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Alcohol and Soviet Society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Walter D. Connor
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Extract

If, in a nation where comprehensive statistics on social problems are rarely if ever published, legislative action and press attention to such problems may be taken as an indication of the seriousness with which they are regarded, then the Soviet Union's alcohol problem is serious indeed. On April 8, 1967, the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR approved a decree, On Compulsory Treatment and Labor Re-education of Habitual Drunkards (Alcoholics). This decree, which went into effect on September 1 of the same year, provides for one to two-year terms in special “treatment-labor” medical institutions for excessive drinkers who violate “labor discipline, public order, and the rules of the socialist community.” The new institutions were subordinated not to the Ministry of Health but to the RSFSR Ministry for the Preservation of Public Order (MOOP, now renamed MVD). While it contained a number of significant departures from earlier legislation, the decree's most important point was its “preventive” emphasis. Previously an offending drunkard had to be on trial for a crime in a people's court before proceedings for compulsory treatment could be instituted.

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , September 1971 , pp. 570 - 588
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1971

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References

1. Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta RSFSR, 1967, no. IS (Apr. 13), pp. 329-30 (translated in Current Digest of the Soviet Press, May 3, 1967, p. 11). The two categories —“habitual drunkard” and alcoholic—in the statute's title are not clearly distinguished in Soviet writings. A rough distinction between “drunkenness” as a behavioral concept relevant to public-order concerns and “alcoholism” as a medical concept can be made, but it obscures the reluctance of Soviet writers to call alcoholism simply a “disease.” For our purposes, the terms can be taken as roughly interchangeable and as signifying a person whose involvement with alcohol has seriously impaired his social, economic, or civic functioning.

2. Trans, in CDSP, Apr. 16, 1969, pp. 28-29.

3. Trans, in CDSP, June 11, 1969, pp. 22-23.

4. Alkogolizm: Put’ k prestupleniiu (Moscow, 1966). This volume, it seems probable, was the product of a state-party “commission” to the institute to produce a study to serve as a potential aid to policy-making.

5. Gertsenzon, in a conversation with the author in June 1969, shortly after his Izvestiia article had appeared, professed not to know whether the foundation of such a society was to be expected in the near future.

6. Bol'shaia meditsinskaia entsiklopediia, vol. 1 (Moscow, 1956), col. 727. These, unfortunately, were the most recent figures available to the author.

7. Data for 1906-10 are from Alkogolism: Puf k prestupleniiu, p. 95. The full figures, expressed in terms of liters of absolute alcohol per capita per year, are as follows: For 1906-10: (1) France, 22.93 liters, (2) Italy, 18.29, (3) Spain, 14.02, (4) Greece, 13.87, (5) Switzerland, 13.71, (6) Belgium, 10.58, (7) England, 9.67, (8) Germany, 7.56, (9) United States, 6.89, (10) Denmark, 6.82, (11) Sweden, 4.33, (12) Russia (European),

3. 41, (13) Norway, 2.63, and (14) Finland, 1.54. For 1948-50: (1) France, 21.5, (2) Spain, 10.0, (3) Italy, 9.2, (4) Switzerland,

9. 0, (5) Belgium, 6.5, (6) Great Britain, 6.0, (7) United States, 5.1, (8) West Germany,

3. 75, (9) Sweden, 3.6, (10) Denmark, 2.85, (11) Norway, 2.2, (12) Holland, 2.0, and (13) the USSR, 1.85.

8. Alkogolism: Puf k prestupleniiu, p. 95.

9. See Mironenko, Y, “The Fight Against Alcoholism in the USSR,” Bulletin of the Institute for the Study of the USSR (Munich), 14, no. 9 (1967): 28 Google Scholar.

10. Based on an estimated 1950 population of 178, 547, 000. See Warren Eason, “Population Changes,” in Allen, Kassof, ed., Prospects for Soviet Society (New York, 1968), p. 1968 Google Scholar.

