The World of Temperance in Bulgaria, 1890-1940
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Research Collection Doctoral Thesis Sober contemporaries for a sober Future: The world of temperance in Bulgaria, 1890-1940 Author(s): Kamenov, Nikolay Publication Date: 2015 Permanent Link: https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-a-010875920 Rights / License: In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted This page was generated automatically upon download from the ETH Zurich Research Collection. For more information please consult the Terms of use. ETH Library Nikolay Kamenov SOBER CONTEMPORARIES FOR A SOBER FUTURE: THE WORLD OF TEMPERANCE IN BULGARIA, 1890-1940 DISS. ETH Nr. 22937 SOBER CONTEMPORARIES FOR A SOBER FUTURE: THE WORLD OF TEMPERANCE IN BULGARIA, 1890-1940 A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF SCIENCE OF ETH ZURICH (DR. SC. ETH ZURICH) presented by NIKOLAY GALINOV KAMENOV M.A., JACOBS UNIVERSITY BREMEN born on 30th May 1984 citizen of BULGARIA accepted on the recommendation of Prof. Dr. Harald Fischer-Tiné Prof. Dr. Nada Boškovska Prof. Dr. Sebastian Conrad 2017 The dissertation consists of a title page, i-xvii pages, 240 pages of main body, bibliography and 34 figures. Submitted to the Swiss Federal Institute Technology, Zurich. For the conferral of a PhD title. Presented by Nikolay Kamenov, MA, born 30.051984, Sofia, Bulgaria. Accepted on recommendation of: Prof. Dr. Harald Fischer-Tiné (ETH Zürich) Prof. Dr. Nada Boškovska (Universität Zürich) Prof. Dr. Sebastian Conrad (Freie Universität Berlin) The research for this dissertation has been made possible by a generous grant from the Swiss National Research Foundation in collaboration with the German Research Foundation. Apart from this 36 months of research stipend and the main portion of my travel budget, my research has been supported by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology for another three months, while the chair for the History of the Modern World has kindly covered some of my travel expenses. CONTENTS List of Figures v Abbreviations vii Summary viii Zusammenfassung ix Acknowledgements xi Curriculum Vitae xiv Introduction 1 The palimpsest of global history 2 Context and analytical framework 8 Archival materials used and structure of the dissertation 14 Overview of the chapters 17 A word of caution 20 Chapter 1: Global Imaginaire in the Mutual Constitution of Center and Periphery: Global Temperance in Bulgaria and beyond 21 Global history of temperance 26 Labor, resistance and class 29 Early feminism, gender and temperance 33 Colonialism, race and independence movements 36 Global history from the European ‘periphery’ 44 Global imaginaire in the protestant temperance discourse 47 Global imaginaire in the interwar period in the Bulgarian anti-alcohol 54 movement The potential for taking a central stage 59 Conclusion 63 Chapter 2: American Missionaries and the Balkans: Agents of Territoriality, Modernity and Temperance 65 Literature review and structure of the chapter 68 Territoriality 76 Modernity and half-heathens 82 Temperance 97 Conclusion 110 Chapter 3: Science, Medicalization and Politics: The Second Wave of Anti-alcohol Activities in Bulgaria, 1920 to 1940 112 Medicalization, scientification and the word of the Gospel 116 Temperance and the tapestry of social hygiene 127 Eugenics, racial poisons and temperance 134 Race and racial hygiene in the 1930s 141 Politics, policies and clashes 146 Conclusion 155 Chapter 4: The Youth Temperance Movement in Bulgaria: Goals, Media and Politics 157 Childhood, science and curriculum 161 Children’s and youth activities in the protestant led temperance campaigns 168 New institutions and new activities 172 Visuals and intermediality 175 Youth temperance and public culture: Literature, plays and dances 188 Counter-currents and politics 192 Conclusion 202 Conclusion 204 Archival Materials, Primary Sources and Reference Works 209 Bibliography 212 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Opening page of the Bulgarian translation of the criminal code of the 4 Sultan, the hatt-i humayun Figure 2. Binding at the other end of the translation of the hatt-i humayun, 4 opening of Zoe Ann Marie Locke’s Biographical Sketches of Women engaged in the W.C.T.U. Figure 3. Example from the Locke’s palimpsest 5 Figure 4. The Temperance Crusader, 1885. Courtesy: The National Archives. 22 Figure 5. Visual imploring for the disarmament of states from a French source. 60 Figure 6. “America, hello!” A visual representation of the trans-Atlantic 66 relationship between Bulgaria and the United States. Figure 7. CTI in Samokov, natural history museum and classroom. 92 Figure 8. CTI in Samokov, physical cabinet. ABCFM, Haskell Papers. 