The Alcoholic Empire: Vodka & Politics in Late Imperial Russia

253 Pages·2001·0.85 MB·English

by  Patricia Herlihy

The Alcoholic Empire:
Vodka & Politics in Late
Imperial Russia
Patricia Herlihy
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
The Alcoholic Empire
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THE
Alcoholic Empire
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(cid:1) VODKA & POLITICS IN LATE IMPERIAL RUSSIA
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Patricia Herlihy
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Oxford NewYork
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Copyright(cid:2) 2002by PatriciaHerlihy
PublishedbyOxfordUniversityPress,Inc.
198MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NewYork10016
www.oup.com
FirstissuedasanOxfordUniversityPresspaperback,2003
OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,
storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,
electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise,
withoutthepriorpermissionofOxfordUniversityPress.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Herlihy,Patricia.
Thealcoholicempire:vodkaandpoliticsinlateImperialRussia/
PatriciaHerlihy.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-19-513431-1;0-19-516095-9(pbk.)
1.Temperance—Russia—History. 2.Alcoholism—Russia—History.
3.Russia—Socialconditions—1801–1917. I.Title:Vodkaandpoliticsin
lateImperialRussia. II.Title
HV5513.H472002
362.292'0947—dc21 2001036216
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
onacid-freepaper
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Allprojectshaveabeginning.Thisonewasencouragedbymy
late husband David Herlihy when I asked him if he knewthat
Russia had enacted prohibition as early as August 1914. Al-
thoughhewasahistorian,headmittedhehadnotknownthat
fact, suggesting that I should investigate the reasons forNich-
olas II’s edict. I was working on a book about Moscow but
dropped it in order to follow the vodka trail. That path
brought me to Russian libraries and to the Slavic Division of
the Helsinki University Library, where for an entire month
Davidassistedmeingatheringmaterial.Whenhislifewascut
shortsometwentymonthslater,heleftthreeincompletebook
projects, mute testimony to the sacrifice of time he had made
on my behalf. This book is dedicated to his memory.
The Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, of the
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, provided
me with a five-month fellowship in 1990 that enabled me to
begin my research. I wish to thank them for a pleasant and
productive stay in The Castle. Two of mycolleaguesatBrown
University, Abbott Gleason and Ulle Holt, read all of the fol-
lowing chapters. I drew not only on theirscholarshipbutalso
on their sustaining friendship. Other colleagues in the profes-
sion, Daniel Field, Stephen P. Frank, Gregory L. Freeze, and
RichardStites,alsoreadthemanuscriptandhelpedmegreatly
in the process. Nancy Frieden read the chapter on physicians.
Iappreciatetheirvaluablecommentsaswellasthoseofseveral
anonymous readers, all of whom saved me from many, but
undoubtedly not all, errors.
So many librarians deserve recognition for theirassistance,
but special note must be made of extraordinary efforts ren-
dered by Natasha Grishina and Susanna Tsaturnov, formerly
at the State Historical Public Library in Moscow. One of the
happy accidents of my research has been the formation of
 
strongbondswiththesewonderfulwomen.MyOdessascholarfriends,Oleg
Gubar(cid:1), Valeria Kukharenko, and Irina Nemchenko, contributed material
as well. I wish to thank Clifford Wunderlich, Head of Public Services at
Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School, for fur-
nishingmewithcopiesofbroadsidesfromthelibrary’scollection.InRussia,
John Davies found many of the photographs included in this book. Beth
Weinhardt of the Westerville Public Library in Ohio and Edward Kasinec,
head of the Slavic, Baltic, East European, and Eurasian Collections of the
New York Public Library, also provided me with materials. To describe
Helen Schmierer as a librarian who assisted me would not do her justice;
she is a researcher par excellence, computer guru, gourmet cook, and avid
gardenerwhocoaxesintolifeingredientsinmyyardtogointohercooking.
Her versatility and generosity made it possible to carry on this endeavor.
To Richard Gagnon, who organized my life, and to Vlad Tenenbaum, my
“cyber sleuth” friend, I also raise my glass.
Teaching takes time away from research, but not when I taught for sev-
eral years a senior seminar, “The Social History of Alcohol in Russia.” I
benefited from student papers, comments, and insights. I thank Eileen
Kane, Molly Kertzer, and Tyler Langdon, Brown Universityundergraduates
who were especially helpful; Thomas LeBien for suggesting the title of this
book; and William Rorabaugh for his cheerful acquiescence to my echoing
the title of his well-known book. Susan Ferber has shown the virtues of
patience and perspicacity, partial explanation, no doubt, of why she is ed-
itor.
My children help me to grasp whatmakes lifeworthliving.ToMaurice,
Christopher, David, Felix, Gregory, Irene, and their families my gratitude
and love.
CONTENTS
1 Introduction, 3
2 Singing One’s Way to Sobriety:
The State’s Guardianship, 14
3 Drugs Are Our Business: Physicians Stake a Claim
on Therapies, 36
4 Battling Booze: Strategies for Sobriety
in the Military, 52
5 The Church’s New Social Mission, 69
6 Women’s Physical and Political Use of Alcohol, 90
7 Tea and Symphony: The Laity Mobilizes
against Alcohol, 111
8 The Politics of Alcohol, 129
9 Conclusion, 146
Epilogue, 151
Notes, 163
Bibliography, 215
Index, 235
Photo Gallery follows p. 68
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The Alcoholic Empire