11. Alkogolism: Puf k prestupleniiu, p. 84.

12. Ibid., pp. 21-23.

13. By no means, however, need large areas of the USSR be automatically excluded from the picture which emerges. Substantial Russian-Ukrainian migration to Central Asia (and to some degree the Caucasus), especially to larger cities, means “transportation” of the drinking culture as well. In areas where Islam (with its prohibition of alcohol) has been relatively weak, for example in Kazakhstan, native populations may not differ so greatly from Russian patterns. Even the traditionally stronger Muslim areas, such as Uzbekistan, do not show the abstinent orientation that characterizes much of Arabic Islam. The Caucasus (especially Georgia) shows different drinking patterns, concentrating on wines and cognacs. Yet much of the surface association of drinking with masculinity seems evident here too, as in the Russian case. If the Russian drinking culture resembles in some ways the Irish variant, Georgian attitudes and patterns may resemble, in general and in their pathological aspects, the French. These suggestions are only tentative, and their confirmation must await data presently unavailable.

14. “People drink when they meet, when they take leave of each other; to quiet their hunger when they are hungry, to stimulate their appetite when they are satisfied. They drink to get warm, when it is cold, to cool off when it is hot. They drink when they are drowsy, to wake up, and when they are wakeful, to bring on sleep.” Banshchikov, V. M., Alkogolism i ego vred dlia edoroilia cheloveka (Moscow, 1958), p. 5 Google Scholar.

15. See, for example, Isvestiia, Mar. 2, 1958, p. 4 (trans, in CDSP, Apr. 9, 19S8, p. 29).

16. Rozhnov, V. E., Po sledam zelenogo smiia (Moscow, 1969), pp. 35–36 Google Scholar.

17. Pravda, Apr. 6, 1969, p. 3 (trans, in CDSP, Apr. 23, 1969, p. 19). See also Pravda, Jan. 13, 1969, p. 3 (trans, in CDSP, Jan. 29, 1969, pp. 18-19).

18. Rozhnov, , Po sledam zelenogo smiia, p. 36 Google Scholar. See also l a M., Tkachevsky, Prestupnost' i alkogolism (Moscow, 1966), p. 8 Google Scholar, and Levin, Iu, “O vrede alkogolia,” in Za kommunisticheskii byt (Leningrad, 1963), p. 243 Google Scholar.

19. Levin, “O vrede alkogolia,” p. 254

20. Segal, B. M., Alkogolism: Klinicheskie, sotsial'no-psikhologicheskie i biologicheskie problemy (Moscow, 1967), p. 521 Google Scholar.

21. Bogdanovich, L. A., Zhisn’ nachinaetsia segodnia (Moscow, 1967), p. 56 Google Scholar; Rozhnov, , Po sledam selenogo smiia, p. 60 Google Scholar. Whether this pattern is changing or not is hard to ascertain. In the United States the past century has seen a reduction in the male-female alcoholic ratio from around 20: 1 to 5: 1. The social forces which have increased women's contacts and activities outside the household in the USSR, reducing the “distance” between male and female roles, may be having the same effect. Young urban women especially seem to find few prohibitions against their drinking, although drunkenness is not accepted as tolerantly in them as it is in men. The Soviet female alcoholic may also have a greater chance of escaping diagnosis than her American counterpart, since she is more likely to do her drinking in private.

22. Bogdanovich, , Zhisn’ nachinaetsia segodnia, p. 49 Google Scholar.

23. See the instance in Isvestiia, Feb. 25, 1964, p. 4.

24. See Robert F. Bales, “Attitudes Toward Drinking in the Irish Culture,” and Charles R. Snyder, “Culture and Jewish Sobriety: The Ingroup-Outgroup Factor,” both in Pittman, David J. and Snyder, Charles R., eds., Society, Culture, and Drinking Patterns (New York, 1962)Google Scholar.

25. See, for example, McCord, William and McCord, Joan, Origins of Alcoholism (Stanford, 1960), esp. pp. 54–72 Google Scholar.

