Aftenposten
- Today it counts!
- Our motto is: “We love this land”.
- BLUE STAR
On the morning of the 18 October 1926 referendum on whether Norway should keep its ban on spirits, Aftenposten turned its front page into a campaign sheet. An appeal under the masthead told readers that the prohibition could be voted down that very day if everyone did their duty, under the slogan “against spirits prohibition – for greater sobriety”. Most of the lower page was given to a patriotic poem that framed the ballot as a choice between freedom and compulsion: it invoked the red-blue-white flag, warned that rule by compulsion would make Norwegians a people of thralls, insisted that law cannot save souls, and ended by urging readers to turn out and vote against prohibition. A small advertisement for Blue Star polish sat in the upper corner.
Translation
Today it counts!
[?] [?] Morning edition. Subscription price: 3.00 per month [?] [?] [?] [?] Subscription price: Delivered by messenger, surcharge 0.50 " " Morning edition, 67th year.
Today it counts!
Today the prohibition can be voted down, if each and every one does their duty.
Against spirits prohibition – for greater sobriety.
Vote the prohibition down!
Our motto is: “We love this land”.
Our motto is: “We love this land”.
What is it we are to vote on today? What matters more than anything else is whether our own free Norwegian flag shall become the symbol of a people of thralls.
It unfurled its red-blue-white cloth one June day. It blazed like a flame. But since then it has often been taken up by men of darkness, who brought it to shame.
It was the symbol of strength of our young will, our sign that we ourselves would rule the land, ourselves ennoble the fruits of rain and sun and not harvest them by the grace of others.
But how can the flag, freely from its pole, unfurl its proud banner of freedom, when the watchword of the day is that only by compulsion can the people be saved – freedom is its bane!
If we would rule the land ourselves, we must ourselves put our own will's strength and ability to the test. If the will dies, we drift down the river of time wherever the current carries us – torpid, slack, dull.
Against Spirits Prohibition AGAINST PROHIBITION [?]
Who dares seriously believe that law and commandment can save the soul of the people and our own souls? No – the longing for freedom, it is created by God; we shall cultivate it daily – not stifle it.
True, dangers lurk in so many hollows: those our own will shall overcome. And if we triumph, then manifold triumphs the divine spark that dwells in man and woman.
But if we flee because we dare not take up the fight, the glow of the will goes out. Our strength, our ability and our courage for life die; our whole self is consigned to a sickbed death.
That is what we are to vote on today: Shall freedom or compulsion rule the ground? A man's courage and conviction? Or self-deception? Now the choice is made. Now is the hour of destiny.
Hoist the flag again high and free on the pole. It is a flag of freedom and nothing else. Turn out and vote against prohibition and against compulsion. Our motto is: “We love this land”.
[?]. [?].
BLUE STAR
BLUE STAR
THE BEST POLISH FOR [?]
Buy “Blue Star” only in the original packaging, and you will get the genuine article.
10.00 per quarter 0.50 " " Morning edition, 67th year.
Context
How the 1926 vote turned out
The vote this page campaigned for went the way the paper wanted. Store norske leksikon records that in the referendum of 18 October 1926, 531,084 voters (55.7 per cent) voted against prohibition and 423,031 for it. The encyclopedia's article on the temperance movement rounds the majority to 56 per cent and dates the repeal of the spirits ban to spring 1927. The English Wikipedia article on the referendum says that support for prohibition fell in every county, and that the ban was overwhelmingly rejected in and around Oslo and in other towns such as Bergen. The wine monopoly Vinmonopolet notes in its own history that Norwegians voted for legal sale of spirits in 1926 and that it began selling spirits the following year. The front page's promise that the ban “can be voted down” today therefore came true.
Why Norway voted on prohibition a second time
The 1926 ballot reopened a question voters had answered the other way seven years earlier. In the consultative referendum of October 1919 only two-thirds of those entitled to vote took part, but 489,017 (61.6 per cent) said yes to a permanent ban on spirits and fortified wine, against 304,673 no. According to Store norske leksikon, the ban soon became more a question of trade policy than of social policy. Vinmonopolet's history explains that wine-producing countries threatened a trade boycott if Norway restricted alcohol sales, and that Portugal and Spain in particular were important markets for Norwegian klippfisk, or dried salt cod. Wikipedia attributes the new referendum partly to pressure from France, whose alcohol exports had fallen. Domestic politics had also stalled: Prime Minister Abraham Theodor Berge made repeal a question of confidence in summer 1924 but was voted down in the Storting in July that year. Aftenposten's call to “vote the prohibition down” came after the issue had failed to be settled in parliament.
