Talk:Temperance movement
From Academic Kids
I don't think it was only in the US - I believe that there was a similar movement in Australia around the same time. --Robert Merkel 01:42 Jan 23, 2003 (UTC)
The movement is not quite limited to english-speaking countries, as the article says. I don't know about the rest of the world, but all scandinavian countries had "avholdsbevegelser" or temperance movements. They were very popular here in norway, since alcoholism was a HUGE problem in the past. (Advocates against racism will often quote a text denouncing these perpetually drunk, backward people that will never amount to anything, before revealing that the people in question is nineteenth-century norwegians, as seen by british) The norwegian total abstention movement (DNT) was founded by the quaker Asbjørn Kloster, I don't have the year, but not long after the international order of good templars (IOGT) also appeared. In the beginning they mainly resisted the traditions that said to drink alcohol at every conceivable excuse, but they quickly became a reform movement of note. On prohibition, a significant faction led by Sven Arrestad wanted a gradual strategy of forcing alcohol sale into local monopolies, and then vote (in local referendums) to get rid of them entirely. Arrestad was particularly sensitive to economic considerations, and worked hard (he was a MP) to make sure that the profits from possible monopoly alcohol sale didn't end in local politicians' coffers. However, the majority wanted a national prohibition of liquor, and they won the resulting national referendum by a large majority - not suprising, since women could vote for one of the first times. (aside, the movement was very early in supporting equal rights for women)
Largely due to protest from wine-importing trade partners, a new referendum was held 5-10 years later(?), in which prohibition was removed.
