The alcohol war is pouring out the false history of Russia to the people

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

It is customary to mention the adherence of our people to alcohol as if it were a matter of course. Even the titles of the films are appropriate - the "peculiarities of the national" hunting or fishing. Features - this is pouring over the ears with alcohol. By the way, a similar feature of Russians is often prominent in the cinema. The goodies knock over the glasses smartly, without getting drunk.

It is customary to mention the adherence of our people to alcohol as if it were a matter of course. Even the titles of the films are appropriate - the "peculiarities of the national" hunting or fishing. Features - this is pouring over the ears with alcohol. By the way, a similar feature of Russians is often prominent in the cinema. The goodies knock over the glasses smartly, without getting drunk. The negative ones run wild or sag in the hops. And in the comedies and performances of comedians on the wine and vodka theme, a good half of the jokes are built (the second half is "below the belt"). It is customary to derive evidence of "Russian drunkenness" from time immemorial, from chronicles. When to St. Preachers of different religions came to Vladimir the Baptist, and the Muslim noted his ban on wine, the Emperor pointed out that such a faith will not work for us, because "the joy of Russia is the drink you are."

Let's note right away: the story of the choice of faith is just a legend. Similar "wandering plots" are known in the legends of different peoples, they are designed to retroactively explain why this or that religion was adopted. In fact, there could be no choice. Faith is not a commodity, it is not chosen - this one is better, but more expensive, this one is cheaper, but worse. She is always alone, people come to her not by reason, not by logic, but by soul. Yes, and does not fit in with the prohibitions. Muhammad forbade his followers to ferment grape juice. And in the Muslim Volga Bulgaria, with which St. Vladimir, they drank honey-based drinks and did not refuse them at all.

In Russia, honey and beer were also prepared, and wine was brought from Greece. They were used on holidays - hence the phrase about "the joy of Russia". This custom dates back to pagan times, and intoxication was considered sacred. There was also a tradition of princely feasts with a retinue. But they weren't drinking. This was also a special ritual that consolidated the military brotherhood. It is no coincidence that the cup was called "brother", it was passed in a circle, each drank a little.

However, one can compare attitudes towards drunkenness in different countries. It is easy to see from the Scandinavian sagas that it was considered prestigious, the heroes boast about the amount of alcohol consumed. Descriptions of feasts with seas of intoxicating can be found in Germanic, English, French epics. In Russia, the drunken theme was not reflected either in the visual arts, or in songs, or in heroic epics. It was not considered valor.

On the contrary, the system of Orthodox values promoted abstinence. The Monk Theodosius of the Caves, who regularly visited the Kiev sovereign Svyatoslav Yaroslavich, instructed him to shorten the feasts. One of the most popular rulers of Russia, Vladimir Monomakh, remained very abstinent in eating and drinking. In his famous teaching to children, he wrote: "Fear all lies, drunkenness and lust, equally fatal to the body and soul." This line was continued by Monomakh's grandson, St. Andrey Bogolyubsky. He generally stopped the tradition of feasts with boyars and vigilantes.

Of course, not everyone followed this ideal. But a pattern can be identified. The manifestations of drunkenness, which fell on the pages of the chronicles, were usually associated with negative heroes or disasters. Svyatopolk the Damned gives the army a drink before the battle of Lyubech. The assassins of St. Andrei Bogolyubsky is fueled by courage before the atrocity, they climb into the wine cellars. In 1377, the Russian army relaxes in a campaign against the Tatars, “people are drunk for a Drunken one” - and they were massacred. In 1382 Moscow gets drunk, foolishly opens the gates to Khan Tokhtamysh and dies in a massacre. In 1433 Vasily II generously treats the Moscow militias before the tragic battle with Yuri Zvenigorodsky. In 1445 he feasts before being defeated by the Tatars …

In general, there is a negative attitude towards alcohol abuse. The opposite trend was observed abroad. The re-drink was extolled in every possible way in the medieval songs of the vagantes, in the masterpieces of the Renaissance - the works of Boccaccio, Chaucer, Rabelais. Descriptions of carousing were preserved in court chronicles. They boasted about it, put it on display! Although Western feasts of that era would have seemed to you and me not quite a pleasant sight. In the semi-dark halls, torches and greasy lamps were smoked. The gentlemen and ladies tore the meat with their hands, nibbled and sucked out the moss, the fat dripped down the fingers and sleeves. Dogs swarmed on the floor, freaks and dwarfs fiddled around, drowning out the general chomping of fuss and rude clownery. If someone got drunk, fell asleep right at the table or under the table, in puddles of vomit. Jesters mocked him, smeared his face for the amusement of the rest of the public - such things were common even at royal courts.