What “for greater sobriety” meant
The front-page slogan “against spirits prohibition – for greater sobriety” turned the temperance case on its head by claiming that ending the ban would make Norway more sober. The argument drew on what Norwegians had seen during the 1920s. Vinmonopolet's history says that problems with smuggled spirits, home distilling and ingenious ways of getting around the ban grew through the decade, and that a half-bottle of cognac could be obtained on prescription as cough medicine. Store norske leksikon reports that offences of drunkenness rose to 18 per 1,000 inhabitants in 1923. These figures describe conditions under prohibition. They support the paper's premise that the ban was not producing sobriety, but they are not proof of its promise that repeal would produce more of it.
Freedom against compulsion: a conservative paper answers the temperance movement
Aftenposten historically called itself “independent, conservative” and aligned its editorial line most closely with the Conservative Party, so a campaign that cast prohibition as state compulsion fitted its politics. The poem frames the vote in those terms: it asks whether “freedom or compulsion” shall rule, mocks the watchword that the people can be saved only by compulsion, and calls on readers to vote “against prohibition and against compulsion”. It also argues on religious ground, claiming that the longing for freedom “is created by God” and that law and commandment cannot save souls. That choice makes sense against the other side's roots. Store norske leksikon describes the temperance movement as partly religious in origin and notes that the labour movement also supported the cause, especially in the first half of the twentieth century. The poem therefore set patriotism and individual will against a movement with church and working-class roots.
Original
Idag gjælder det!
[?] [?] Morgennr. Abonnem. pris: " 3, 00 " md [?] [?] [?] [?] Abonnem. pris: Ombragt ved bud, tillæg " 0, 50 " " Morgennr 67 aarg. Idag gjælder det! Idag kan forbudet stemmes ned, hvis alle og enhver gjør sin plikt. Mot brændevinsforbud - for større ædruelighet. Stem forbudet ned!
Vort motto er: “Vi elsker dette landet”.
Vort motto er: " Vi elsker dette landet ". Hvad er det vi skal stemme om idag? Det som det mer end noget andet gjælder er om vort eget frie, norske flag skal bli symbolet for ct folk av træller. Det foldet ut sin rød-blaa-hvite duk en juni-dag. Det blusset som en flamme. Men siden er det ofte tat i bruk av mørke-mænd, som gjorde det til skamm. Det var vor unge viljes kraft-symbol, vort tegn paa, at vi selv vil landet raad. selv ödle fruktene av regn og sol og ikke høste dem ved andres naade. Men hvordan kan vel flagget frit fra stang faa folde ut sin stolte frihets-fane, naar dagens løsen er, at kun ved t v a n g kan folket frelses - f r i h e t er dets bane! Vil selv vi landet raade, maa vi selv vor egen viljes kraft og evne prøve. Dør v i l j e n, glir vi nedad tidens elv dit strømmen fører - dorske, slappe, sløve. Mot Brennevinsforbud MOT FORBUD [?] Hvem tør for alvor tro, at lov og bud kan frelse f o l k e t s sjæl og v o r e sjæle? Nei - frihetstrangen, den er skapt av Gud, den skal vi daglig dyrke - ikke kvæle. Vel lurer farer paa saa mange hol: dem skal vor egen vilje overvinde. Og seirer vi, da seirer mangefold den guddomsgnist, som bor i mand og kvinde. Men flykter vi, fordi vi ikke tør ta kampen op, da slukner viljegløden. Vor kraft, vor evne og vort livsmot dør, vort hele selv er viet sottedøden. D e t er det vi skal stemme om idag: Skal frihet eller tvang faa raade grunden? Mands mot og mening? Eller selvbedrag? N u træffes valget. N u er skjæbnestunden. Heis flagget atter høit og frit paa stang. Det er et f r i h e t s-f l a g og intet andet. Møt frem og stem mot forbud og mot tvang. Vort motte er: «Vi elsker dette landet». [?]. [?].
BLUE STAR
BLUE STAR BESTE PUSSEMIDDEL FOR [?] Kjøp " Blue Star " kun i original emballage, og De faar den riktige vare. 10, 00 pr. kv. 0, 50 " " Morgennr 67 aarg.