The History of Beerocracy

A surprising sequel (or more fittingly prequel) in this series of beer parties was something I never expected to end up writing about, however the intrigue after my look into the Austrian beer party got the better of me and I couldn't help but look further into beer-related politics when I had the time. This will therefore be a look into four beer-centric parties brewed after the breakdown of the soviet union, a hoppy mix of opportunism, liberal-conservative political platforms and a foamy head made up of a little bit of political protest. 

A large portion of my info during my research for this came from Csaba Fazekas’ “Rise and Fall of Beer Lovers’ Parties in East Central Europe: Party History and General Lessons”  for which I am very thankful. This also offers a great backdrop to the three main reasons these parties came about at this time: 

1.Notions associated with beer drinking suggest—in a harsh political climate—tranquillity,  a peaceful social community, and the ability to rise above divisive political ideologies.

2.The concepts connected to beer drinking are well-known, can be easily used in political campaigns, and can apply eye-catching and humorous elements to address voters.

3. In the context of the transforming economies of Central Europe, beer parties  seemed capable of developing a comprehensive economic policy program not only for beer drinkers, but for private entrepreneurs who had recently started businesses, as well as workers in industry, agriculture, and the service sector, tourism, and  hospitality, for whom these parties offered an attractive alternative

Polish Beer-Lovers' Party - 1990-1995

The earliest of the four parties came about in 1990, founded as a joke in part by the cast and crew of a late 80's Polish comedy series called "The Beer Scouts" (Polish: Skauci Piwni), as well as journalists of the men’s magazine “Pan” (who were also key in pushing the parties early promotion). 

With 10,000 members by 1991,peaking at 20,000, this party's war on vodka clearly had sizable support. Seeing success in the 1991 Polish parliamentary elections with 16 representatives sent after obtaining 367,000 votes (3.27%), making them the 10th largest party by that metric. During their time in office, they played an important role in the changing of alcohol legislation, so that from 1993 every food store was free to sell beer, coining slogans related to this such as “We help the pour get a head.”.

In terms of overarching policy, that held a conservative-liberal political formation and policy platform. Aiming to support family business, promote a tolerant political culture and environmental change (e.g. pushing a ban on leaded gasoline). One of their key cornerstones was to tackle the alcoholic epidemic by promoting a shift from vodka to beer as they saw it as the lesser of two evils. 

Post 1992, issues over funding led to them taking on donors which eventually caused splits within the party, breaking into the small beer and large beer fractions respectively. This caused a loss of support. Which then spiralled into a sad end for the party, with them putting forward Leszek Bubel as their candidate for the 1995 presidential election, a populist and anti-semitic politician who tarnished the togetherness of beer-politics.  

Ukrainian Beer Lovers Party - 1992-2001

The 1992 Ukrainian Beer Lovers Party was a less successful one than its Polish cousin. Led by Volodymyr Yermakov, Petro Serhiyenko, and Pavlo Tarnovsky, this party's goals came on three fronts; entrepreneurial spirit, equality and agriculture. 

This party was angry that beer was harder to obtain and more expensive than any other country in the region (as a person from the midlands living down south I understand their pain). This formed the basis of their agricultural wing, with their goal to increase production of food products as well as beer. 

In the early days of the party, they attracted around 10,000 supporters, which mostly consisted of young entrepreneurs, with them claiming to boast around 1,599 members in 1966.

Despite it having a less depressing end than it’s polish counterpart (simply merging into  the democratic union of Ukrainian Righteousness, headed by the Ukrainian People's Party), its election record pales in comparison as despite receiving 3% support from the population, they failed to secure even 1% of the vote in the 1994 Ukrainian parliamentary election, with just 1,806 votes. Clearly Ukraine was not yet ready for a beerocracy. 

They actually had ties to their Russian counterpart, which will be looked at next. Holding a 1995 meeting at the border titled “beer washes away borders”, taking turns drinking Russian and Ukrainian beer. A happy note in a sea of sombre relations that shows the unequivocal power of beer in bringing people together. 

Beer Lovers Party (Russia) - 1993-1998

A satirist style of politics that contains serious elements is the best way to describe this party's direction, or as outlined by its leader “We are a serious  party” “With humor, with irony. But a serious party.” - Konstantin Kalachov

Boasting a robust 50,000 members at its peak, this party can be argued as having the largest membership base seen in the post-soviet beer party revolution. Campaigning on the tried and true slogan of “If you are sick of them, vote for us!”. Another one of its leaders, Dmitri Shestakov believed beer could unify a nation, a truly beautiful thought and a clear reason 50,000 people believed their message. Despite this support, they could only obtain 0.62% of votes, way below the 5% election threshold to enter parliament in the 1995 election. 

Almost all policy centred around how easy it could be to make and produce good quality beer, a basis of "efficient means for preservation of main natural resources, such as land, air, and especially water, which is the basis of a good beer" . There were also aspects of human rights and free trade. The party was also critical of the Russian leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s populist and nationalist policy.

Beer Lovers Party (Belarus) - 1993-1998

The most short lived and undoubtedly the holder of the best logo of the four, the Beer Lovers Party of Belarus was a party that added a bit of kick to it’s beer, acting as a protest against the incumbent regime, with one of its leaders Andrej Ramašeŭski having to flee the country after he was imprisoned for flag burning in protest to the incumbent regime at the time. 

In their own words, "The major goal of the BLP is the struggle for the cleanness and quality of the national beer, state independence and the neutrality of Belarus, freedom of economic relations, personal inviolability and the inviolability of private property". Underpinning its pro-independence commitments and liberal economic values held by its founders Vadim Chernyshov and Andrej Ramašeŭski. They wanted to improve the quality of beer, as well as create an official Belarus beer, a noble goal indeed. 

Sadly, despite a peak membership of 2,500 in 1995, they were never able to stand for election. This was due to being blocked by the Belarus Supreme court in 1998 under a strict post soviet regime.