WHEN ONE GUILD MEMBER HAD TO PAY FOR EVERYONE
A guild connected its membership on the professional, religious and charitable levels. Their religious insignia reflected strict obedience to Catholic moral values, one tenet of which no doubt was to avoid excessive drinking. Despite this, life in guilds often involved full tables and glasses, which in many cases led both the light-hearted masters and their assistants into irrisistible temptation. They often succumbed to it, and their drunkenness consequently led to scandals and a poor reputation for the trade and the guild of which they were members. The rulers, who became ever more radical in their attempts to reduce the guilds’ independence after the mid-16th century, enjoyed full support of the Church structures and put a lot of effort into cutting expenses for various guild feasts and imposing strict sanctions for those who spent more on banquets and drink than was allowed. The Guild Commissioners, who were appointed by the authorities, carefully controlled the annual guild account reports. They took care that guild rules were adhered to. In particular during the time of Charles VI, Maria Theresa and Joseph II, these rules strictly required the craftsmen to live virtuously and piously with no excessive wastefulness and convivality. However, restrictions on excessive drinking by guild members were just another example of the deep gap between the regulations, on the one hand, and real life on the other.
ALCOHOL IN THE VIENNESE PARLIAMENT
During every year’s budget debate in the National Assembly, alcohol was one of the main topics to stir passions. The discussions regarding the high level of taxes on beer, wine and spirits was usually heated, since it was always difficult to bring into line the interests of the state, the producers and the numerous consumers. But alcohol was present in the national assembly in a number of other ways as well. The Austrian Parliament – among many other things – housed an excellent restaurant that offered the MPs above-average service at moderate prices. A number of excellent coffee shops and public houses were also located in the immediate vicinity of the parliament. If we are to believe the MP from Maribor, Gustav Kokoschinegg, the parliamentary restaurant was always busy, while the big plenary room usually remained empty. The honoured representatives of the nation’s favourite past time was playing cards and drinking. By the time of the evening sessions, the MPs were already a bit tipsy and were thus not afraid to tackle topics about which they did not have a clue.
Drunkards, however, came not only from the ranks of German MPs; it was also the rosy red cheeks of the most successful Cisleithanian Prime Minister, Count Taaffe, that testified convincingly that the man was a true lover of good wine. It was not for no reason that German MPs were designated the “intoxicated pre -Teutons” by their political opponents. Quite a few lovers of alcoholic stupefaction also came from the ranks of Slovene MPs, who apparently spent more time in local public houses than in the parliament.
MPs appearance in the debates often showed signs of some of that political self-confidence that – as Jaroslav Hasek puts it – gets aroused by alcohol. The MPs’ speeches too often resembled what Ivan Robida referred to as “drunk talk”. Alcohol, of course, was also an inevitable part of the obstruction excesses that were common in the national assembly from the end of the 19th century. It is thus no wonder that during the climax of the obstruction against the Badeni language ordinances in November of 1897 the parliament reminded the correspondent of Slovenski narod of the most godforsaken tavern.
TOBACCO AND ALCOHOL IN THE FIRST YUGOSLAVIAN PARLIAMENT
After the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the rise of Yugoslavia , Slovenia became part of a new socio-cultural reality that differed considerably from the preceding Austrian one. The new state thus witnessed a clash of exactly opposite views and conceptualizations of various levels of political, societal and, of course, social life. One of the meeting points of people from various worlds was the Belgrade assembly, to which the writer Krleza illustratively, if with some exaggeration, referred as an “unintelligent and utterly primitive negation of any, even the most modest form of parliamentarianism” that featured fierce political fights, insidious plots, varied political styles and the most diverse personalities, who got elected all the way from Jesenice in the north to Gevgelija in the south, as well as a lot of drinking and even more smoking. Passions clashed on a daily basis, which brought everyday life in the Parliament close to the thesis of the Serbian politician Dragoljub Jovanović, who said that “a politician has to be passionate; however, he should have no other passions and weaknesses but politics.” Yet the MPs of old Yugoslavia did have a number of ordinary “other passions”. Among the most common and at the time the least disputable ones were alcohol and tobacco; both were trademarks of public life. An insight into the customs and circumstances regarding drinking and smoking in the Belgrade Parliament reveals a relatively unknown social side of the Parliament, beyond political clashes. It shows the everyday life of an MP of the National Assembly and his attitude towards smoking and alcohol. Despite the diversity within the first Yugoslavia, we can see that taking pleasure in such indulgences was self-understood, and their concrete role in various events considerable.
