to bribery of officials. According to some sources, by 1925, New York alone was operating up to 100 thousand illegal drinking establishments. The income from this business reached $3 billion a year. Estimates of the impact of the ban on the level of alcohol consumption vary: according to some, it was halved, according to others, it even increased.
The era of bootleggers left a bright mark on art, romanticizing the image of the gangster, and Prohibition itself, even after the repeal of the 18th Amendment in 1933, echoed for a long time in a number of states. For example, in Mississippi it was removed only in 1966, and in Utah it is still forbidden to sell beer stronger than 3.2%.
Stamps for the chosen ones
In Sweden, where since the mid-19th century, income from the sale of alcohol went to social needs (the Gothenburg system), a referendum was held in 1922 a complete ban on drinking, But Prohibitionists lost (49.8%). Then the authorities introduced personal consumption books – motbok (Bratt system), where stamps for the purchase of alcohol were affixed.
Norm strong alcohol depended on gender and social status. For example, men were entitled to an average of 3 liters per month, women – 0.5 liters per quarter. The poor were given less booze, the rich more. According to statistics, only one in ten unmarried Swedes had a motorcycle, and the unemployed were not given them at all. Buying alcohol was allowed once every five days. “Sobriety committees” were also created to investigate cases of drunkenness and violations of consumption standards. Denunciations flocked to them, and committee members had broad powers – including the hospitalization of drunkards and their forced treatment.
Although the Bratt system helped control alcohol consumption, it was regularly criticized for excessive bureaucracy, interference with privacy and social stratification of society. It was abolished in 1955, but temperance committees existed until 1974.
Everything strong is for children
In 1954, the Chairman of the French Council of Ministers, Pierre Mendès-France became concerned with the problem of childhood alcoholism. While drinking alcohol was considered beneficial: supposedly drinking kills germs and strengthens the immune system, so it was not limited by age and was encouraged in every possible way. Wine, cider or beer were poured directly into school canteens.
Teachers complained that wine made children sleepy or hyperactive, so Mendes-France tried to eradicate the addiction. replacing a glass of wine with a portion of milk and a piece of sugar. However, the parents were not happy with this castling: children began to bring drinks from home, and the prime minister himself was accused of lobbying the interests of the dairy industry. In 1956, in school canteens introduced an official ban on the consumption of alcohol by persons under 14 years of age. However, with the consent of the parents, it was still allowed to “skip” one glass of wine a day.
School drinking in France was finally done away with only in 1981; water became the only drink allowed there. At the same time, the French allowed minors to drink for decades: only in 2009 the age for selling alcohol was raised from 16 to 18 years.
Sobering up in a hurry
The young and energetic Secretary General Mikhail Gorbachev, who came to power in 1985, began perestroika With the largest anti-alcohol campaign in the history of the USSR. As part of the fight against drunkenness, the Soviet leadership limited the time for the sale of booze – from 14 to 19 hours, closed a huge number of specialized stores, banned any banquets and drinking in public places, but most importantly, sharply reduced the production of strong drinks.
The short-term effect was positive: the level of alcohol consumption actually fell by more than half in the first two years, Life expectancy and birth rate increased, mortality decreased. However, in parallel there were a surge in moonshine production, activation of the shadow market and criminal elements. And most importantly, Prohibition hit the budget, which in 1985 alone lost 16 billion rubles. The treasury faced a deficit from which it never recovered.
By 1987, the economic crisis and decline in his own popularity forced Gorbachev to curtail the campaign and begin political reforms that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. “Because of the mistakes made, a good big business ended ingloriously,” he admitted years later.
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