Abstynencka Liga Kolejowców w latach 1929-1939

Abstynencka Liga Kolejowców w latach 1929-1939

The Abstinent League of Railway Workers within the period: 1929-1939

Renata Bednarz-Grzybek

Izabela Krasińska

Piotr Sławiński

The Abstinent League of Railway Workers was formed as a consequence of joining two railway associations of teetotallers in Poland of 1929. From the outset the League was part of the International Union of Railway Workers-Alcohol Antagonists, which came into existence in 1907. The members of the Abstinent League of Railway Workers were the employees of Polish State Railways together with their families. In the year 1939 the Association consisted of 3390 persons being active in 57 circles.
The aim of the article is to represent the activities of the Abstinent League of Railway Workers promoting health, in particular alcohol-free lifestyle. Those activities appeared as sightseeing tours organised at home and abroad, antialcoholic lectures and talks, antialcoholic exhibitions as well as they took the form of advising on how to cope with alcoholism and of the treatment of the addicts themselves. Furthermore, the own press organ of the League was being edited. The Abstinent League of Railway Workers organised dances, Christmas-Eve suppers for the members’ children, carnival kinder-balls, abstinent Christmastime meetings, musical concerts, amateurish theatrical performances as well as commemorative meetings. The Association built the Holiday Resort for the Community’s Circle of the League in Susiec and the Railway Workers-Teetotallers’ Centre in Lvov.
It was quite an achievement to install the Railway Car-Exhibition when promoting healthy lifestyle. In the year 1931 the Car was arranged to serve as a touring exhibition promoting antialcoholic and antituberculitic prophylaxis. It was then the only achievement of its kind in Europe.
The Delegates of the Abstinent League of Railway Workers took active part in Congresses and Assemblies of the Delegates belonging to the International Union of Railway Workers-Alcohol Antagonists. Those assemblies used to be held in one of the countries being part of the Union (London, Warsaw, Belgrade, Vienna, Stockholm, Helsinki).

Anachronica

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