VODKA FOR RUSSIANS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 4 January 1926, Page 7

VODKA FOR RUSSIANS.

HKSTi;fCTIOXS REMOVED. The resumption of the sale of vodka at the pre-war aleohulie strength of 40 per cent, has provided the occasion for a tremendous outburst of conviviality on the part of the whole Muscovite population, writes the Moscow correspondent of the Manchester Guardian Long waiting lines form outside th. shops where the lierv liquor is sold, and it is no uncommon sight to see a satisfied customer pull the cork out of his l.ottle and gulp down the contents amid a circle of envying and delighted onlookers. On the first day of the sale rhe supply of available vodka w.qs exhausted before evening. There has been an enormous increase in public drunkenness during the two weeks which have elapsed since the “40 per cent’' was put on sale. Excessive use of the new stimulant has caused a number of deaths, and the police have had their hands full in attending to cases of drunkenness and disorderly conduct. In some eases parties of noisterous merrymakers have boarded tram cars and created so much disturbance that it was found necessary to remove them bv force Thirty per cent, vodka was legally solo before October 1. and at first sight it seems surprising that an addition of 10 per cent, to the alcoholic content of the beverage should exert such visible and disastrous effects upon the sobriety of the city. HOwever, it seems that Moscow took the restoration of the prewar vodka as a huge holiday which ha i to be properly celebrated, and this fact no doubt accounts for much of the excessive drinking.

Social Consequences. The social consequences of the res t oration of vodka can scarcely commend themselves to the authorities. It has already been found necessary to cn>ate in Moscow a special commission for combating drunkenness and rowdy-, mm- made up of representatives of the Commissariats of Justice and interna tional Affairs and other organisations. This commission has recoin mended a number of remedial measures, including tin; diminution of rne number of liquor shops in the vicinity of factories, strict prohibition of the sale of vodka on Sundays and holidays, and more severe penalties for public drunkenness. Apparently the return of vodka brought about still more undesirable results in the Ukraine, for an increasing number of cases of resistance to the police bv inebriated criminals was reported at the session of the Ukrainian Soviet Congress Wiitcli is now in progress. and such a drastic punishment •is exile was recommended for the worst offenders.

, The Government's Motives. One naturally inquiries why the Soviet* Government should have sanctioned the return of vodka, which most revolutionists formerly regarded as an effective instrument of ■-c Tzarists regime for debauching the population. Lenin once pronounced publicly a gains* selling vodka to rhe peasants, and the (iommunists. while they are not teetotallers. regard excessive drinking as a breach of party ethics. Drunkenness is often given as a reason for expelling a member from the party. The official justification for rhe return of vodka, as voiced by the Commissar for Health, Dr. Semashko, and others, is that all the efforts to enforce the prohibition of vodka broke down against the opposition of the peasant ,-ennors of “samogon,” or homebrewed vodka. This “samogon.” it :s alleged, was more harmful than vodka, both in its physical effects and in its waste or grata. The euphemistic expression for the return of vodka is that “it is a means of lighting samogon. Revenue for the State.

It is quite possible, however, that other considerations may have influenced the action of the Government The efforts of agents of the State exporting organisations to buy up the peasants’ grain are handicapped by the pronounced shortage of various classes of manufactured goods, such as textiles. agricultural machinery, leather and metal products. The peasant is reluctant to part with his grain until he sees something which he may buy with his money. The vodka may help to fill the void which is created by the shortage of manufactured goods. The very considerable revenues winch will probably flow into the coffers of the State from the sale of vodka, which is a State monopoly, are probably not an object of indifference to the Government.

ft seems doubtful whether the predictions of tin more optimistic Communists to the effect that the restoration of vodka is a temporary measure designed to root out the samogon habit among the peasants will be fulfilled. Tt will be difficult for the "Budget to dispem* at one stroke with the prospective vci'v considernble returns of the sale of vodka. Moreover, it will probably be difficult to take vodka away from the population for a second time, now that the first prohibition has been raised. Eleven years of deprivation have apparently not extinguisned the desire of the Russians for their old nature* drink.