Alcohol surrogates (1985–1987)

Background

The anti-alcohol campaign began two months after Gorbachev took power, with CPSU and Council of Ministers resolutions of 7 May 1985 and a Presidium decree of 16 May, under the slogan "Sobriety is the norm of life." In the Politburo, Solomentsev and Ligachev were the campaign's main drivers. Registered consumption had reached 10.5 litres per capita by 1984, and with unregistered samogon possibly over 14 litres, equivalent to roughly 90–110 bottles of vodka a year per adult male.

Supply Squeeze and the Turn to Surrogates

Production of alcoholic beverages fell sharply: 199 million decalitres of absolute alcohol in 1985, 121 million in 1986 and 93 million in 1987. Alcohol's share of state budget revenue, about 15–30%, was deliberately sacrificed, many liquor shops were closed, and the cheapest popular vodka rose from 4 roubles 70 kopecks to 9 roubles 10 kopecks by August 1986. Sales were restricted, including a ban before 2 pm on business days; vodka, liqueurs and cognac prices rose about 25% more in 1985–1986; penalties for public drunkenness and home brewing were tightened and the drinking age was raised from 18 to 21. Subsidizing substitute drinks, propaganda and expanded compulsory alcoholism treatment were part of the same package.

Scale of Consumption and Harm

As supply tightened, consumption shifted to surrogates. BF glue sales rose from 760 tons in 1985 to 1,000 tons in 1987, windshield or glass cleaner from 6,500 to 7,400 tons, and dichlorvos from 115 to 135 million cans. In 1987 alcohol-related poisonings exceeded 44,000, with 11,000 deaths. Another tally reports 40,000 toxic-substance poisonings and 11,000 deaths, and records people drinking cologne, pharmacy tinctures and even antifreeze. Registered drug addicts rose from 9,000 to 20,000. This was the counterpart of the sugar crisis reported to the Council of Ministers in December 1987.

What Was Drunk

By ethanol content the Russian article groups surrogates into three classes: spirit-containing products such as perfumery and cologne, medicinal tinctures and denatured technical alcohol; alcohol mixtures such as BF glue and hydraulic fluids, including the brake fluids ESK and BSK; and non-ethanol products such as acetone, dichlorvos and ethylene glycol. A second axis is danger. Mildly dangerous items include colognes, lotions, non-food ethyl alcohol free of methanol or aldehyde impurities, ethanol-based medicines such as Corvalol and hawthorn or motherwort tinctures, and isopropanol. Moderately dangerous ones are technical liquids based on ethyl alcohol, such as nithinol and BF glue. Very dangerous are methyl alcohol, ethylene glycol, dichloroethane, petrol, dichlorvos and liquids containing them. Modes of use also differed: medicines, medicinal tinctures and perfumery could be drunk without preparation; BF glue and alcohol-oil hydraulic fluids required fraction separation; nithinol and dichloroethane required chemical purification, for example oxidation with permanganate or hydrogen peroxide. In October 1986 Chebrikov also reported people spreading toothpaste on bread to extract its alcohol.

Distinctions and Assessment

Samogon is illegally home-distilled drinkable spirit made from sugar, corn, beets or potatoes, and is not the same as surrogate consumption. The campaign sharply stimulated moonshining: sugar sales rose 18%, from 7,850 thousand tons in 1985 to 9,280 thousand tons in 1987, with about 1.4 million tons thought to go to samogon, enough for 140–150 million decalitres. Bhattacharya, Gathmann and Miller, however, treat samogon as the "moonshining" substitution for state alcohol while estimating that home production did not come close to offsetting the fall in state supply. The Russian article links surrogates to samogon, politura (furniture polish) and anti-alcohol campaigns, and distinguishes them by ethanol content and by the fraction separation or chemical purification needed before use, a different axis from samogon, which requires fermentation and distillation rather than purification.

Period Notation

The label 1985–1987 is supported as the most acute phase of the campaign, when surrogate consumption and poisoning peaked. Yet the Russian article heads its Gorbachev section "The Campaign of 1985–1990" while describing 1985–1987 as the campaign period, Bhattacharya et al. date the formal end to October 1988, and Demoscope describes a wind-down in 1988–1989. No single exact end year is uniformly supported, so the entry's 1985–1987 span should be presented as the peak phase rather than the whole campaign. The campaign's health benefits in 1985–1987, including falling mortality, rising life expectancy and births and falling crime, were real, but mass dissatisfaction and the 1987 economic crisis forced the leadership to wind the campaign down from 1988, and the growth of surrogate consumption was among the reasons cited for ending it.