The history of drunkenness in Russia: from "Tsarev's tavern" by Ivan the Terrible to the "dry" law of Nicholas II

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Drunkenness is a huge social problem with which Russia has been struggling for a long time and not always successfully. There is even an opinion that Russians drink more than anyone else in the world, that this is their genetic trait. Is it so? And has Russia always been the personification of drunken stupor?

Ancient Russia - intoxicating drinks

In ancient times in Russia, alcoholic, or more correctly, exclusively intoxicated drinks were rarely consumed, at funerals, games, feasts. In addition, the most popular were mead, beer and home brew, which were made on the basis of honey, and therefore not so much intoxicated as invigorated. Wine made from grapes began to be drunk only from the 10th century, when it came from Byzantium.

Everyone in childhood read Russian folk tales, so the saying about honey and beer, which flowed and flowed down the mustache, but never got into the mouth, is familiar to everyone. What was there under the expression "did not get into the mouth"? And the point is that intoxicated drinks were not drunk just like that, they were served as a pleasant addition to a generous meal.

There were many drinks and they were all delicious. Since the reign of Vladimir the Great and until the middle of the 16th century, they used intoxicating drinks based on fermented honey or grape juice. These were kvass, sieve, birch, honey, wine, beer, strong drink, mentioned above and which became national drinks mead and braga.

It should be noted that there is no written evidence that drunkenness was considered a serious social problem in Ancient Russia. The old people of the times of Kievan Rus told the youth to drink wine for the sake of fun, but not in order to get very drunk: "drink, but do not get drunk."

It is believed that the Grand Duke of Kiev Vladimir chose Orthodoxy as a religion for Russia, since it did not directly prohibit intoxicating drinks.

The beginning of the "drunken era"

Today, many foreigners associate Russia with vodka. When this drink appeared everywhere, it is impossible to say. However, there are some documents in which you can find information that in the second half of the 15th century, the processing of rye began in Russia, they learned how to make pure alcohol.

A little earlier, in 1533, Ivan the Terrible issued an order to open the Tsarev's tavern, which became the country's first drinking establishment. The beginning of the 15th century for Russia was marked by the appearance of such drinks as bread, boiled and hot wine. And these were no longer harmless intoxicating drinks made from grapes or honey, but a real moonshine, which was obtained by distillation.

Ordinary people could not afford to get drunk every day, as the tsar's oprichniks did. The working people indulged in alcohol on Holy Week, on Christmas Day, on Dmitrov Saturday. The first attempts to combat drunkenness belong to the same period: if a commoner got drunk at the wrong time, he was mercilessly beaten with batogs, and the one who crossed all the boundaries was in prison.

If we consider drunkenness as a way of making a profit, then it was under Ivan the Terrible that this phenomenon began to spread. A few years passed after the "launch" of the first tsar's tavern, and in 1555 the tsar allowed taverns to open throughout Russia. It seems that nothing particularly terrible happened, but food was not served in these establishments, and it was forbidden to bring it with you. A man who rushed to alcohol, drinking alcohol without a snack, could drop everything he had with him in a day, right down to his clothes.

The impetus for the development of drunkenness was also given by the fact that all peasants, commoners and townspeople were officially forbidden to make intoxicating drinks and moonshine in their homes. Naturally, people began to visit drinking establishments more and more often. A drunken era began when taverns received huge profits that went to the State (Tsarev) treasury.

A contribution to the development of drunkenness was made by Boris Godunov, under whom all taverns on the territory of Russia were mercilessly closed, where not only alcohol was served, but also food. The state monopoly in the vodka trade was legalized. In 1598, the tsar issued a decree, which states that private individuals are not allowed to trade in vodka under any conditions. Only a hundred years passed, and drunkenness grabbed Russia by the throat with its iron hand.

