Temperance Societies in Yekaterinburg and Yekaterinburg Uyezd of Perm Governorate in 1907-1914

The aim of the article is to show the importance of temperance societies in Yekaterinburg Uyezd of Perm Governorate, a geopo-litically significant region of Russia, during the peaceful period between the end of the revolution of 1905-1907 and the beginning of the First World War. The objectives of the study are to identify the significant characteristics of the temperance societies: (1) the time when they appeared; (2) their number, size, social composition, and ideological orientation; (3) their activities; (4) their significance. The author used a combination of authentic and representative sources: the notes of Yekaterinburg Ecclesiastical Consistory secretary to the Clerical Office of the Holy Synod Chief Procurator of 10 February 1911, about church temperance societies of the eparchy with the charters of nine of them; the biweekly journal Ekaterinburgskie Eparkhial'nye Vedomosti [Yekaterinburg Eparchy Journal]; the materials and reports of all-Russian temperance congresses and unions; reference books. The methodology of the study included the compilation of a list of temperance societies on the basis of a dedicated questionnaire, the analysis and synthesis of the resulting data. The temperance movement was young; as of 01 January 1911, the average age of the society was two and a half years, which means they appeared somewhere in mid-1907. By 01 January 1911, 17 societies (1682 members), or 3.6 societies per 100,000 people, were identified. Sixteen of them were Orthodox parochial, and one, in Yekaterinburg, was non-religious (secular). Out of ten known leaders of societies, six (60%) were priests, two (20%) peasants, one was a worker (10%), and one was a teacher (10%). As for the members of 16 church societies, nine rural societies (56.2%) had mostly peasants, six factory settlements (37.5%) had workers, one (6.25%), in Konevsky village, had mostly peasants and alluvial miners. Thus, most members of the societies were workers and peasants. The main activities of the societies in 1907-1910 were: anti-alcoholic talks, sermons, and the acceptance of temperance vows. In 1911-1914, some societies started to implement mutual help and charity activities, hold public events: sacred processions, temperance festivals, sober weddings; they inspired public censures against bootlegging (illegal wine sale), state-owned wine shops, and private beerhouses. During this period, the number of temperance societies and their membership grew, their influence increased. In the spring of 1914, there were as many as 40 societies with more than 5,000 members. Apart from external reasons, this was facilitated by the support of Mitrophan, the active governing Archbishop of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye (1910-1914). Thus, temperance societies in Yekaterinburg Uyezd, as well as in the whole Russia, had a protective and reforming character. They counteracted alcoholic and other (acts of violence, etc.) destruction of the community. As a result, the territories in which these societies were spread and active experienced the gradual physical and spiritual recovery of the community on the local and regional levels.

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