26. Whether the predominance of working-class alcoholics and drunkards evident in Soviet discussions reflects the actual situation, or middle-class observer bias, is hard to determine. A drunken worker on the factory floor is easier to detect than an executive in the early phases of alcoholism, who can more easily separate his drinking and his work. The latter has more to “lose” and thus is probably less likely to appear in public intoxicated and become a police statistic. Soviet writings are liberally sprinkled with stories of men who have fallen from responsible positions to disgrace because of their drinking, but most of the attention is still concentrated on lower-class drunkards.

27. “The consumption of alcoholic drinks in our country … causes harm to the health of Soviet citizens, gives rise to disability, shortens the life-span, brings disorganization into personal, family, and social life, reduces labor productivity, and serves as a cause of instances of hooliganism and crime” (Levin, “O vrede alkogolia,” p. 228).

28. Izvestiia, Mar. 2, 1958, p. 4 (trans, in CDSP, Apr. 9, 1958, p. 29) ; Banshchikov, V. M., Alkogolizm i ego vred, p. 32 Google Scholar.

29. la. E., Gurvich, P'ianstvo gubit cheloveka, nanosit vred obshchestvu (Moscow, 1958), p. 30 Google Scholar.

30. N. N. Kondrashkov, “Analiz raionnoi statistiki prestupnosti,” Voprosy preduprezhdeniia prestupnosti, 1966, no. 4, p. 44. The economic aspect of the problem is evident in complaints of “shrinkage” of grain reserves and the loss of working hours from laborers engaged in samogqnovarenie. Cases are reported of collusion between collective and state farm chairmen and the distillers—grain is “officially” designated for distilling, and those who do the distilling are given labor-day credit for the work. See Alkogolizm: Puf k prestupleniiu, pp. 24-25.

31. L. Vaisberg and Sh. Taibakova, “Alkogolizm i prestupnost1 nesovershennoletnikh, “ in U. Dzhekebaev, ed., Voprosy bor'by s prestupnosfiu nesovershennoletnikh (Alma-Ata, 1968), p. 101. In this connection, many Soviet jurists have argued that adults, when responsible for the state of drunkenness in which a minor commits an offense, should be made to bear equal legal penalties. See, for example, A. B., Sakharov, “Alkogol” i prestupnost’ nesovershennoletnikh,” Sovetskaia iustitsiia, 1965, no. 16, pp. 22–23Google Scholar.

32. Sakharov, A. B., 0 lichnosti prestupnika i prichinakh prestupnosti v SSSR (Moscow, 1961), p. 232 Google Scholar.

33. Ibid., p. 235.

34. Alkogolizm: Puf k prestupleniiu, p. 6, citing Problemy sudebnoi psikhiatrii, 9 (1961): 372.

35. Nedelia, July 24-30, 1966, p. 2.

36. Sovetskaia Rossiia, Mar. 26, 1964, p. 4.

37. Rozhnov, , Po sledam selenogo smiia, p. 97 Google Scholar.

38. Banshchikov, , Alkogolizm i ego vred, p. 8 Google Scholar.

39. Some of the recent history of the “intensified struggle” with illegal manufacture of alcohol is reflected in the 1960 and 1961 RSFSR decrees on the subject. See CDSP, Mar. 2, 1960, p. 21, and June 7, 1961, p. 22.

40. The original letter appeared in Izvestiia, June 17, 196S, p. 3 (trans, in CDSP, July 28, 1965, p. 10) ; “follow-up” letters were printed in CDSP, July 28, 1965, pp. 10-17.

41. See, for example, Bogdanovich, , Zhisn’ nachinaetsia segodnia, pp. 52–56Google Scholar, and Rozhnov, , Po sledam zelenogo zmiia, pp. 56–57Google Scholar.

42. The most complete discussion of this topic is in Segal, , Alkogolizm, pp. 126–32Google Scholar.

43. See Bogdanovich, , Zhizn’ nachinaetsia segodnia, pp. 17–22Google Scholar, for an account of teenage drinking parties.

