The Prohibitionist

It is with considerable hesitation that I set out on this inquiry into the subject of Prohibition. But the reason of this hesitation is not that I, after having given years of study to this particular field, failed to make myself familiar with its general characteristics and minute details. It is the magnitude and importance of the subject that appalls me and in view of which I naturally feel distrustful of my own power to deal with that subject in satisfactory and yet attractive manner.

During the course of my research in the archives of the Prohibition library, I came across several things I considered to be not only of interest to the specialist or merely curious, but also to the general reader, and finding that they were entertaining to read while having a cup of coffee and indulging in the smoking of a gaff, I struck upon the idea of compiling a small pamphlet, prior to the publication of my forthcoming monograph entitled “Prohibition in Theory and Practice”. For those who have not had the chance to read the studies of my learned colleagues who are researching in the field of the pre-Prohibition era, a Gaff was then called a Cigarette.[1]

A mass public speech about how the Prohibitionists won the war ended with these lines:

“If you join us and accept our practical guidance, we soon shall not only drive out all the Nostalgic devils from within our midst but conquer their lands, their privacy and establish a true prohibition Kingdom. All of you should nourish these feelings, not only in dreams or in words, but with sensible concrete actions. [...] Dear Nostalgics, let me ask you: how can we have a strong community if all the members are weak? You will see yourselves what little benefit you have obtained by your policies of confidence in yourselves and mistrust in us, your natural friends and protectors.”[2]

The opening piece, entitled “The Road to Prohibition” was written by an anti-prohibition activist who had been imprisoned in one of the many re-education camps which had been specially built to house all those who were not openly in favour of prohibition – meaning reactionaries or ‘nostalgics’, as they were then called.[3]

I took great pleasure in reading his work, perhaps because I was then working on my novel “The Gaff'ner”, set during the pre-prohibition era, about a man who had predicted what was to come once the prohibition laws were enacted. The author of the piece you are about to read obviously had similar intentions, but living right through that terrible era, he faced a great many dangers – which would eventually overcome him.

This short work, which must have been written around year 15 of the Prohibition Era, is a beautiful attempt by our prisoner to make people aware of the importance of living side-by-side. He had simple ideas like making coffee shops with two sections, separated by an air-tight partition; one for people who liked gaffs, or their coffee with caffeine, and perhaps even sugar, or as he liked to say, real coffee, and a health bar, as he called it, on the other side for those who disliked such things. Remarkably innovative ideas for a man living in the twenty-first century – indeed, far ahead of his time.

About the author himself we know little. The script for his book he had written on a roll of toilet paper and it was somehow smuggled out of the detention facility. It is said that he was killed upon his escape from the facility by the people of a village close by the re-education institution; most likely they were worried about being infected with anti-prohibitionist ideas and of being able to make decisions by themselves.

The following pages present a facsimile, with the exception of inserted pagination and a few necessary captions – the facsimile of a strange manuscript written by what then must have seemed to be a strange man. Where does the motto come from?  I think it is the work of the author himself.

Mr. Li. of the Centre Path Institute.

Department of History, Prohibition studies section.