Activities of the Guardianships of National Sobriety in the Urals in Late XIX - Early XХ Century: Regional Experience in the Anti-Alcohol Struggle

Abstract

The author reconstructs the regional historical experience of the anti-alcohol struggle in pre-revolutionary Russia. There is emphasized important practical significance of the problem under study in the context of solving problems of promoting a healthy lifestyle in modern Russian society. A wide range of historiographical literature and sources is involved, on the basis of which it is shown that by the beginning of the XX century in the work of the Ural guardianships of national sobriety there dominated the cultural and educational trend. The author comes to the conclusion that in late XIX - early XX centuries the guardianships of national sobriety failed to stop the spread of drunkenness in the region. However, despite the limited material resources allocated from the treasury, these institutions made a significant contribution to the organization of “reasonable” leisure for the Ural residents and to the development of the culture of the Ural society as a whole. The social support of guardianships of national sobriety in the Urals was one of the prerequisites for strengthening the temperance movement in the region during the period under review. Under the harsh conditions of the state-owned wine monopoly, the temperance movement was the spiritual and mental response of the public (secular and church) to the challenges of the time, and the promotion of the idea of sobriety was a palliative means of resolving this issue.

Keywords

• alcoholization
• leisure
• cultural education
• history of everyday life
• social deviations