92 Figure 9. Title page of the first issue of the official organ of the BTU. 103 Figure 10. Poster of the five steps that lead to complete depravity with an 106 accompanying Bulgarian text Figure 11. Title page of Borba s alcoolizma 113 Figure 12. Sketch of ‘alcoholic polio’ 140 Figure 13. Image of post stamps from Switzerland and Italy, representing the fight 143 against alcoholism there Figure 14. Title page of Trezvache, children dance around the globe 158 Figure 15. The Drunkard’s Progress, published by Nathaniel Currier c. 1846 162 Figure 16. Drunkard’s Progress on the pages of Vuzdurzhatel 163 Figure 17. The pub ruining lives on the pages of Vuzdurzhatel 165 Figure 18. Album of spiritual-temperance songs 170 Figure 19. Temperance Marching Song 171 Figure 20. Tree of intemperance 177 v Figure 21. 1903 exhibition poster for the exhibition on Alcoholism at the Worker’s 179 Museum in München, 1903 Figure 22. Photograph of the Laocoon statue 180 Figure 23. New Man fighting the alcohol monster 180 Figure 24. Hercules slaying the Hydra, Francois Joseph Bosio, 1824 183 Figure 25. The serpent with a victim 184 Figure 26 and 27. Children depictions of the alcohol monster 184 Figure 28. Another depiction of the many headed hydra 184 Figure 29. A child depiction of the alcohol monster and a knight of the IOGT 186 Figure 30. Juxtaposition of savagery and progress 186 Figure 31. Belshazzar dethroned by the ‘strong hand’ of the sober youth 187 Figure 32. Belshazzar's Feast, Rembrandt, 1635 187 Figure 33. Photograph of a group of children after a temperance play 190 Figure 34. Temperance demonstration on the streets of Plovdiv, 1924 199 vi ABBREVIATIONS ABCFM American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions ATMH Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: An International Encyclopedia BCP Bulgarian Communist Party BETU Bulgarian Evangelical Temperance Union BNTU Bulgarian Neutral Temperance Union BTF Bulgarian Temperance Federation BTU Bulgarian Temperance Union CTI Collegiate and Theological Institute in Samokov CSA Central State Archives in Sofia, part of the Archives State Agency IBAA International Bureau against Alcoholism IOGT Independent Order of the Good Templars; International Order of the Good Templars MHC Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts PTU Pupils’ Temperance Union (also Pupils’ Neutral Temperance Union in the text) SEAP Standard Encyclopedia of the Alcohol Problem STI Scientific Temperance Instruction TTU Teachers’ Temperance Union (also Teachers’ Neutral Temperance Union in the text) WBM Women’s Board for Missions WCTU Women’s Christian Temperance Union YNTU Youth Neutral Temperance Union YMCA Young Men’s Christian Association vii SUMMARY The dissertation at hand is a historical study of the temperance movement in Bulgaria between 1890 and 1940. Departing from a conventional national historiography, the study takes a global history approach in recovering the ideas, knowledge and organizational structures that informed the movement. Chapter one of the dissertation concentrates on the developments in the fight against alcohol on a global level. It traces the origins of the modern temperance campaigns to the 19th century United States. Further, it sketches a shift in the global center of activities to Central Europe and Switzerland in particular in the early 20th century. On a theoretical level the chapter argues that a perspective from the 'periphery' could be very informative in regard to such shifts of power within global networks of non- governmental actors and epistemic communities. Chapter two of the dissertation deals with the scarcely researched topic of American protestant missionaries on the Balkans. The chapter argues that the efforts of these actors were instrumental in the process of 'territorialization'. American missionaries responded to 'native' demands for modern education and medicine. On a theoretical level, the chapter argues that such efforts were part of a global moral empire, structured around the American Board of Commissionaires for Foreign Missions as well as the World's Women Christian Temperance Union. Chapter three focuses on the interwar period in Bulgaria and sketches the shift from temperance to a 'fight against alcoholism'. The chapter draws attention to the professionalization of the movement – many of the new temperance activists being scientists, medical doctors and teachers – and analyses the discursive shift denoted as 'medicalization'. On a theoretical level, the chapter argues strongly that the discourse on degeneration is prominent within the temperance literature and has thus been popularized more widely through anti-alcoholism activism than through the very specific and expert based eugenics community. Chapter four takes a closer look at the youth temperance movement. The chapter argues that this branch of the movement was in fact the biggest reform movement in Bulgaria in the 1920s and 30s. In addition to this, in the wake of the ban of the