According to the Prussian diplomat Adam Olearius, who created the famous "Descriptions of a trip to Muscovy," he was amazed at the number of drunks lying on the street. Men and women, young and old, priests and secular people, commoners and titled persons drank. Unfortunately, such Russian national traits as hospitality played an important role in the spread of drunkenness. In Russia, it was customary to welcome the guest cordially, with a meal and alcohol. If the guest could drink everything that was poured to him, then he was treated better than the one who drank "bad". This was noted by the diplomat Peter Petrei in his Moscow Chronicles.

The fight against drunkenness

The beginning of the fight against drunkenness can be read in 1648, when the so-called tavern riots began. The reason was simple: the commoners simply could not pay off all the debts for what they had drunk in these establishments. The owners of the taverns did not want to be left behind either, so the tavern vodka was getting worse and worse in quality. The riots were so strong that it was not possible to suppress them without the use of military force.

This fact did not pass by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, who in 1652 convened the Zemsky Sobor, which received the historical name "a cathedral about taverns." The result was a decree limiting the number of drinking outlets in Russia and determining the days prohibited for the sale of alcohol. I must say that there were a lot of them, as many as 180. The tsar also forbade the sale of vodka on credit. The prices for this product have been increased by as much as three times. One person could buy only one glass of vodka, which then had a volume of 143.5 grams.

Patriarch Nikon, who has great influence on the tsar, insisted on prohibiting the sale of alcohol to "priests and monks". Sermons were read in churches that drunkenness is a sin and harm to health. This had a positive effect, a negative attitude began to form towards drunkards, and not as tolerant as before.

Everything would be fine if the royal decree was unquestioningly observed for many years. No, that didn't happen. The number of taverns did not decrease, and the rest of the decree's clauses worked for about seven years.

Unfortunately, the economic benefits did not allow the alcohol trade to be drastically reduced. When vodka proceeds quickly crawled downward, state interests outweighed. However, before Peter 1 came to power, it was mainly poor people who consumed alcohol in taverns that became drunkards. Merchants and aristocrats could feast on wine at home, using a plentiful snack, because among them there were significantly fewer drunken individuals.

Peter I also tried to fight drunkenness. For example, he ordered to issue medals weighing more than 7 kg and distribute them to everyone who was seen in heavy drinking. It was necessary to wear such a medal for seven days, it was forbidden to remove it.

Campaign for sobriety and its results

In 1914 a sobriety campaign was started. During mobilization on the basis of a royal decree, the sale of any alcohol was strictly prohibited. This was the same Prohibition, which is much talked about today. A little later, local communities received the right to independently decide whether to trade in alcohol or not.

The effect exceeded all expectations. The Tsar's decree was supported in most regions, and in just a year the consumption of alcoholic beverages decreased 24 times. There was a decrease in patients diagnosed with alcoholic psychosis, a decrease in the number of absenteeism and "drunken" injuries. Agitation campaigns against drunkenness were launched on a wide scale.

However, this did not last long. Gradually, the achieved effects began to fade away, home brewing and the production of clandestine alcohol increased dramatically.

The production of alcohol continued, and there was a problem with its storage. In September 1916, it was banned by the Council of Ministers, and the stocks of the product had to be destroyed, which led to a significant decrease in state revenues.

To compensate for the losses from Prohibition, taxes were raised. Firewood and medicine, matches and salt, tobacco, sugar and tea - everything went up. Passenger and freight duties were increased. And the people continued to drive moonshine and drink.

Drunkenness began to overtake not only commoners, but also the nobility, the intelligentsia. The so-called zemstvo hussars (employees of the support service who did not participate in the hostilities), turned around with might and main, stealing and speculating in alcohol. Between city councils and zemstvos, a struggle arose for expanding influence, which took place under the banner of a company for sobriety, which turned dry law into a reason for the undermining of the socio-economic situation of the Russian Empire.

And in continuation of the theme, a story about why in the USSR they drank a lot under Brezhnev and how they fought against alcoholism in "perestroika"