Who introduced the "dry law"? In the USSR, these times have come since the publication by MS Gorbachev in May 1985 of the corresponding decree on combating drunkenness and alcohol abuse. In connection with its introduction, the then Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council was subjected to many curses from the population of the country, who expressed dissatisfaction with the decision.
History of alcohol prohibition
Consumption of drinks with a high alcohol content has not been characteristic of Russia since ancient times. It is known that before Peter I came to power and popularized debauchery and drunkenness, society did not encourage "shameful deeds", and intoxicating products of natural fermentation were in use - mead and primordial (a drink with a content of 2-3% alcohol), which were consumed on major holidays.
For centuries, the culture of drinking alcoholic beverages, wine and vodka, in public places, taverns and taverns, was planted with the permission of the reigning persons, thus replenishing the treasury of the state.
Russian drunkenness has reached catastrophic proportionsby the end of the 19th century, which was the reason for the consideration in 1916 by the State Duma of the project "On the establishment of sobriety in the Russian Empire for all eternity." In the early years of Soviet power, the Bolsheviks adopted a Decree on a ban on the manufacture and sale of alcohol, as well as strong drinks in 1920, but later, realizing the level of possible revenues from this area to the state budget, canceled it.
This indicates that before M. S. Gorbachev, the authorities of both Tsarist Russia and the young Soviet state had already tried to combat the massive consumption of alcohol in large quantities.
Dry statistics facts
It should be noted that the anti-alcohol campaign was planned in the USSR long before Gorbachev came to power, but because of a series of deaths among the top of the CPSU, it was postponed. In 1980, the State Statistics Committee recorded the sale of alcoholic products to the population 7.8 times more than in 1940. If in May 1925 there were 0.9 liters per person, then further alcohol consumption increased by 1940 and amounted to 1.9 liters. Thus, by the beginning of the 1980s, the consumption of strong drinks in the USSR reached 15 liters per capita, which exceeded the average world level of alcohol consumption in drinking countries by almost 2.5 times. There was something to think about, including the he alth of the nation, government circles of the Soviet Union.
It is well known that the decisions of the then head of the USSR were influenced by members of his family. It is believed that to understand the degree of catastrophic situation withGorbachev's daughter, who worked as a narcologist, helped Gorbachev to drink excessively in the country. The consumption of absolute alcohol per capita per year, which reached 19 liters per year, personal observational experience and the role of a reformer and initiator of the perestroika program already chosen by that time, prompted Mikhail Gorbachev, then secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, to adopt the Prohibition.
The reality of the anti-alcohol campaign
Since the introduction of Gorbachev's Prohibition, vodka and wine have become available in stores from 14:00 to 19:00. Thus, the state fought against the drunkenness of the population in the workplace and the leisure of Soviet citizens with the obligatory drinking of alcohol.
This led to the creation of a shortage of strong alcohol, speculation by ordinary citizens. With a bottle of vodka instead of money, people began to pay for services and work of a private order, in the villages and collective farms people switched to widespread payment with bottles of moonshine.
The state treasury began to receive less financial resources, because only in the first period of the anti-alcohol campaign, vodka production decreased from 806 million liters to 60 million.
It has become fashionable in favor of the "dry law" (1985-1991) to hold celebrations and "non-alcoholic weddings." For the most part, of course, vodka and cognac were presented on them in tableware for pouring, for example, tea. Particularly enterprising citizens used kefir, a product of natural fermentation, to get a state of mild intoxication.
There are people who started drinking instead of vodkaother alcohol-containing products. And it wasn't always Triple Cologne and antifreeze. Pharmacies dismantled herbal tinctures for alcohol, hawthorn tincture was especially in demand.
Moonshine
During the "prohibition" people began to look for ways out of this situation. And if before that only rural, now urban residents began to massively drive moonshine. This provoked a shortage of yeast and sugar, which they began to sell on coupons and limited the issuance to one person.
During the years of the Prohibition, moonshining was severely prosecuted under the law in a criminal manner. Citizens carefully concealed the presence of distillation apparatuses in their households. In the villages, people secretly made moonshine and buried glass containers with it in the ground, fearing inspections by supervisory authorities. In the manufacture of moonshine, any products suitable for the formation of alcohol-containing mash were used: sugar, cereals, potatoes, beets and even fruits.
General dissatisfaction, sometimes reaching mass psychosis, led Gorbachev, under pressure from officials, to repeal the anti-alcohol law, and the country's budget began to be replenished with income from the monopoly state production and sale of alcohol.
Anti-alcohol campaign and the he alth of the nation
A ban on the production of alcohol in conditions of state monopoly and lobbying for the interests of large corporations is possible, of course, only in a country with a totalitarian regime, which was the USSR. In conditionsIn a capitalist society, a law similar to Gorbachev's "dry" law would hardly have passed approval at all levels of government.
