Drinking Up the Revolution: How to Smash Big Alcohol and Reclaim Working-Class Joy

by James Wilt

James Wilt exposes the links between the global alcohol industry and capitalism.

In Drinking Up the Revolution , James Wilt shows us why alcohol policy should be at the heart of any socialist movement.

Many people are drinking more now than ever before, as already massive multinationals are consolidating and new online delivery services are booming in an increasingly deregulated market. At the same time, public health experts are sounding the alarm about the catastrophic health and social impacts of rising alcohol use, with over three million people dying ever year due to alcohol-related harms.

Exposing the links between the alcohol industry and capitalism, colonialism and environmental destruction, Wilt demonstrates the failure of both prohibition and deregulation, and instead focuses on those who profit from alcohol’s sale and downplay its producers, retailers, and governments.

Rejecting both the alcohol industry’s moralizing against individual “problem drinkers” and the sober politics of “straight-edge” and wellness lifestyle trends, Drinking Up the Revolution is not another call for prohibition or more governmental control, but is instead a cry to take back alcohol for the people, and make it safe and enjoyable for all those who want to use it.

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction, Politics

345 pages, Paperback

Published July 12, 2022

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning refute of capitalist control of alcohol and its violences—debilitation and death.

[Keen Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars!

“Radical leftists constantly and correctly denounce the likes of Walmart, Amazon, Tesla, and Apple-along with their billionaire owners and executives-but one is hard-pressed to find critical analysis of AB InBev, Heineken, or Diageo.”

Did you know that Heineken started in the mid-1800s using proceeds from slavery in the West Indies?...Or that the UK’s Greene King pub network was founded by a slave owning man, who was also vehemently opposed to abolition and received enormous compensation when it did end.

“Between 1990 and 2017, the total volume of alcohol consumed in the world increased by a whopping 70% - from 21 billion litres to almost 36 billion litres – while the population only rose by 40%.”

“Globally, almost 1 in 7 deaths of people between the ages of 20 and 39 is attributable to alcohol.”

“'Craft beer' might just be one of the greatest marketing gimmicks of all time.”

When you see that Anheuser-Busch (AB InBev) produces around 500 different beer brands, accounting for over 25% of global beer sales- owned by three Brazilian billionaires and three Belgian families, you start to wonder about the point or meaning of so-called monopoly or oligopoly regulations?...in effect you have immensely powerful cartels, who have effortlessly bypassed ideas of democracy, buying off politicians allowing them to smash laws and regulations, free to indulge in rampant price-fixing so the greedy rich can get more of what they don’t need at the expense of everyone else.

Wilt assures us that this isn’t “due to some kind of vote-with-your-dollars grassroots support from working-class beer drinkers. Rather, it’s the outcome of a vicious, unrelenting, and highly effective drive for global domination, with massive centralization constantly expanding its reach and power.”

“Between the early 1950s and late 2000s, the average inflation-adjusted federal excise tax on beer in the US dropped from $31 to $6 per barrel, and the average state beer tax dropped from 42 cents per gallon to under 12 cents.” We see that in the US 335 out of 364 major alcohol tax threats were successfully defeated between the early 2000s and 2010s.

I had no idea that South Africa drank so much alcohol, or that they had such huge rates of alcohol fetal syndrome. Apparently in Vietnam alcohol consumption increased by an incredible 90% between 2010 and 2017, the so called Vietnam beer war, where 90% of the 4 billion litre per annum market is controlled by four breweries. This market provides Heineken with their second highest profit margins (Mexico being the first).

“One study estimated that half of all deaths in Russia between 1990 and 2001 resulted from alcohol use, equivalent to 3 million lives.”

One of the proposals put forward by Wilt is the nationalisation and the socialisation of the alcohol industry, from production all the way through to the retail sector. Which would be a fine thing, but the chances seem remote at best, though he does point to nations like Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and Russia - three nations which have all implemented strict bans on alcohol advertising.

Elsewhere he talks about the likes of the Gothenburg system devised in Sweden back in the 1850s, which was adopted as far as field as the US and Australia. Later on a variation of this was set up at the Scotland-England border, called the Carlisle Experiment, devised during WWI as a reaction against excessive drinking, these proved to be very successful and beneficial to the communities where they were implemented. Variations of this system existed in the UK until eventually being privatized by the Heath Conservative government in the 70s.

So there was a lot of really interesting stuff in here and Wilt pulls a lot of strands together giving us quite a broad and in depth look at the fuller and deeper impact of alcohol abuse on a global scale and more worryingly how unregulated and unchecked it seems to be, so often getting a free pass, normalising its regular consumption and making it widely available as possible, particularly in more deprived and vulnerable populations.

