...ALCOHOL ... MAKES A YOUNG SENSITIVE MAN A BRUTAL BEAST»: ALCOHOLISM IN STUDENT AND GYMNASIUM ENVIRONMENTS OF HALYCHYNA AND THE FIGHT AGAINST IT IN THE END OF THE XIX – EARLY XX CENTURY

Abstract

The problem of spreading such deviations as drunkenness and alcoholism in the youth environment of Halychyna in the late XIX – early XX centuries is analyzed. In particular, studied the genesis and main causes of this phenomenon: financial difficulties of a large part of young people, changes in their lifestyle and living environment (relocation to the city), difficult economic situation, alcohol consumption as an attempt to «escape» from reality, limited ways of spending leisure time, lack of extracurricular life and total control over it by the school administration, public disregard for alcoholism and drunkenness, alcohol consumption for fun, family feast traditions, a negative example of seniors, especially teachers, cheapness of alcohol, availability of the one to students and gymnasists, even a kind of «fashion» for alcohol in youth circles. Emphasis is placed on the increasing scale of alcoholism in Halychyna society, the gradual awareness of young people of the complexity of the problem, and the search for ways out of it. The two main directions of fighting alcoholism in student and gymnasium environments are analyzed: the one implemented by the educational administration of the region and heads of educational institutions and the second initiated by the youth itself. Insignificant effectiveness of measures taken by school authorities to solve the problem was noted. They were either informative or authoritarian and were limited to strengthening control over the behavior of secondary school students. The main form of eradication of alcoholism among young people at the beginning of World War I was disciplinary proceedings with subsequent punishment of violators of the behavioral rules in and out of school. Detected the efforts of the educational institutions authorities not to advertise manifestations of alcoholism among students and solve the problem within the school. Studied the main methods of fighting alcoholism used by young people: educational activities (lectures, reports, exhibitions), expanding the information field on the problem, creating a network of anti-alcohol clubs in schools, spreading the idea of sobriety and abstinence movement, promoting healthy lifestyles and sports. The role of public initiative, in particular the Scout movement, «Plast», «Renaissance», «Eleusis», «Ukraine», «Sokil», etc. in the fight against alcoholism is analyzed.