Vodka Politics (97 page)

45
. Cited in S. A. Smith,
Red Petrograd: Revolution in the Factories, 1917–1918
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 93.

46
. Dmitri P. Os’kin,
Zapiski soldata
(Moscow: Federatsiya, 1929), 318–19; cited in Christian, “Prohibition in Russia 1914–1925,” 104.

47
. Keep,
Russian Revolution
, 256; Strong,
First Time in History
, 160.

48
. Patenaude,
Big Show in Bololand
, 432.

49
. Ian D. Thatcher, “Trotsky and Bor’ba,”
Historical Journal
37, no. 1 (1994): 116–17; originally published in Anon, ‘Gosudarstvo i narodnoe khozyaistvo’,
Bor’ba
, no. 2, pp. 3–8; reprinted in Leon Trotsky,
Sochineniya
, tom
4: Politicheskaya khronika
(Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo, 1926), 525–33.

50
. Leon Trotsky, “Vodka, tserkov’, i kinematograf,”
Pravda
, July 12, 1923.

51
. Walter Connor, “Alcohol and Soviet Society,”
Slavic Review
30, no. 3 (1971): 580.

52
. Trotsky, “Vodka, tserkov’, i kinematograf.”

53
. A. M. Aronovich, “Samogonshchiki,” in
Prestupnyi mir Moskvy
, ed. M. N. Gernet (Moscow: MKhO “Liukon”, 1924), 174; Konstantin Litvak, “Samogonovarenie i potreblenie alkogolya v rossiiskoi derevne 1920-kh godov,”
Otechestvennaya istoriya
no. 4 (1992): 76; Lars T. Lih,
Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914–1921
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990), 238.

54
. British Trade Union Delegation to Russia and Caucasia,
Russia Today: The Official Report of the British Trade Union Delegation
(New York: International Publishers, 1925), 69.

55
. Weissman, “Prohibition and Alcohol Control in the USSR,” 351; Stone, “Soviet Government and Moonshine,” 367.

56
. Bol’shakov,
Derevnya, 1917–1927
, 339–41; Litvak, “Samogonovarenie i potreblenie alkogolya v rossiiskoi derevne 1920-kh godov,” 76; Barnes, “Liquor Regulation in Russia,” 229.

57
. Yakov A. Yakovlev,
Derevnya kak ona est’: Ocherki Nikol’skoi volosti
, 4th ed. (Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo, 1925), 106; quoted in Transchel,
Under the Influence
, 76.

58
. Yakovlev,
Derevnya kak ona est
’, 109–10; quoted in Transchel,
Under the Influence
, 76.

59
. Vladimir I. Lenin, “XI s’ezd RKP(b): 21 marta–2 aprelya 1922 g.,” in
Sochineniya, tom 33: avgust 1921–mart 1923
(Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo politicheskoi literatury, 1955), 279.

60
. E. Shirvindt, F. Traskovich, and M. Gernet, eds.,
Problemy prestupnosti: Sbornik
, vol. 4 (Moscow: Izdatel’stvo narodnogo komissariata vnutrennikh del RSFSR, 1929), 116. NKVD statistics taken from
Vlast’ sovetov
no. 31 (1925): 26–27; both quoted in Weissman, “Prohibition and Alcohol Control in the USSR,” 350, 52–53.

61
. Churchill,
World Crisis
, 66. On the circumstances of Lenin’s death see Gina Kolata, “The Death of Lenin: Tracking a Suspect,”
New York Times
, May 8, 2012, D5,
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/health/research/lenins-death-remains-a-mystery-for-doctors
. html (accessed May 8, 2012).

Chapter 15

1
. Will Rogers,
There’s Not a Bathing Suit in Russia & Other Bare Facts
(New York: Albert & Charles Boni, 1927), 110–11.

2
. Yu. Chanin, “Po staroi, po nikolaevskoi,”
Pravda
, Sept. 13, 1922, 5. See also A. L’vov, “Eto ne proidet,”
Pravda
, Sept. 7, 1922, 1, and “Nuzhno li sokhranit’ vinokurennuyu promyshlennost’?”
Pravda
, Sept. 8, 1922, 1; “Samogonshikov von iz rabochikh domov!”
Pravda
, Sept. 13, 1922, 5.

3
. Vladimir I. Lenin, “Letter to the Congress (December 23–31, 1922) [Lenin’s ‘Testament’],” in
The Structure of Soviet History: Essays and Documents
, ed. Ronald Grigor Suny (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 119–20.

