Was Prohibition Conservative or Liberal? Learn the Facts.

Was prohibition conservative or liberal? National Prohibition (192-1933). It’s also been tried in many countries. For instance, in Russia.

Overview

1. 1. 1. 1. Was Prohibition Conservative or Liberal?
      2. Prohibition as Progressive
      3. Conclusion
      4. Resources

I. Was Prohibition Conservative or Liberal?

Conservative?

History Prof. Richard Hofstadter published Age of Reform. It received a Pulitzer Prize. Then history Prof. Joseph Gusfield published Symbolic Crusade.

Both argued that prohibition resulted from a struggle for a certain moral order. That is, a vision for society. It also was a result of a struggle for status, wealth, and power. In short, prohibition was the result of a cultural war. Some think it was a conservative view.

Liberal?

Liberals of the Progressive Era (about 1895-1920) sought an ideal world. In it, people would protected from each other. And also from themselves. They thought drinking caused poverty, crime, and corruption. Along with disease and death. So prohibition was a major goal of the progressive movement. James Timberlake detailed this in Prohibition and the Progressive Movement.

Of course, any social movement has internal conflicts. There are also those who support it for different reasons. And there are often strange alliances.

For instance, the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) opposed drink. So it often cooperated with the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). (In fact, the Klan of the 1920s was founded in 1915 to defend Georgia’s new state-wide prohibition.)

Thus, progressives were often supported by those who were not liberal at all. Protestants often feared the influx of millions of Catholics and Jews. They tended to drank. Rural residents often resented the growing influence of cities. That, along with their perceived crime, poverty, and alcoholics. And the list goes on.

As a result, some view prohibition as a conservative movement. But was it really?

II. Prohibition as Progressive

VISIT

Prohibition and the Progressives

Mark Schrad argues that prohibition was progressive. In doing this, he reflects Timberlake’s book. In his Smashing the Liquor Machine, he writes that most people falsely believe that prohibition was a conservative idea. In fact, he says that “Everything you know about prohibition is wrong.”

Schrad writes that “all great reforms go together.” Over time, prohibition was associated with these movements.

- Socialism
- Liberation Struggle.
- Revolutionism
- Labor Protection.
- Communism
- Increasing Social Welfare Payments.
- Peace Movement.
- Class Struggle.
- Social Christianity.
- War Against Corporate Greed.
- Increasing Federal Power.
- Anti-gambling
- Economic Justice.
- Indigenous Rights.
- Prison Reform.
- Anti-militrism
- Vegetarianism
- Homeopathy
- Dress Reform.
- Power to the People.

III. Conclusion

So was prohibition conservative or liberal? History suggests that it was a liberal movement. That’s not to say that conservatives sometimes didn’t side with prohibition. They clearly did. But prohibition was clearly the result of a progressive ideal.

IV. Resources: Was Prohibition Conservative or Liberal?