Comrades on the bottle

Press, 21 November 1979, Page 18

Comrades on the bottle

By

THOMAS LAND

in Geneva

Like many alcoholics, Communist Central Europe pretended for years that it had no drink problems — despite statistical evidence showing a disastrously high alcohol consumption. Now the region is trying to sober up. Alcoholism is increasingly blamed for the region’s high rate of family breakdowns and suicides and for its notorious industrial inefficiency. Poland may well be the next Communist country to follow the call earlier this year by the United Nations’ World Health Organisation for drastic national measures to combat alcoholism. A study published by W.H.O. says half of all male admissions to psychiatric hospitals in Yugoslavia had “alcoholism” as the first diagnosis. Yugoslavia has banned the advertising of drink. The nationally-owned segment of Yugoslavia’s cater-

ing industry last year reported a 25 per cent increase in the sale of alcohol. Its profit targets are likely to be affected by the ban, which is extended even to promotional T-shirts. “An essential aspect of any country’s response (to alcoholism),” the W.H.O. study observes, “is the political determination to promote and to adhere to policies that are bound to be controversial and that will need to contend with powerful interest groups. Some policies to be recommended from the health point of view will inevitably have (adverse) implications for the alcohol industry.” Opposition to such national measures is apparent throughout Central and Eastern Europe, where all industries are under pressure to meet rigid production plans. An unusually frank article published by the Soviet newspaper “Komsomolskaya

Pravda” recently explained that the personal bonuses of industrial managers depend on their meeting their production or sales targets without regard to the social price of their success. Hungary, too, has introduced total prohibition on the advertising of alcoholic drinks, backed by curbs on licensing regulations and the closure of taverns near schools and places of work. The Government has increased the price of drinks by 25 per cent and has prohibited their consumption in public places such as streets and parks. It has also embarked on a public education campaign attacking the popular image of maleness associated with hard drinking and smoking. As a result, it recently told W.H.0., national alcohol consumption has dropped by 20 per cent. Many countries in the region are likely to follow the Hungarian example as they prepare for the next “industrial revolution.” which requires a reliable labour force capable of a high degree of efficiency and discipline. Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria are introducing measures similar to those of Hungary, and Yugoslavia has formulated a long-range programme of which the advertising ban on alcohol is only the first step. Similar reforms are also expected shortly in Poland, where a parliamentary debate recently showed that the nation’s "three million hard-core drinkers account for something like half the total alcohol consumption of the 34 milliion population. The Polish newspaper “Kultura” blames the alarming rise of drinking among teenagers on inadequate recreational facilities and on a lack of individual attention from teachers and parents. — 0.F.N.5.. copyright.