44. Rozhnov, , Po sledam zelenogo zmiia, p. 61 Google Scholar.

45. For a brief review of some of the problems and patterns of Soviet leisure, see Paul, Hollander, “The Uses of Leisure,” Survey, July 1966, pp. 40–50Google Scholar.

46. Literaturnaia gazeta, Dec. 13, 1967, p. 12 (trans, in CDSP, Jan. 3, 1968, pp. 3-4

47. See, for example, Rozhnov, , Po sledam selenogo zmiia, pp. 106–16Google Scholar, and Bogdanovich, , Zhizn’ nachinaetsia segodnia, pp. 23–31Google Scholar.

48. “There are, unfortunately, not a few people who consider the customs of the 'pub’ normal, generally accepted, almost an everyday thing, but temperance—an abnormal exception. ‘Everyone drinks alcohol, ’ these people say in the discussions arising after lectures on the struggle with alcoholism” (Levin, “O vrede alkogolia,” p. 249).

49. Gurvich, , P'ianstvo gubit cheloveka, p. 11 Google Scholar.

50. Tkachevsky, Prestupnosf i alkogolizm, note 9.

51. See Segal, , Alkogolizm, pp. 47–48 and 298Google Scholar. Without control groups, the significance of such findings cannot be properly assessed. An American study, with controls, showed no significant relationship between father's or mother's approval (or disapproval) of drinking and the later alcoholism of their male offspring (see McCord and McCord, Origins of Alcoholism, p. 42).

52. Rozhnov, , Po sledam zelenogo smiia, pp. 23, 25Google Scholar, and Levin, “O vrede alkogolia, “ p. 244.

53. Izvestiia, , July 14, 1965, p. 4.

54. Segal, , Alkogolism, p. 546 Google Scholar.

55. “The arousal of fears, implied warnings, or threats as to what will happen if one drinks too much have been noted to provoke avoidance reactions towards further propaganda. There also seems to be an unwillingness of audiences to particularize such propaganda. This is very apt to be true if the educational materials are pointed to alcoholism as an end result of drinking” (Edwin M. Lemert, “Alcohol, Values and Social Control,” in Pittman, and Snyder, , eds., Society, Culture, and Drinking Patterns p. 563 Google Scholar).

56. “Alkogolizm,” Bol'shaia meditsinskaia entsiklopediia, vol. 1, col. 734; Levin,” 0 vrede alkogolia,” p. 246; Segal, , Alkogolizm, p. 542 Google Scholar.

57. The economics of the present state monopoly on alcohol, as well as the desire to avoid “bourgeois sanctimoniousness,” probably provide the answer. The income from alcohol is large, and expenditures absorb much of the population's buying power.

58. See note 2, and Izvestiia, June 27, 1965, p. 6; Isvestiia, July 9, 1958, p. 3 (trans, in CDSP, Aug. 13, 1958, pp. 26-27).

59. Komsomol'skaia pravda, Oct. 9, 1965, pp. 2, 4 (trans, in CDSP, Dec. 16, 1964, pp. 16-18).

60. Some writers refer to the severe alcohol problems of the immediate postwar years (see Segal, Alkogolism, p. 267) when the standard of living hit a low point; others (see note 52), recognizing this, argue that today's drunkards lack the excuses of poverty and deprivation. Although it seems that alcoholism leads to a decline in the standard of living (Segal, p. 105), those studies that have included control groups to test the relationship of income, education, and occupation to drinking habits have been inconclusive (pp. 298-300), mainly because of the difficulty in securing a “representative” control group.

61. For further information see Vera Efron, “The Soviet Approach to Alcoholism, “ Social Problems, 7, no. 4 (Spring 1960) ; A. R. King and M. H. Hand, “Observations in Russia on the Alcohol Problem,” Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 24, no. 4 (December 1963) ; Segal, , Alkogolism, pp. 460–519Google Scholar.

62. L. V. Orlovsky, “K metodike antialkogol'noi propagandy,” in Lukomsky, I. I., ed., Alkogolism i’ alkogol'nye psikhosy (Moscow, 1963), p. 418 Google Scholar.