4
. Leon Trotsky, “Vodka, tserkov’, i kinematograf,”
Pravda
, July 12, 1923, 1. On the 1923 Central Committee meeting see Aleksandr Nemtsov,
Alkogol’naya istoriya Rossii: Noveishii period
(Moscow: URSS, 2009), 61.

5
. Anna Louise Strong,
The First Time in History: Two Years of Russia’s New Life (August 1921 to December 1923
) (New York: Boni & Liveright, 1924), 158–59.

6
. L’vov, “Eto ne proidet,” 1; an English version (with emphasis) from Strong,
First Time in History
, 162–63.

7
. Strong,
First Time in History
, 164–65 (emphasis in original); see also 161.

8
. Joseph Stalin, “Pis’mo Shinkevichu (20 marta 1927 g.),” in
Sochineniya, tom 9: dekabr’ 1926–iyul’ 1927
(Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo politicheskoi literatury, 1948), 191.

9
. Helena Stone, “The Soviet Government and Moonshine, 1917–1929,”
Cahiers du Monde Russe et Soviétique
27, nos. 3–4 (1986): 372. See also Marie-Rose Rialand,
L’alcool et les Russes
(Paris: Institut d’études slaves, 1989), 108; Gregory Sokolnikov et al.,
Soviet Policy in Public Finance: 1917–1928
(London: Oxford University Press, 1931), 195–96.

10
. William Henry Chamberlin,
Russia’s Iron Age
(New York: Little, Brown, 1934), 351–52.

11
. Strong,
First Time in History
, 158.

12
. Stalin, “Pis’mo Shinkevichu (20 marta 1927 g.),” 191–92. See also Joseph Stalin, “Beseda s inostrannymi rabochimi delegatsiyami: 5 noyabrya 1927 g.,” in
Sochineniya, tom 10: 1927 avgust–dekabr
’ (Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo politicheskoi literatury, 1952), 232.

13
. Translated version in Strong,
First Time in History
, 168.

14
. Stalin, “Pis’mo Shinkevichu (20 marta 1927 g.),” 192.

15
. Stalin, “Beseda s inostrannymi rabochimi delegatsiyami,” 232–33.

16
. Ibid., 233–34.

17
. Quoted in Ellen Barry, “Bulldogs under the Rug? Signs of a Putin-Medvedev Rift,”
New York Times
, May 9, 2011, A6.

18
. Peter Kenez,
A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End
, 2nd ed. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 84.

19
. On the economic needs for vodka see f. 733 (Tsentral’noe upravlenie i ob”edinenie spirtovoi promyshlennosti, Gosspirt), op. 1, l.107–108; f. 733, op. 1, d. 1, l.1–56, Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Ekonomiki (RGAE) (Russian State Archive of the Economy), Moscow. On the five-year plans for increased vodka output see RGAE, f. 733, op. 1, d. 143a, l.1–156; RGAE, f. 733, op. 1, d. 144, l.1–216; Ivan Viktorov,
Spirtovaya promyshlennost’ SSSR
(Moscow: Snabtekhizdat, 1934), 15.

20
. Stalin, “Beseda s inostrannymi rabochimi delegatsiyami,” 232–33. See also R. W. Davies,
Development of the Soviet Budgetary System
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 1958), 121–24.

21
. Emmanuil I. Deichman,
Alkogolizm i bor’ba s nim
(Moscow: Moskovskii rabochii, 1929), 143.

22
. RGAE, f. 733, op. 1, d. 144, 1.1; translated in Kate Transchel,
Under the Influence: Working-Class Drinking, Temperance, and Cultural Revolution in Russia, 1895–1932
(Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2006), 93.

23
. Kenez,
History of the Soviet Union
, 93. See also S. A. Smith,
Red Petrograd: Revolution in the Factories, 1917–1918
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 93–94.

24
. See f. 5515 (Narodnyi komissariat truda), op. 20, d. 7, l.29, 32, 43, 46, 48, 50, 52–53, 117, Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Rossiskoi Federatsii (GARF) (State archive of the Russian Federation), Moscow. See also GARF, f. 5467 (TsK Profsoyuza derevoobdeloinikov), op. 11, d. 179, l.1–14; GARF, f. 5467, op. 14, d. 108, l.17–20. On alcoholism statistics see RGAE, f. 1562 (TsSU pri Sovete Ministrov SSSR), op. 1, d. 490, l.9–10.

25
. Transchel,
Under the Influence
, 112; T. H. Rigby,
Communist Party Membership in the USSR, 1917–1967
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1968), 120–25.

26
. The high caliber of the founding members signaled a high level of government and party support. Neil Weissman, “Prohibition and Alcohol Control in the USSR: The 1920s Campaign against Illegal Spirits,”
Soviet Studies
38, no. 3 (1986): 360–61.

