Fighting for temperance in Russia nationwide: historical aspect

The paper considered the issues related to studies in alcohol consumption in the population of Russia. The author referred to the records of the past, to a trial of “temperance policy” and to general aspects of authority exercised in this field in the various periods of the past. Over the multiple centuries a sole agency (an exclusive one) had been recurrently introduced for wine distribution round the country, starting from the period of Ivan the Terrible’ Rule, with the main purpose of getting the highest possible proceeds from alcohol sale, with assistance rendered by the State machinery. Various tiers of the population were susceptible to hard drinking, including the Cossacks from the South of Russia. The paper examined different forms of fighting this kind of deviant behavior: raising the temperance movement in the country at the beginning of the XX century, operation of the temperance societies and actions by the parish priests.