View source for Prohibition in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union

{{Short description|Anti-alcohol campaigns in Russia}}
[[File:1-й Всероссийский книгорозыгрыш «Книга вместо водки».jpg|thumb|Advertising poster of the 1st All-Russian book lottery "Book instead of vodka". Unknown artist, USSR, 1929]]
'''Prohibition in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union''' existed during 1914–1925. The Russian term is {{lang|ru|сухой закон}} ({{lang|ru|sukhoy zakon}}, {{literal translation|[[dry law]]}}).
== Russian Empire ==
The Tsars monopolized the sale of vodka in the 16th century. By the mid-17th century, one-third of the population's working men were indebted to the government's taverns, which generated substantial revenue. [[Peter the Great|Peter I]] used this debt to compel military service.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fedun |first=Stan |date=2013-09-28 |title=How Alcohol Conquered Russia - Stan Fedun - The Atlantic |website=[[The Atlantic]] |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/how-alcohol-conquered-russia/279965/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928043353/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/how-alcohol-conquered-russia/279965/ |archive-date=2013-09-28 |access-date=2023-09-28 }}</ref>
[[Prohibition]] was introduced under the rule of Tsar [[Nicholas II]] in 1914, at the outset of [[World War I]]. It banned the sale of [[hard liquor|hard liquors]], such as vodka, except in privileged establishments.
This curtailment cost the government an estimated billion rubles annually. However, authorities believed the move was needed to improve wartime economic productivity, social orderliness, and military recruitment.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18880?msg=welcome_stranger|title=The New York Times Current History: the European War, February, 1915 by Various|access-date=30 March 2018|via=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Citation |last=Herlihy |first=Patricia |title=The Russian Vodka Prohibition of 1914 and Its Consequences |date=2017 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65361-7_12 |work=Dual Markets: Comparative Approaches to Regulation |pages=193–206 |editor-last=Savona |editor-first=Ernesto U. |access-date=2023-09-28 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-65361-7_12 |isbn=978-3-319-65361-7 |editor2-last=Kleiman |editor2-first=Mark A.R. |editor3-last=Calderoni |editor3-first=Francesco}}</ref> Michael Demitrovitch Tchelisheff, credited with leading the prohibition, opposed alcohol because he personally believed that drunkenness benefited autocratic rulers.<ref name=":0" />
==Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union==
[[File:1985 CPA 5686.jpg|thumb|Postage stamp of the USSR in 1985, "Sobriety is the norm of life"]]
The Tsar abdicated following widespread protests regarding food shortages, which took place on Women's Day in March 1917. This precipitated the [[Russian Revolution of 1917]], during which time [[Vladimir Lenin]] rose to power.<ref name="auto"/>
Lenin retained the prohibition, which remained in place through the [[Russian Civil War]] and into the period of [[Russian SFSR|Soviet Russia]] and the [[Soviet Union]]. However, following Lenin's death, [[Joseph Stalin]] repealed the prohibition in 1925 and brought back the state vodka monopoly system to increase government revenue.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-09-28 |title=How Alcohol Conquered Russia - Stan Fedun - The Atlantic |website=[[The Atlantic]] |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/how-alcohol-conquered-russia/279965/ |access-date=2023-09-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928043353/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/how-alcohol-conquered-russia/279965/ |archive-date=2013-09-28 }}</ref><ref>D. Christian, ''Prohibition in Russia 1914–1925.'' Australian Slavonic and East European Studies, vol. 9 (1995), pp. 89&ndash;108. </ref>
Following Stalin's death, the Soviet Union held three major anti-alcohol campaigns. The first was held during [[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s rule in 1958,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/images/pubs/2006/01/23/0000247470/011.ZAIGRAEV.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080229113140/http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/images/pubs/2006/01/23/0000247470/011.ZAIGRAEV.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 29, 2008|title=Г.&nbsp;Г.&nbsp;Заиграев. Государственная политика как фактор алкоголизации населения (PDF)|access-date=30 March 2018}}</ref> the second during [[Leonid Brezhnev]]'s tenure in 1972,<ref>[http://www.inpravo.ru/data/base466/text466v514i147.htm Приказ Минздрава СССР ОТ 24.08.1972 №&nbsp;694 о мерах по дальнейшему усилению борьбы против пьянства и алкоглизма] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090218001403/http://www.inpravo.ru/data/base466/text466v514i147.htm |date=2009-02-18 }} (там же приводится и постановление от 16 мая)</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.radiomayak.ru/doc.html?id=20813|title=Радио «Маяк»: Идейный компромисс для нетрезвеющего народа|access-date=30 March 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090525003342/http://www.radiomayak.ru/doc.html?id=20813|archive-date=25 May 2009}}</ref> and the third (and biggest) was held during [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]'s years from 1985 to 1988.<ref>Decree of the USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium "On the Increased Struggle against Hard Drinking and Alcoholism", May 16, 1985 (Указ Президиума Верховного Совета СССР «Об усилении борьбы с пьянством и алкоголизмом»)</ref>
=== Prohibition from 1985 to 1988 ===
On May 5, 1985, the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] published in all newspapers in the Soviet Union the ruling named "On the measures to overcome drunkenness and alcoholism". On June 1, the sale of alcohol was restricted to 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. At the time of that prohibition, 140,000 hectares of vineyards were destroyed. The measures ended in October 1988. {{Weasel inline|text=It is believed that,|date=September 2024}} among other things, the negative attitude towards this prohibition contributed to Boris Yeltsin's popularity compared to Mikhail Gorbachev.
After the end of that campaign, the life expectancy dropped, even with respect to pre-campaign levels.
==See also==
* [[Alcohol consumption in Russia]]
* [[Drug policy of the Soviet Union]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
* [http://www.tululuka.net/alco/ The Museum of Anti-Alcohol Posters]
* [https://allperestroika.ru/en/soviet-anti-alcohol-campaign-1985.html Anti-alcohol campaign during the Perestroika era in the USSR]
{{Alcohol by countries}}
{{Prohibition}}
{{Soviet Union topics}}
[[Category:Prohibition by country|Russia]]
[[Category:Alcohol in Russia]]
[[Category:Alcohol law by country]]
[[Category:Law of the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Law of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Perestroika]]
[[Category:Society of the Soviet Union]]