SIEVIETE UN ATTURĪBAS KUSTĪBA STARPKARU LATVIJĀ: BIEDRĪBAS "BALTĀ LENTA" DARBĪBAS PIEMĒRS (1923-1941).

Following the proclamation of the Republic of Latvia and after the end of Independence War, parliamentary democracy regime provided new opportunities for temperance workers in Latvia to establish new associations, including branches from the international temperance organisations. For temperance propaganda its advocates chose the blueprint of practice and ideological background of temperance movement in the USA. The idea of complete ban of alcohol sales was the aim of the temperance movement in Latvia till the middle of the 1930s. Focusing on the alcohol misuse in society less as a moral, but rather as a medical problem, the role of women's participation and contribution to the movement success became vital. From the gender role prospective women were seen primarily as mothers and educators and their goal was to abstain from the use of alcohol in order to produce healthy children and from early age educate them about dangers of alcohol. Especially after the coup in 1934, this belief became a tool of nationalism in order to recreate Latvian moral values and healthy society in future. In the Republic of Latvia this opinion as a focal goal was propagated by the Latvian branch of the World's Women Christian Temperance Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]