SLOVENIAN HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS, ALCOHOL, BURSCHENSCHAFT AND WOMEN
Masaryk not only exerted an influence on a large part of Slovene youth in a political and ideological sense; the young also adopted his recommendations regarding a healthy and ethical attitude towards life. One of the more important questions for Czech society at the time was that of alcoholism. Masaryk, who was a university Professor, published a special brochure about this problem. The nationally radical high-school student movement in Slovenia, which to a great extent followed Masaryk’s views and suggestions, believed this to be one of the key questions or problems for high-school and university student societies in Vienna, and Graz as well as in Prague. The periodical Omladina published a number of articles in which students – in most cases – made reference precisely to Masaryk’s warnings and discussions about the spread and perniciousness of excessive “drinking”; the question they were keen to add to discussions in this context was that of Burschenschaft.
ANTON MARTIN SLOMŠEK AND THE PROBLEM OF ALCOHOLISM IN LOWER STYRIA
The author analyses the time of Slomšek’s bishopry in the 1850s and early 1860s. During Bach’s Absolutism, alcoholism spread even more dramatically and held sway over the Bishop’s “lambs”. Slomšek therefore dedicated much of his attention to control over alcoholism in his parishes and surveyed the situation in the field through visitations. His anti-alcohol activities were also clearly evident in his pastoral epistles, to which he dedicated (zealously) much of his attention. It was precisely this “medium” through which he tried to exert an influence on the population and rescue it from mortal perdition, in particular from drinking spirits, a habit that was propagating widely among the nation. However, that did not mean that Slomšek was against alcohol as such. All he fought against was its excessive use (i.e. alcoholism), while he respected alcohol (i.e. wine) extraordinarily, which is evident from his poems dedicated to wine-growing.
“DOES A GLASS OR TWO HARM THE TEMPERANCE CAMPAIGN IN THE HOMELAND? NOT AT ALL.”
The Character of the Anti-alcohol Movement under the Leadership of Janez Kalan before the First World War
Janez Kalan (1868–1945), a clergyman, editor and activist of the Catholic movement, who participated in St. Mary’s Societies and edited the monthly Bogoljub (1903–1924), was the main figure of the anti-alcohol movement in Slovenia before and after the First World War. In 1903 he founded the Holy Army Anti-alcohol Association, and was also the editor of the anti-alcohol newspaper Zlata doba. Unlike his predecessors, he used a more tolerant strategy in the fight against alcohol. Absolute abstinency was not a precondition for membership in the Anti-alcohol Association. The movement was divided into the teetotallers and the “moderates” – those who abstained from spirits and were allowed to drink beer and wine moderately. Kalan was a very active and controversial person because, on the one hand, he preached ardently against alcohol and, on the other, was caught several times consuming it himself. In 1910 the liberal newspaper Slovenski narod made fun of that. The next year Kalan made a confession in Zlata doba that he had been drinking on the way to Jerusalem. In an anti-alcohol newspaper he even advertised “home-made” wine that apparently was better for people than “German” or “Jewish” spirits or beer. Under his leadership, the anti-alcohol movement was distinctly conservative and sought reasons for alcoholism and moral decay above all in the pernicious influence of modern society, and the solution to it in the re-Catholicization of society.
“SOBER PEOPLE WILL MAKE A FORTUNE, PROSPER, AND DEVELOP TREMENDOUSLY”
Carinthian-Slovene Fight against Habitual Drinking at the End of the 19th and the First Half of the 20th Century
Alcohol and its dangers in Carinthian-Slovene history have hardly been given any scholarly consideration. In my article I deal with the anti-alcohol discourse and anti-alcohol movement at the and of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century in journalistic and archival materials.
