The Specter Of Al Capone Is Haunting Poland – OpEd

By Andrzej Strojny

To American observers, Poland can appear to be an example of successful political transformation. A country that threw off the yoke of communism in 1989, shifted towards a market system, and this year ranked 20th among the world’s largest economies. However, more than 30 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, the demons of state tyranny are reawakening on the Vistula River. This time, the threat to freedom does not come from Moscow, but from local town halls. In selected cities, bans on the sale of alcohol by shops at night are being introduced. Under the guise of health concerns, regulations are being introduced that, in fact, restrict consumer freedom and harm small businesses.

In the United States, the history of Prohibition in the 1920s is widely known as a harsh lesson that good intentions often have the opposite effect. Americans remember very well that the introduction of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution did not stop people from drinking. Instead, it drove the alcohol trade underground. While high-quality spirits were smuggled in from the Caribbean, Europe, or Canada for those who could afford it, many Americans turned to consuming dangerous, lower-quality alcohol distilled illegally within the United States. Unlike the imported goods, this domestic “moonshine” was often contaminated or produced using industrial alcohol, leading to several thousand fatal cases of poisoning.

Distribution was taken over by criminal groups, bringing figures such as Al Capone to the top. After 13 years, both citizens and authorities had had enough of the ban. Although alcohol consumption dropped significantly in the early years, it eventually rebounded as the black market matured, while crime rates soared. Mafiosos replaced common gangsters, and organized crime flourished. To combat the rampant mafia, a new government agency was established: the Federal Bureau of Investigation, commonly known as the FBI. Consequently, the 21st Amendment to the Constitution repealed the ban on the sale of alcohol.

Market realities proved more potent than the bureaucracy’s will, and prohibition became a symbol of the ineptitude of state intervention. However, it seems that Polish local politicians slept through some of their history lessons. In many Polish cities, including Kraków, Poznań, Gdańsk, and recently also Warsaw, a nighttime ban on the sale of alcohol between 10 PM or 11 PM and 6 AM is being introduced. The ban applies to licensed shops that are open at night, not to bars, clubs, and restaurants. It should be noted that the sale of alcohol at night already requires a specific permit and safety criteria.

David versus Goliath in the Shadow of Bureaucracy

At first glance, the ban may seem like a typical regulatory measure aimed at improving safety and order in the city, preventing disturbances of the peace at night, or prohibiting the consumption of alcohol in certain areas. However, the devil is in the details. Who is really affected by this regulation?

In Poland, the alcohol market is divided into two distinct segments. On the one hand, we have large international supermarkets and discount chains, which usually close at 10 or 11 PM. On the other hand, there are thousands of small neighborhood stores, often family businesses, whose only competitive advantage over the giants is their location and late-night opening hours. Customers who plan to consume alcohol obviously buy it in a daytime store so as not to overpay in a more expensive night store. They go to a night store when they run out of alcohol during a party or when an unexpected opportunity to consume alcohol arises, e.g., an unannounced visit from a friend. Anyone who knows life knows that in both of these situations, it is difficult to stop a customer from making a purchase. Therefore, the demand for night store services will not disappear with their closure. The question is, where will it be met?

The number of customers visiting bars and restaurants may increase, as the planned ban does not cover them. It is also likely that customers will be drawn into the “gray zone.” In Poland, as in the rest of the world, the market for delivery services is booming. Giants such as Uber, Bolt, and Glovo offer delivery of products, including alcohol, practically 24 hours a day. A determined customer who is turned away by the closed doors of a local store can take out his smartphone and order alcohol with delivery right to his door. In this way, supposedly health-promoting regulations become a gift to international delivery platforms. The only ones who lose out are small businesses and consumers, who will pay more to cover the cost of delivery. It is significantly more challenging to manage a dispersed, mobile sales network than a stationary store. If the excesses that undoubtedly take place in the immediate vicinity of night stores move to parks and dark alleys, there is no benefit to public safety. And there are already measures to deal with danger and disorder related to alcohol sales.

According to Polish law, a municipality may revoke a license to sell alcohol if there have been at least two violations of regulations at the point of sale within six months, such as disturbing the peace at night, vandalism, or selling alcohol to minors. This makes it all the more surprising that, instead of punishing specific locations where problems actually occur, the authorities prefer to apply collective responsibility. This is all the more bizarre, given that high-profile incidents tend to occur in city centers, which are crowded with tourists and nightlife enthusiasts. In residential areas and on the outskirts, problems are practically non-existent. There, the local shop generates minimal noise and primarily serves residents who want to stock up for a party at home.

Game of Thrones… and Permits

To understand who benefits from nighttime prohibition, one must examine the specifics of Polish law. In every Polish municipality, the number of outlets that can sell alcohol is strictly limited by council resolutions. This means that if the limit is exhausted, for someone to obtain a license, another store must vacate its space.

Take Warsaw as an example. According to an official resolution of the city council, the maximum number of retail alcohol sales permits is fixed at 8,560. City councilors emphasize that this limit is currently almost exhausted.

There are 397 small neighborhood shops in the capital that are open at night. The collapse of small shops will result in the release of almost 400 licenses, which franchisees of large retail chains will likely snap up immediately. This is because every chain wants to increase the density of its daily sales outlets. In this way, under the guise of the fight for sobriety, corporations are taking over the market from small businesses.

The Return of the Gray Zone

Prohibition is the fastest way for petty criminals to rise to the rank of mafia. Before 1920, Al Capone’s role in the criminal underworld was limited to that of a bodyguard in second-rate bars and brothels, where he collected protection money from petty debtors for a pittance. After Prohibition was introduced, he started illegal alcohol production in basements and secret warehouses. The profits from smuggling became so astronomical that they allowed Chicago gangs to transform into powerful, organized syndicates capable of corrupting judges, police, and politicians. Illegal distribution elevated this common thug to such wealth that his fortune was estimated at $100 million.

The American experience during Prohibition teaches us that, if we close legal stores, the market will not disappear; it will simply move underground. Signs of this phenomenon are already visible in Poland. In cities that experimented with prohibition, such as Kartuzy and Biała Podlaska, the idea was quickly abandoned. The problems did not disappear, but only moved to other places—to illegal dens, private apartments, or neighboring municipalities.

The Spiral of Absurdities

Supporters of bans argue that Poles drink too much and need to be stopped, but the data contradict this narrative. Alcohol consumption in Poland has been falling steadily for 5 years. Introducing drastic bans at a time when the market is regulating itself downwards, and the trend for a healthy lifestyle (the so-called “NoLo” trend—no or low alcohol) is gaining popularity, seems not only unnecessary, but downright idiotic.

Creating laws that punish honest entrepreneurs and reward criminals and large corporations is a contradiction of the free-market idea that Poland has been pursuing for decades. The nighttime prohibition is not just a matter of whether you can buy beer at midnight; it’s also a matter of whether you can buy beer at all. This creates a dangerous precedent in which the state’s interventionist tendencies prevail over common sense and respect for free trade.

• About the author: Andrzej Strojny is a law graduate at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw with a diverse educational and professional background. In addition to his legal studies, he earned a diploma as a geodetic technician from a Technical School of Surveying, Geology, and Road Engineering.  He also completed an internship at the Ministry of Finance, gaining hands-on experience in financial law while collaborating with seasoned experts.
• Source: This article was published by FEE