A 1925 police raid in Elk Lake, during the era of prohibition in the United States • WIKIMEDIA COMMONS “Tonight, one minute after midnight, a new nation will be born. The drink demon makes his will. An era of clear ideas and fine manners begins. Slums will soon be a thing of the past. Prisons and reformatories will empty; we will transform them into granaries and factories. Again, all men will walk straight, all women will smile, all children will laugh. The gates of hell have closed forever. Thus spoke, on January 16, 1920, the Reverend Billy Sunday – a former baseball player converted to militant evangelicalism – to a crowd of 10,000 people, who celebrated with him the funeral of John Barleycorn (the nickname of whiskey in slang) and rejoiced in the beneficial effects of the law which prohibited the manufacture and distribution of beverages containing more than 0.5% alcohol. A radical initiative This "noble experience", as its promoters called it, was not the prerogative of the United States alone:at the same time, other Nordic and Protestant countries (Norway, Finland, Sweden, certain dependencies of Denmark, etc.) ) adopted measures that restricted the consumption of alcohol. But, in the United States, this legislation lasted much longer – 13 years – and had disastrous effects, including a rampant increase in crime and political corruption. How could such a radical initiative succeed in the most dynamic nation on the planet, which then had 106 million inhabitants? To understand how the United States was able to engage in such an experiment, we must go back to the time when many Americans refused the transformations that their country was experiencing, intensified by the First World War. Wave after wave of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe – predominantly Catholic (Italians, Irish, Poles, etc.) or Jews, many of whom were bearers of revolutionary ideas – settled in the large cities of the east coast, such as Boston, New York or Philadelphia, while tens of thousands of blacks coming from the South settled in the industrial areas of the center of the country, such as Chicago or Detroit, which had experienced strong economic growth thanks to the arms industry. This avalanche aroused the distrust of the small rural towns of the interior vis-a-vis the large urban centers of the periphery, where the foreigners were associated with the delinquency - with gangs which operated in the ethnic districts of the large cities - and with political radicalism:let us remember us from the Red Scare , the “Red Scare” that gripped North American society between 1917 and 1920. Women fighting alcoholism Rural America, which felt threatened, reacted by embracing traditional WASP (an acronym for "White, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant") values, a conservative response nurtured by the values of evangelicalism (a fundamentalist Protestantism) as well as than a xenophobic, racist and anti-immigrant atmosphere (nativism ), which manifested itself in laws aimed at curbing immigration from southern and eastern Europe, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, and Prohibition itself. By this time, beer, which accounted for 60% of alcohol consumption, had replaced whiskey as the most widely consumed alcoholic beverage; it reigned in the saloons, bars or taverns which served as social clubs for immigrant workers. In these premises, they could benefit from hot food, receive their mail, telephone or store their valuables. In the saloons, moreover, political meetings were held, and in many of them games were played, the services of prostitutes were negotiated, etc. This saloon culture led to the rejection of the most militant reformist Protestantism. Women were in the lead, under the banner of the campaign for the prohibition of alcohol (often their husbands spent their daily wages on drink), but there were also other groups who shared the evangelical desire to purify society, such as those who fought against prostitution and pornography, organizations such as the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, founded in 1873 by Anthony Comstock, or the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA, "Christian Union of Young People"). Saloons were therefore seen as a hotbed of rot, vice and delinquency, social ills which seemed to be linked to mostly Catholic foreigners, which is why the Ku Klux Klan also supported the prohibition of alcohol. Objective:total temperance In this context, it is not surprising that during the same year, in 1920, two amendments to the Constitution became laws, after being ratified by a majority of States:the XVIII th , which prohibited the distillation and marketing of alcohol; the 19 th , which gave women the right to vote. Both were victories for organized feminism, which had been demanding suffrage since the 1860s. regular cause of assaults by drunken men on their wives and children, as well as one of the causes of the endemic poverty of the working classes, when the wages were spent on drinking instead of promoting the well-being of the family . As early as the 1870s, the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) had organized a major campaign to ban alcohol, supporting the initiative taken in 1869 by the Prohibitionist Party. In the 1890s, this agitation was effectively reinforced by a very well organized pressure group:the Antisaloon League. While the "dens of perdition" are attacked with prayers - and sometimes literally, as is done at the beginning of the XX e century the famous activist Carry Nation with his ax to break the barrels - the number of prohibitionists increases, as well as their political influence, to the point of reaching the White House. President Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) and his wife Lucy are teetotalers (from T-total, or Temperance-total ), and they do not serve any alcohol in the presidential residence. Minority, immigrant and urban Catholic opinion opposes the ban on the sale of alcohol, and the democrats who represent it in the North are accused of belonging to Rum, Romanism and Rebellion , the party of rum, Roman Catholicism and rebellion. The United States is surrounded by countries that supply hard drinks. Clandestine trade therefore quickly flourished, given the very low cost of the original merchandise and the high price that thousands of thirsty consumers were willing to pay. In 1920, prohibition led to the radical abolition of all kinds of alcohol (beer, wine, highly titrated distillates, etc.), with certain exceptions such as the mass wine of Catholic priests and Jewish rabbis (Lutherans using must or filtered grape juice). The new constitutional norm becomes a geopolitical issue, as the United States is surrounded by suppliers of hard drinks. Canada produces its own whiskey made from rye. The Caribbean islands under British rule, from Jamaica to Barbados, produce rum from sugar cane, and the Bahamas is a natural smuggling