Antidrinking Movements and the Proportion of Liquor Tax Revenues in State Financing in the Netherlands 1831-1920

A historical perspective is offered on nineteenth-century antidrinking movements & the proportion of state revenues in the Netherlands derived from the liquor tax. Characteristics of temperance movements in Western societies are described, & two related explanations are given for their popularity. The movements were part of a broader civilizing campaign directed toward the lower working classes by members of the middle class & the vanguards of industrial workers. However, the civilizing thesis coincides with an industrializing thesis: temperance was also promoted by industrial entrepreneurs who needed a sober, trustworthy work force in their increasingly mechanized firms. At the same time, however, the process of state formation in the latter nineteenth century was accelerated by financing through the liquor tax. Therefore, strict antidrinking legislation was not a political possibility at this time, despite the enormous popularity of the temperance movements. 1 Table, 35 References. Adapted from the source document.