»Najboljša je pač voda«

Protialkoholno gibanje na Slovenskem v luči revije Piščalka in društva Abstinent

Abstract

Alcoholism was one of the most burning social problems in the 19th century. The first to declare a fight against it were the Catholic Church and bourgeois morality, which both saw it as a sin and as a moral failure on the part of the alcoholic. At the end of the 19th century, a different, scientific attitude prevailed, which saw alcoholism as a condition and alcohol as poison. This new understanding had a considerable impact on the contemporary anti-alcohol movement, which to a large extent had replaced the struggle for moderation and started to endorse complete abstinence. In Slovenia, the new view of alcohol and the problem of alcoholism established itself at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1905 the Piščalka (The Whistle) magazine was published, which treated alcoholism from a scientific point of view. It supported a complete abstinence from alcoholic drinks and declared alcohol to be poison. Its progressive views were met with resistance by conservative elements in the Catholic Church, followed by heated polemics between the “Whistlers” and the Franciscan Stanislav Škrabec. The plan of the then Slovene anti-alcohol fighters, of whom the large majority were still priests, to establish a network of antialcohol movements, however, did not come to fruition. They only founded the Abstinence Society under the leadership of Janez Evangelist Krek. Its members committed themselves to abstinence over a certain period of time. Through lectures and distribution of flyers and by holding social events, the society tried to dissuade Slovenes from consuming alcohol. However, in spite of their enthusiasm, they had no success. For financial reasons, the Piščalka ceased publication as early as 1906.