We see how often its routinely welcomed and embraced into the everyday, whilst its many risks and problems are greatly diminished or hidden altogether through dis-information, mis-information and sometimes just plain old lies. And how the many vast problems which arise from its abuse and consequences are dumped onto the consumers, victims and society as a whole with the producers and profiteers are freed of accountability or responsibility.

[Jackson Burrowes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good look at how capital extorts and uses alcohol to maximize profits while managing to remain completely blameless for the issues its causes

[Liam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super dry (ha, ha) stylistically, but I learned a lot. I tend to think about my relationship with alcohol on an individual level, so it was refreshing to zoom out to larger economic and social contexts.

Through clever marketing tactics and repeated acquisitions leading to economic dominance, big alcohol companies are able to promote unhealthy/dangerous drinking patterns to drive profits. At the same time, they put the onus on individuals to self-regulate and blame “problem drinkers” for succumbing to the very behaviors they spend billions to encourage.

Some really terrifying stuff in this one. Anyway, I’ll do a Manhattan, please.

[J Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find Drinking Up the Revolution by James Wilt to be difficult for me to rate. Much of the information is excellent yet the structure just didn't appeal to me.

For one thing, while he repeats what he isn't going to advocate for fairly often, the reader is left in the blind for far too long about what he is advocating for. It becomes frustrating reading all of the justification when you have no idea what is being justified. He does finally let us in on his ideas, which are broad almost to the point of deciding what action an individual can take becomes impossible. That, for me, is the structural issue that frustrated to the point of distraction.

The bulk of the book is an excellent history and explanation of "big alcohol." Wilt makes a lot of very good points and even when discussing things the reader might already know he makes connections that aren't readily apparent. As an informative book it is wonderful.

His manifesto at the end is broad, justifiably so, since so many things have to be done concurrently. Coalitions need to be built and initial small steps taken. The first is raising an awareness that alcohol needs to be regulated differently, from a less profit-only capitalism. One of the reasons he offers, perhaps the biggest reason other than the harm the current system is causing, concerns the decriminalization and regulation of other drugs. Alcohol then is set up as an example of how not to regulate a drug; and needs to be corrected prior to other drugs possibly following the same route.

Wilt's desire to pound the reader over the head with some of the political theory from which he is operating gets annoying as well. If we can only count on those who support the same political ideology in order to make these changes, we are likely doomed. I am afraid that many readers, even those in agreement on the need to alter the way alcohol is regulated, will be turned off because they don't want to hear Wilt's ideology behind his suggestions.

Definitely a recommended read but I am not sure it will spur that many people into activism, though it might make them more receptive to a less bulldozing approach.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Viral · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellently researched and thorough breakdown of a topic all socialists SHOULD care about, but very few do: confronting the social and political power of Big Alcohol.

I'll be the first to admit, I enjoy recreationally consuming alcohol (almost exclusively beer). I like going to breweries. I own a bunch of beer related paraphernalia. So I really appreciated this book for forcing me to get over my own uncomfortableness with grappling with the genuine dangers presented by Big Alcohol. The whole time I was reading this book, I kept thinking to myself "substitute Big Alcohol for any other industry, Big Tobacco, Big Pharma, Big Ag. Would you have any problem calling a spade a spade?" And it helped. Because we need to talk about how Big Alcohol controls the overwhelming supply of alcohol, how they have engineered laws and trade agreements to allow them to escape scrutiny, how they extract and harm the marginalized, and they privatize and externalize the social costs their profit making enterprise produces. We don't need to be prohibitionists to understand that Big Alcohol is intentionally trying to poison us, pressure us into developing unsustainable levels of consumption, so they can make money, while deceiving us into thinking the health and social damages are all on us, all while empowering the carceral state.

My biggest critique of this book is that unfortunately, for such an important topic, it is far too heady at times in its political economic analysis. This is a topic that we desperately need to make clear and easy to digest for the masses, and I unfortunately don't think this book does that well. However, I hope this book can help others develop more easy to understand ways of analyzing the power of Big Alcohol as we push to challenge their corporate power and the social harms they cause.

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

First book completed for 2024 as I’m soldiering through dry January. The Manifesto of this book really shines, really well researched. It’s focus on curtailing alcohol to enable other methods of socialising and relaxation to be enjoyed is so good. Really liked this one, not really quit lit, but still worth your time if you’re interested in a social history of alcohol under neoliberalism.

“Nothing is too good for the working class.”

[Joshua Arnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost took off half a star for saying Spike Lee directed Boyz N the Hood

[Holly]

I agree with all the information but find it quite challenging to read.

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book ive read all year.

[Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

As mentioned in other reviews, it isn’t the most entertaining read. However, the information and message of the book is very thought provoking and, in my experience, life altering.