| Abstrakt: |
The present article is devoted to the activities of the Committees of the people’s sobriety in Dvinsk, Lyutsin, and Rezhitsa districts of Vitebsk Province from 1897 to 1907. The Committees consisted of the representatives of governmental bodies, churches, and the educational institutions, as well as of the members of the public. The main task of the Committees was monitoring the implementation of reforms to introduce a state monopoly on the production and sale of spirits. The Committees monitored compliance with the rules of trade, but had no success in identifying the cases of violations of the law. Activities of the Committees primarily manifested in the organization of tea-houses, folk-houses, evening classes, and Sunday schools, where they had quite good results in comparison with other districts of Vitebsk Province. At the same time, cultural and educational activities (libraries the organization of lectures had) have not received proper distribution here, because committees acted as agents of the public policy of the Russian Empire and did not take into consideration local conditions (existence of different ethnic societies and the language situation in the region). These factors, coupled with a sharp reduction in funding, caused a much more difficult situation in local Committees than the one that occurred in other districts, and after 10 years of existence led to the termination of the activities of one of them (Lyutsin Committee). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