63. See, for example, Rozhnov, , Po sledam selenogo smiia, pp. 39–55Google Scholar.

64. As noted above (note 55), these appeals are not easily “personalized” by individuals. See also Segal, , Alkogolism, p. 545 Google Scholar.

65. See, for example, L. A., Lerman, “Meditsinskie rabotniki i protivoalkogol'naia propaganda,” Sovetskoe sdravookhranenie, 1958, no. 11, p. 4 Google Scholar; Banshchikov, , Alkogolism i ego vred, p. 12 Google Scholar; and Sovetskaia torgovlia, May 12, 1959, p. 4. 66. Meditsinskaia gaseta, July 16, 1963, p. 2.

67. See Rozhnov, , Po sledam selenogo smiia, pp. 62–72Google Scholar.

68. An exception is Segal, who notes this possibility and is far from an unqualified acceptance of the “heredity” argument (Alkogolism, pp. 132-33).

69. Ibid., p. 546.

70. Izvestiia, Aug. 29, 1965, p. 4 (trans, in CDSP, Sept. 22, 1965, pp. 32-33).

71. Sovetskaia Rossiia, Feb. 12, 1958, p. 2 (trans, in CDSP, Apr. 9, 1958, pp. 30-31); Gurvich, , P'ianstvo gubit cheloveka, p. 16 Google Scholar; Banshchikov, , Alkogolizm i ego vred, p. 31 Google Scholar ; Gurvich, p. 11.

72. The statute on treatment-labor medical institutions of the MVD remains unpublished, as does the 1961 decree on the internal organization and regulations of cor rective-labor colonies and prisons. As the former statute presumably details the internal order of those institutions, it may be an indication of the regime's conception of their nature.

73. See the complaints of a group of women from Yaroslavl in Pravda, Mar. 18, 1968, p. 6 (trans, in CDSP, Apr. 1, 1968, p. 24) ; Segal, , Alkogolism, p. 538 Google Scholar.

74. Segal, , Alkogolism, pp. 536–38Google Scholar.

75. Isvestiia, Sept. 5, 1968, p. 5 (trans, in CDSP, Sept. 25, 1968, pp. 25-26). 76. See Isvestiia, Oct. 1, 1968, p. 5 (trans, in CDSP, Oct. 23, 1968, p. 19). 77. I. S. Sokolov, “O protivoalkogol'noi propagande v SSSR i v kapitalisticheskikh stranakh,” Sovetskoe sdravookhranenie, 1961, no. 2, pp. 25-30.

78. See, for example, Vecherniaia Moskova, Sept. 20, 1963, p. 4.

79. See Komsomol'skaia pravda, Sept. 10, 1961, p. 4 (trans, in CDSP, Oct. 4, 1961, pp. 15-16).

80. Izvestiia, Mar. 2, 1958, p. 4 (trans, in CDSP, Apr. 9, 1958, p. 29).

81. Komsomol'skaia pravda, Sept. 10, 1961, p. 4 (trans, in CDSP, Oct. 4, 1961, pp. 15-16).

82. See Alkogolizm: Puf k prestupleniiu, pp. 89-90.

83. Ibid, pp. 152-54.

84. This applies especially to the patterns of “periodic carousal” on holidays (church or state-sponsored), and the tendency to celebrate with strong drink taken “straight, “ whether legally purchased or illegally distilled—all within the framework of a continuing state monopoly on legal distilling. For the earlier period see Robinson, Geroid T., Rural Russia Under the Old Regime (New York, 1932; reprinted 1967), pp. 252 and 259Google Scholar; also P., Stephen and Dunn, Ethel, The Peasants of Central Russia (New York, 1967), p. 1967 Google Scholar.

85. Segal, , Alkogolizm, pp. 545–46Google Scholar.

86. If, as Gertsenzon suggests (see note 3), a state coordinating body for the “struggle” is consolidated, some improvement in enforcement of existing trade regulations might be possible.

87. Segal, , Alkogolizm, p. 533 Google Scholar.