Mikhail Gorbachevs
One of the most dramatic and revolutionary changes in Russian history is the restriction of the consumption of alcohol. Mikhail Gorbachev instituted his anti-alcohol campaign on May 16, 1985 in order to decrease alcohol consumption by Soviet citizens and instead teach them the rewards of moderation. Some such rewards were a better life at home with their families, more advancement in their jobs, and better overall health. Although Gorbachev's anti-alcohol campaign was effective in generating some positive changes, it eventually failed, causing resentment toward the leadership, worsening health issues, creating illegal alcohol production markets, and increasing the budget deficit. When Gorbachev was fifteen, he went out one day with his father and his harvesting team. The mechanics decided that it would be funny to play a joke on the young boy. They gave him a drink of pure alcohol, and told him that it was vodka. He drank it, and it utterly disgusted him. This was an important lesson to him. It made him not like alcohol, therefore making him want others to stay away from it. This could have saved his nation. Gorbachev noted, "After that experience I have never felt any pleasure in drinking vodka or spirits" (Gorbach
By the time Gorbachev got to power, the drinking problem was very much out of hand in Russia. "Until Gorbachev clamped down on the consumption of alcohol in June 1985, the Soviets were literally drinking themselves to death" (Naylor 194). Alcohol was putting a profound strain on society. Consumption had skyrocketed during the Brezhnev era. This is especially significant considering it was already considerably high at the beginning of his era. In 1984, state revenues from the sale of alcoholic beverages reached fifty-three billion rubles, four times what it had been twenty years before. The alcohol issue became disastrous. "Nearly one hundred and sixty-three million out of a population of two hundred and eighty million drink regularly; as many as twenty million are alcoholics" (Sudo 14). With that many people in a society having problems with alcohol, obviously something had to be done. The annual loss to the economy from drunkenness was an estimated eighty to one hundred billion rubles. Alcoholism was the third most common ailment, after heart disease and cancer. The life expectancy of men was declining. Infant mortality rates were rising. Health of present and future generations was being corrupted. "It was also responsible for most marriage breakups" (Morris 48). Wives had become desperate trying to save their marriages, with their husbands practically drinking themselves to death. Crime, corruption, and cynicism were all increasing. Drunk drivers were responsible for fourteen thousand traffic deaths per year. "Alcoholism was probably the largest single cause of a stunning increase in the Soviet Union's crude death rate" (Kaiser 101). In 1964, there were about seven deaths per one thousand citizens. This statistic grew to almost eleven deaths per one thousand citizens in 1985. It is a possibility that if the Politburo hadn't been so enthusiastic and pa
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Approximate Word count = 1273
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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