Prohibition in Russian Empire and Soviet Union
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Prohibition in Russian Empire and Soviet Union existed during 1914-1925. The Russian term is "сухой закон" (sukhoy zakon, literally "dry law").
The variant of the prohibition introduced in Russian Empire in 1914 permitted the sale of hard liquors only in restaurants. It was introduced at the beginning of the World War I. Other warring countries, e.g., the United Kingdom, France, and Germany imposed certain restrictions on alcoholic beverages, but only Russia completely stopped the retail sale of vodka.
It continued through the turmoil of Russian Revolution of 1917 and Russian Civil War into the period of Soviet Russia and Soviet Union intil 1925.
During 1985-1987 Mikhail Gorbachev carried out an anti-alcohol campaign with partial prohibition, [1] colloquially known as the "dry law". Prices of vodka, wine and beer were raised, and their sales were restricted in amount and daytime. People who were caught drunk at work or in public were prosecuted. Drinking on long-distance trains and in public places was banned. Many famous wineries were destroyed and plantations of grapes uprooted, often of precious cultivars. Scenes of alcohol consumption were cut out from the movies. The reform did not have any significant effect on alcoholism in the country, but economically it was a serious blow to the state budget (a loss of approximately 100 billion rubles according to Alexander Yakovlev) after alcohol production migrated to the black market economy. Coupled with inflation of the Soviet rouble, these restrictions had a curious economical side effect: a bottle of vodka had become a kind of "hard currency". For example, a handyman would replace a window for a certain, fixed, number of bottles of vodka regardless its current price in roubles.