zone, only 50 nautical miles from the American coast. Cuba, 90 miles off the tip of Florida, distills rum, as do the French and Dutch Caribbean islands. Mexico, across the Rio Grande, makes tequila and mescal. To smuggle alcohol, all you need is a little money to buy the drink and the availability of a truck or a fast boat. The trade is safe, with fabulous profits given the low price of the commodity in its places of origin and the price which thousands of thirsty consumers are willing to pay. Thus arise the criminal businesses that supply alcohol, a good highly prized by urban society despite its illegality:in New York City, we go from 15,000 saloons before 1920 to 32,000 speakeasies (speakeasy) after the ban. Gangs take over the market Setting up a network supplying contraband drink requires a few strong and trustworthy men, an initial investment and discounted weapons from stocks of old war materials. The activity of the gangs - traffic in trucks or boats, the distribution of goods in urban areas - was initially limited locally, but soon rivalries for control of the territory appeared. The bands (those gangs, from which comes the word gangster) are formed according to a model of ethnic association:Italians, Irish, Jews... Their relationship is complicated. For example, in Chicago and New York, the most important centers of smuggling, the Sicilians take control. But in Detroit, a border city, the Jews of the Purple Gang led the dance long before the "dry law". The struggles between gangs open the way to a conception of crime seen as a business:Italians, Jews and Irish agree to recognize areas of domination, with the resulting distribution of profits. This is what, around 1929, the press called The Syndicate , the “Syndicate”:organized crime, replacing what was previously known as The Mob , criminal activity. Bribes to authorities You can't solve everything with a Thompson submachine gun. The need for agreements becomes evident when the unleashed violence for control of Chicago culminates in the "Valentine's Day Massacre" - the shooting of five men in a garage - in which, on February 14, 1929, Al Capone wants get rid of his Irish rival Bugs Moran. The brutality of the crime, its media repercussions and the manifest impunity with which criminals operate in this city compel the federal government to intervene. Capone's powerful network suffers a relative dismantling, with its leader incarcerated for tax evasion, the only offense that could be attributed to him. Until then, Capone had enjoyed the immunity guaranteed by his bribes to local police and politicians, to the point that he had publicly beaten the mayor of Cicero (the town where he lived, in the suburbs of Chicago), when the latter had dared to make a decision without consulting him. It was that the abundance of money in the hands of the gangsters – Capone was making over $60 million a year – allowed them to corrupt at all levels, from lawmen to the highest authorities. The Ministry of the Economy, responsible at the beginning for the fight against alcohol trafficking, had to dismiss 706 of its agents and indict 257. To the lack of means and the corruption of the authorities is added an idea shared by a good part of public opinion, in particular in the big cities, which considers prohibition as a stupidity imposed on city dwellers educated by peasants in the beliefs backslidden nuns. The atmosphere created promotes contempt for the law:from this period dates the word scofflaw – by scoff , "mockery", and law , “law” – designating those who flout laws and regulations. It also leads to a massive alcoholization of society. Young city dwellers, particularly the college population, turned drinking into an entertaining pastime and drunkenness into an elegant style of leisure, as exemplified by writer Francis Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda, both of whom were frequently drunk. Rise in crime, corruption of the authorities, black market… The law on prohibition is a fiasco. But it was not until 1933 and the election to the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt that it was canceled. In 1927, the "noble experience" was an obvious disaster. But who was going to admit it politically? In the 1928 presidential elections, New York Governor Alfred E. Smith was chosen as the Democratic candidate. He is wet , "wet" (i.e. against prohibition), and Catholic. In a traumatic election, Smith loses to Quaker candidate Herbert Hoover, a Protestant unwilling to lose political capital by giving concessions to drinkers' demands. But in the presidential elections of 1932, Smith's successor as Governor of New York, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, presented himself as the champion of change. Elected with an overwhelming wave of support, in March 1933 he legalized beer with an alcohol content of 3.2%, as well as light wine and cider. In December, a new constitutional amendment, the XXI th , cancels the XVIII th :revenue derived from taxes on alcohol now supplements the resources of the government in the fight against the Great Depression, which then wreaks havoc in the country. Find out more Virtue by law. Prohibition in the United States:1920-1933, by Jean-Pierre Martin, Dijon University Editions, 2003.The Incorruptibles against Al Capone, by Hélène Harter, Larousse, 2010. Timeline 1893 Foundation of the Antisaloon League. With the support of Protestant public opinion, she wanted to prevent the consumption of alcohol.1917 Following the activity of this league and other associations, Congress and the Senate approve the XVIII th amendment to the United States Constitution.1919 The 18 th amendment, which prohibits the manufacture and distribution of alcohol, is ratified by 36 of the 48 states of the Union.1920 On January 17, the "dry law" comes into force. On May 11, Johnny Torrio and Al Capone eliminate Big Jim Colosimo, Chicago mob boss.1930 May 31, start of the “Castellammare War” between Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano to control Italian organized crime.1931 Masseria and Maranzano are assassinated. Charlie Lucky Luciano becomes America's top Mafia boss.1933 December 5th, cancellation of the XVIII th amendment. The control of alcoholic beverages passes into the hands of the States of the Union. The gangs make their movies In the 1930s, gangster films combined unrealistic social criticism with the spectacle of lived-in adventures of antiheroes:the violent, but well-dressed "bad guy" driving big cars, seduced by the mild manners of the young silent cinema premieres. The new films are shocking, with harsh scripts, aggressive behavior and violent scenes set in Chicago, the city of Capone's career and his Irish enemies. The greatest hits are Le Petit César (1931), with Edward G. Robinson as the brutal Italian Rico Bandello, The Public Enemy (1931), where James Cagney plays the Irish sociopath Tom Powers, and Scarface (1932) starring Paul Muni as the fierce Tony Camonte.