The Slovene national movement in Carinthia, marked by conservativism and Catholicism, believed the main reasons for alcoholism were religious tepidity (habitual drinking as a sin of excess), immoral social life (dances) and, of course, the Germanizing policy of the German “Freisinn” in Carinthia. Similarly, not only the causes but also the consequences of alcohol were seen above all in the moral and national fields. Alcohol apparently led to the decay of the two pillars of Carinthian Slovene spirit: the farms and nationally conscious families. The negative economic, moral and health consequences of habitual drinking weakened the people and furthered assimilation. (Excessive) consumption of alcohol also served the purpose of marking the enemies of the nation; from the Slovene perspective, for example, habitual drinking was one of the characteristics of a “nemčur” (a Germanophile).
With strong support from the clergy and in a close alliance with the all-Slovenian anti-alcohol movement, special temperance societies, for example “The Holy Army”, were founded in order to fight alcohol. The Slovene Christian-Social Alliance for Carinthia had educational centres that addressed the problem of alcohol not only in its temperance sections but also through comprehensive action, with special emphasis on youngsters and women. The gymnastic societies like the “Orli”, St. Mary’s societies and the central political organization also supported the fight against alcohol.
“AND THE ACCORDION WAS HEARD FROM EAST TO WEST AND OUR NATION REJOICED AS NEVER BEFORE, SO THAT IT HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO RECOVER ITS BREATH TO THIS DAY…”
The Rise of Immorality and Alcoholism during the Great War and in the Time of the Post-war Psychosis
It seems that the First World War had an effect similar to that of massive plague outbreaks in the Middle Ages or early modern times. People became aware of their transience and started enjoying life intensely by reveling immoderately and frequently, by making “free love” and by consuming alcohol in excessive quantities. Some church dignitaries were aware at the time that this would have consequences long after the end of the war. It indeed turned out that those who thought that the end of war life would bring life back to its old routine were proved wrong. “The poisonous germ of war dizziness” struck this time in the form of a post-war psychosis. Accompanied by a general economic crisis, inflation and great poverty, it pushed people into careless debauchery and “turned the homeland into one big public house that was open day and night”.
THEY ARE NO ANGELS EVEN WHEN SOBER, BUT TURN INTO BEASTS WHEN THEY ARE DRUNK
The Problem of Alcoholism and the Reception of the Theory of Progressive Degeneration in Slovenia at the End of the 19th and the Beginning of the 20th century
The author presents the process of the rise of alcoholism in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the era of citizenry, alcohol became a drug that spread among the people, and it was in particular the march of the “poisonous” spirits that took frightening proportions. Alcoholism as a social disease threatened both the corporal and mental health of individuals and the entire nation. With excessive drinking, the drunkards particularly destroyed their brains, and their drinking also posed a threat to their progeny; their offspring apparently would become even worse, even more lethargic, low-spirited and degenerate. Doctor Fran Viljem Lipič was already concerned about the noxiousness of alcohol in the 1830s, while in the second half of the 19th century, it was Morel’s theory of progressive degeneration that gained more and more followers. Professor Richard von Krafft -Ebing made it particularly popular among Austrian psychiatrists, and the theory was also advocated in the essays on alcoholism and insanity by the psychiatrists Ivan Robida and Fran Goestl. In the more serious cases, chronic alcoholism was believed to lead to moral degeneration and alcohol depravity. Thus, the saddest consequence of alcoholism was an ethical and moral degeneration of the drunkards, which developed alongside the decay of the mind and the heart. Alcoholism was believed to be particularly pernicious to the offspring, who were considered even more degenerate and psychically inferior. It was believed that parents who were alcoholics would also have alcoholic children; i.e. evil led to more evil. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, alcoholism finally became a disease, and its ill effects were sought at the core of social reproduction and family life. A typical alcoholic-degenerate was thus believed to be imprinted with mental degeneration from the outset, and was also partly responsible for the poisoning and increased weakening of future generations.
INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL ON THE DEGENERATION OF THE NATION IN THE PERIOD BETWEEN THE WORLD WARS
The article deals with the condition called “alcohol degeneration.” Between the World Wars, solving this problem gained a new impetus from increasingly radical solutions. The nation and responsibilities towards the nation and the state were becoming more and more of a norm. Individuals who had fallen prey to alcoholic stupefaction became a burden to society and parasites on the nation, according to the well-known degeneration theories. Because of “evidently” corrupt genetic material, alcoholics became inferior in the eyes of the refiners of the national essence and an obstacle in the path of the evolutionary idealists who dreamed about the next stage in the development of mankind. Dr Avgust Munda, lawyer and Lecturer in Penal Law at the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana, for example, suggested in a law journal that “all drunkards who have been stripped of their dignity should be sterilized”. In the supplement to the Medical Journal called Evgenika, they agreed with his views: “This might have an enormous effect in Slovenia, yet a radical and necessary one. As far as sterilization goes, it could be performed with consent. The author thus cites Kohlrausch, who believed compulsory sterilization was logical: ‘The will of an individual unconditionally must serve the good of the community.'”
“GIVE MILK TO CHILDREN, NOT ALCOHOL!”
The Anti-alcohol Movement and Youth in Slovenia until the Second World War
The guidelines of the movement against alcoholism – “the human plague” –, with a special emphasis on youth, were laid both theoretically and practically only at the beginning of the 20th century. Educators of youth believed that the new age in the sense of a productive life could only be built by healthy people and by no means by addicts to the world of deviations and immorality – drinkers of alcoholic drinks and drunkards – which is why they declared war on alcohol. After the end of the First World War, the authorities helped the educators with a set of ordinances and circulars. The authorities wanted teachers and catechists to actively engage in the fight against alcoholism among the young. They wanted to influence children and youth both in school (with classes on alcoholism and its disastrous consequences) and outside it (by organizing societies of schoolchildren and high school students – abstainers). Research in the decade before the Second World War showed that, in order to be successful in this temperance work, it was necessary not only to trace and explore the influence of alcohol on the mental and bodily health, but also in order to reduce or eradicate the problem , to change the economic and social system completely. Research also showed that it was schools, organizations for the protection of the young, various societies, as well as the state, the provinces and municipalities that had to be active in organizing protection for the young against alcoholism. Researchers thus put forward the example of parents, which, however, was too often a negative one.
ALCOHOL AND SPORT IN SLOVENE SOCIETY OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY
In Slovene society, where alcohol historically was a tolerated drug, sport and alcohol have lived in close cohabitation. In his article, the author points out the paradoxical position of alcohol in sport, since theoretical views on physical exercise saw alcohol as a human enemy, even though in real life it nevertheless remained its constant close companion. The modern sports life-style brought much hope into Slovenian society, since many saw sport as the only thing that could heal the nation of the social disease of alcoholism after the less successful anti-alcohol movements. At the same time, however, sport was notorious for regular instances of alcohol abuse. Alcohol, which traditionally was seen as a stimulant and later became a hindrance for sports achievements, could not be rooted out of sport. Its abuse was always condemned on the declarative level in sports circles; however, alcohol nevertheless remained an important element of a sporting social life.
COUNTERFEIT WINE BEFORE THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Wine forgery, like the forgery of many other kinds of drinks and foodstuffs (in particular flour, meat and milk) has a history centuries old. For this reason it is not surprising that there have been attempts at legal regulation of this area ever since the Middle Ages. But ever new regulations regarding the prohibition of the production and sale of counterfeit wine indicate that forged wine had always represented a pressing problem for the health and the wallet of worthy drinkers. Under the influence of the Industrial Revolution, the last centuries of the 19th century saw a growth in the importance of natural and chemical additives not only in the production and processing of all kinds of foodstuffs but also in wine. At the same time the borderline disappeared between artificial wines and wine-like drinks that were not a risk for the health, and actual counterfeited wines that sometimes could pose a serious risk for the health. Production of fake wines spread across Europe with increasing rapidity in particular after the 1870s, when wine production levels decreased dramatically with the spread of the wine louse.