Restricting the sale of vodka and wine had a positive effect on the he alth of the population of the Soviet Union. If you believe the statistics of those years and its lack of engagement in the interests of confirming the correct decisions of the Communist Party, then during the operation of the anti-alcohol decree, 5.5 million newborn children were born a year, which was half a million more than every year over the previous 20-30 years.
Reducing the use of strong drinks by men allowed to increase their life expectancy by 2.6 years. It is known that in the era of the Soviet Union and until today, mortality among men in Russia and their life expectancy are among the worst in comparison with other countries in the world.
Change in crime situation
A special item on the list of positive aspects of the ban on the sale of hard liquor is the reduction in the overall crime rate. Indeed, domestic drunkenness and very often accompanying petty hooliganism and crimes of medium gravity are linked together. However, it should be remembered that the alcohol niche did not remain empty for long, it was filled with sales of clandestinely produced moonshine, the quality and chemical composition of which, without the control of state bodies, often left much to be desired. That is, now under the Criminal Code, producers of "self-made" alcohol were held accountable, who were driven in unsanitary conditions for salesmall and medium batches of this "intoxicating potion".
Speculators did not fail to take advantage of such a restriction and introduced mark-ups on alcohol sold under the counter, including foreign-made ones, which increased in price by 47% on average. Now more citizens were brought to criminal responsibility under article 154 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR "Speculation".
Reasons for equating wine with vodka
Why was wine in this case considered similar to vodka in terms of the degree of harmful effects on the body? Let's remember that the culture of consuming mainly dry wines and brut champagne came to Russia in the 90s, when the borders were opened for the uncontrolled import of goods from other countries. A global expansion into the market of the countries of the collapsed Soviet Union began on the part of Western suppliers of food and beverages. Prior to this, Port wine, a wine variety with an alcohol content of 17.5%, as well as Cahors and other varieties of fortified wines, was traditional and loved by the people. Sherry was very popular among the population, called ladies' cognac for its high taste and 20% alcohol content.
Thus, it becomes obvious - the culture of wine consumption in the USSR was not similar to the daily consumption of light-strength wines of the southern territories - the republics of the Soviet Union and the Mediterranean countries. Soviet people deliberately chose fortified wines in order to achieve quick intoxication without taking into account the harm of such an approach to the body.
American Experience in Introductionanti-alcohol campaign
The US anti-alcohol campaign since 1917 has not reduced alcohol consumption per capita, but only contributed to the emergence of a mafia in this area and the underground sale of whiskey, brandy and other drinks. Smuggled drinks were of poor quality, crime increased sharply, people were indignant - the Great Depression was approaching. The state suffered losses from the shortfall in taxes on alcohol sales, and as a result, the US Congress was forced in 1920 to repeal the "prohibition" in the country.
Negative aspects of the anti-alcohol campaign for agriculture and the country's economy
As in the case of the fight against drug addiction, when it was forbidden to grow poppies in households, so in the case of alcohol, the ban took the most ugly forms. It was decided to limit the cultivation of raw materials for the production of wines by deliberately destroying the best vineyards in agricultural areas. Instead of providing the population of the country with selected grapes, it was rapaciously cut down on the territory of the Crimea, Moldova and the Caucasus. On the ground, the public mood and the assessment of decisions from above were negative, because many varieties of grapes were famous for their uniqueness, it took many years of farming to cultivate them and introduce them into the technology for the production of wine drinks.
The negative aspects of the "dry law" in the USSR (1985-1991) also have delayed consequences. In almost one day in July 1985, 2/3 of thestores that sell alcoholic beverages. For a certain time, a part of the population, who had previously worked in the wine and vodka sales sector, remained without work. The same fate affected the inhabitants of the Crimea, the republics of Moldova and Georgia, which during the Soviet Union were practically agrarian. Their economy was directly dependent on viticulture and winemaking. After the destruction of the wine industry of the republics by the anti-alcohol law, they lost their income, which means that their population began to depend on state subsidies. Naturally, this provoked indignation and, as a result, the emergence of nationalist sentiments in society. The people began to become impoverished, while the economy of the Soviet Union did not cope well with subsidies from unprofitable industries and regions before. And when the question of voting on secession from the USSR arose in these republics, the choice of the majority of their inhabitants became obvious.
Prohibition and modern Russia
Apparently, neither Gorbachev himself nor his entourage foresaw the scale of the catastrophic consequences of the anti-alcohol campaign of 1985-1991, its impact on the distant future of many regions. The mood of the population of the republics of Moldova and Georgia towards Russia as the successor to the USSR seems already irresistible. Until now, they cannot restore the number of vines and their fertility in the Crimea and Krasnodar, so the wine trade market for many decades is not occupied by domestic producers. Our state inherited a lot of problems from the former Soviet Union, including negativeconsequences of the introduction of "dry law".