27
. See concluding speech of E. I. Deichman, “Vsesoyuznyi sovet protivoalkogol’nykh obshchestv v SSSR,” in
Bor’ba s alkogoloizmom v SSSR
(Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe meditsinskoe izdatel’stvo, 1929), 87–88; also see Deichman,
Alkogolizm i bor’ba s nim
, 164–200. See also Leo M. Glassman, “Russia’s Campaign to Keep Ivan Sober,”
New York Times Magazine
, March 5, 1933, 6–7; Association against the Prohibition Amendment Papers, Library of Congress Manuscripts Division, box 4, Glassman File.

28
. Irina R. Takala,
Veselie Rusi: Istoriia alkogol’noi problemy v Rossii
(St. Petersburg: Zhurnal Neva, 2002), 209–16; Transchel,
Under the Influence
, 90. Relatively little is known about the OBSA, as its archives were destroyed during the siege of Moscow in World War II: bombed and sunk while being evacuated by boat down the Moscow River.

29
. Transchel,
Under the Influence
,, 146–47. K. V. Beregela, “Obshchestvo bor’by s alkogolizmom: poslednii etap syshchestvovaniya (1929–1932 gg.)” in:
Alkogol’ v Rossii: Materialy tret’ei mezhdunarodnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii
(Ivanovo, 26–27 oktyabrya 2012), ed. Mikhail V. Teplyanskii (Ivanovo: Filial RGGU v g. Ivanovo, 2012), 182–4.

30
. Letter 62: Sept. 1, 1930; see Joseph Stalin,
Pis’ma I.V. Stalina V.M Molotovu, 1925–1936 gg.: Sbornik dokumentov
(Moscow: Rossiya molodaya, 1995), 209–10; an English translation is in Lars T. Lih, Oleg V. Naumov, and Oleg V. Khlevniuk, eds.,
Stalin’s Letters to Molotov
(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995), 208–9. On completely abolishing the monopoly see Stalin, “Beseda s inostrannymi rabochimi delegatsiyami,” 233.

31
. Lih, Naumov, and Khlevniuk,
Stalin’s Letters to Molotov
, xiv, 209.

32
. Stone, “Soviet Government and Moonshine,” 374. See also
Izvestiya
, March 9, 1923, p. 1; quoted in Weissman, “Prohibition and Alcohol Control in the USSR” 362. On the “scissors crisis” see Robert Service,
Trotsky: A Biography
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2009), 304.

33
. Chamberlin,
Russia’s Iron Age
, 352.

34
.
Alkogolizm—put’ k prestupleniyu
, ed. A. Gertsenzon (Moscow: Yuridicheskaya literatura, 1966), 21–23; cited in Walter Connor, “Alcohol and Soviet Society,”
Slavic Review
30, no. 3 (1971): 572. See also Davies,
Development of the Soviet Budgetary System
, 91–92.

35
. Rogers,
There’s Not a Bathing Suitin Russia
, 111.

36
. GARF, f. 374 (Narodnyi komissariat raboche-krest’yanskoi inspektsii SSSR), op. 15, d. 1291, l.18–22. See also Sokolnikov et al.,
Soviet Policy in Public Finance: 1917–1928
, 194.

37
. Stone, “Soviet Government and Moonshine,” 374. On Stalin at Potsdam see Helen Rappaport,
Joseph Stalin: A Biographical Companion
(Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 1999), 53. While accurate figures are scarce, a general scholarly consensus is forming around a combined death toll from collectivization, dekulakization, famine, and disease of around ten to 12 million. See Alec Nove, “Victims of Stalinism: How Many?” in
Stalinist Terror: New Perspectives
, ed. J. Arch Getty and Roberta T. Manning (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 268.

38
. Kenez,
History of the Soviet Union
, 86; Rappaport,
Joseph Stalin
, 43. This association actually goes back even farther, to the imperial period. See Olga Semyonova Tian-Shanskaia,
Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia
, trans. David L. Ransel (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993), 154.

39
. V.Ts.I.K. decree 35, art. 468. See Boris Segal,
The Drunken Society: Alcohol Use and Abuse in the Soviet Union
(New York: Hippocrene Books, 1990), 45.

40
. Yakov M. Sverdlov, “O zadachakh sovetov v derevne: Doklad na zasedanii VTsIK 4–go sozyva 20 maya 1918 goda,” in
Izbrannye proizvedeniya
, tom 2 (Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo politicheskoi literatury, 1959), 216.