The Austrian half of the Hapsburg Monarchy finally adopted a law in 1880, according to which only registered tradesmen were allowed to sell wine-like drinks, but at the same time they were not allowed to sell these drinks as wine. However, in real life these regulations were often poorly implemented. On top of it all, counterfeit wine was not even included in this law. After intense reaction from the public and a long procedure in the National Assembly, the Law on Trade in Foodstuffs from the 16th of January 1896 finally and explicitly prohibited the forging of foodstuffs. But acute problems with forged wine remained because the law did not specify which natural or chemical additives were allowed and which were prohibited. The legislator started resolving this question unequivocally only with the adoption of the Wine Law on the 12th of April 1907.
GROCERIES, LIQUEURS, RASPBERRY SYRUP, SPIRITS: EN GROS & EN DETAIL
Alcohol and Tobacco Trade before the Second World War
Handicraft regulations from as early as 1859 included trade and trade in alcohol among the tax-exempt crafts, while selling spirits was a licensed craft. With the amended handicraft regulations of 1883, trade in alcohol likewise became a licensed craft. The handicraft law of 1931 also required a mandatory training certificate for trade crafts. Regulations regarding requirements for the alcohol trade were often modified in that period – be it with regard to closed or open bottles, wholesale or retail trade.
The most common type of trade between the world wars was trade in mixed goods, both in the countryside and in town. Among other articles, such stores also sold the kind of alcoholic beverages that would also please today’s customers: wine, liqueur, brandy, cognac, rum, plum brandy, gin, grape skin brandy, wine lees spirit, maraschino, bilberry brandy, spirits and beer. Retail in alcoholic drinks also took place in kiosks, with costermongers and in commission sale shops. The extent of trade in wine, most of which was a combination of wholesale and retail or wholesale alone, amounted to about 6%. On top of the taxes, traders in alcoholic drinks had to pay an excise duty in the newly-founded Yugoslavia; the alcoholic drinks taxed under this state and provincial levy included spirits, wine, liqueur, rum and beer.
The Austro-Hungarian state had a monopoly on the sale of tobacco and tobacco products; consequently, the lease of kiosks and tobacco quotas was carefully regulated. The state retained a monopoly over production and sale of tobacco in Yugoslavia; tobacco at this time represented an important export product. Interestingly, the economic crisis was also reflected in the consumption of tobacco products: the crisis led to a drastic fall in the consumption of luxurious and medium quality cigarettes, while the consumption of lower quality cigarettes increased considerably; the total consumption of cigarettes increased considerably with the economic crisis.
“THOUGH LONG FOR ITS BEAUTIES LJUBLJANA WAS KNOWN”
Filter 57s in Our History and Heritage
The cigarette brand called Filter 57 is both an important and a trivial part of our past. It is cigarette that, after its introduction in 1957, became part of history and part of the “everyday life” of many smokers and non-smokers in Slovenia and Yugoslavia. It is connected with Ljubljana and the Tobacco Company Ljubljana. The latter was among those industrial enterprises that considerably influenced the development of the city and the course of its industrialization. The text that was printed on the edge of each box of these “cult” cigarettes – Prešeren’s verses about how Ljubljana has always been known for its beautiful girls – probably hinted at the tradition and quality of cigarettes made by the Ljubljana tobacco company. Filter 57 was a symbol of the Tobacco Company Ljubljana after the Second World War; it was its only brand that was preserved after the liquidation of the company and its production in the 1990s. Filter 57 became a “phenomenon” for various reasons. It was the first filter cigarette produced in Yugoslavia. Its name breached the Yugoslav tradition that cigarettes (i.e. types of cigarettes with regard to their quality and price) be given geographical names, names of rivers in particular. Filter 57 was the cigarette with which Yugoslavia joined the new trend of making smoking less harmful for the health. Filter 57 thus not only was a product of tobacco history, but also earned itself a place in our history.