Ο ΑΝΤΙΑΛΚΟΟΛΙΣΜΟΣ ΣΤΟ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟ ΣΟΣΙΑΛΙΣΤΙΚΟ ΚΙΝΗΜΑ ΤΙΣ ΠΡΩΤΕΣ ΔΕΚΑΕΤΙΕΣ ΤΟΥ 20ΟΥ ΑΙΩΝΑ

Abstract

The article examines the stance of early socialist intellectuals in Greece towards alcoholism in the early 20th century. Initially, it presents the anti-alcohol agenda within European medical discourse and socialism. Anti-alcoholism and the medicalized discourse advocating temperance gained prominence after 1849, following Magnus Huss’s work. Alcoholism was regarded as both a social and moral issue, primarily affecting the lower classes. In contrast, socialists considered alcohol consumption as a social problem stemming from workers' need to escape capitalism. However, in many countries, the temperance movement became associated with both socialism and the suffragette movement.
In Greece, neurologist Simonides Vlavianos promoted temperance theories, warning about the spread of alcoholism with the growth of taverns and proposing measures such as prohibition and state-controlled alcohol sales. Anti-alcohol rhetoric in Greece remained more moderate compared to other European nations. Greek socialists viewed alcohol as a significant issue for the working class, but anti-alcoholism did not become central to the socialist movement. A notable exception is Albertos Arditis’s 1919 pamphlet "Alcoholism", offering a Marxist social interpretation, combined with hygienic theories. Arditis argued that alcoholism predominantly affected the working class and hindered its revolutionary potential. Despite these efforts, anti-alcoholism remained a low priority. In Greece, alcohol consumption in taverns was largely public and regulated by the community, reducing the need for external intervention. The moral panic of neurologists and socialists stemmed from their fear of the broader societal changes that the adoption of modern leisure and socializing might bring to the working class.