Blatant drunken outrages were regularly noted in Rome, Paris, London. And in Turkey, the wife of Suleiman the Magnificent, the notorious Roksolana, decided to drag her son Selim to the throne. She took European diplomats and spies as allies. Roksolana achieved her goal, but from Western friends her son acquired the appropriate habits and received the nickname Selim II the Drunkard. None of the Russian rulers, even in the enemy libels, did not stick such nicknames!

But that was also impossible. For the Grand Duke Vasily II the Dark, the blows he received were a serious lesson. He began to fight drunkenness, and his son Ivan III banned alcohol altogether. The Venetian diplomat Josaphat Barbaro wrote about this and praised this practice. Brewing beer, drinking strong honey, wine or vodka was allowed only on holidays. If a wedding, christening, commemoration was being prepared, the head of the family applied to the office of the governor or governor, paid a certain fee, and he was allowed to brew beer or honey. In other cases, the use of alcohol was prohibited. A person who appeared in a public place drunk was sobering up with batogs. And the clandestine production and sale of alcohol entailed the confiscation of property and imprisonment.

At the beginning of the 16th century, during the reign of Vasily III, military units from foreigners appeared in Russia. A German settlement was built in Zamoskvorechye. But Western soldiers and officers could not do without drinking, did not think of a sober existence, and they made an exception, they were allowed to drive wine for personal use. As a result, among Muscovites, the German settlement received the eloquent name "Naleyki".

In addition, beer and wine were allowed to be kept in monasteries. Their statutes were modeled on the Greek, and in Greece, diluted wine was the most common drink. But the use was allowed in small quantities, strictly according to the charter. Although there were violations, and St. Joseph Volotsky demanded to completely abandon drunkenness in monastic cloisters - away from temptations.

The same line was persistently pursued by Ivan the Terrible. Michalon Litvin in his treatise “On the customs of the Tatars, Lithuanians and Muscovites” wrote that his own homeland, Lithuania, at this time was ruined by drunkenness. "Muscovites and Tatars are inferior to the Lithuanians in strength, but surpass them in activity, temperance, courage and other qualities by which states are established."The author put Grozny as an example: “He protects freedom not with a soft cloth, not with shiny gold, but with iron … the abstinence of the Tatars opposes the abstinence of his people, sobriety - sobriety, and art - art”.

The results were fully reflected. For example, Narva, considered impregnable, was easily taken by the Russians when the residents got drunk and started a fire in the city. Even the traitor Kurbsky, who deserted to the Poles, was unpleasantly struck by the incessant feasts. Particular disgust was aroused by the participation of noble ladies in drinking. He described how local nobles and nobles know only one thing, "they will sit down at the table, at the cups and chat with their drunken women." “When drunk they are very brave: they take both Moscow and Constantinople, and even if a Turk were thrown into heaven, then they are ready to take it off from there. And when they lie on the bed between the thick feather beds, they barely sleep it off by noon, get up a little alive with a headache."

Russian feasts had nothing like this revelry. "Domostroy", a very complete and comprehensive manual on organizing a household, popular in the 16th century, recommended that women do without alcohol at all, be content with kvass or non-alcoholic mash (fortunately, Russia had a rich assortment of such drinks). Weddings, christenings, funerals, Christmas, Easter, Shrovetide and other holidays did not at all look like vulgar gobbles, each holiday was celebrated according to certain customs. By the way, at weddings, alcohol was intended only for guests, the bride and groom were supposed to be absolutely sober - in order to conceive healthy offspring. And even more so, the court feasts were not drunk. These were official ceremonies, court etiquette strictly prescribed the order of toasts and serving dishes. Sometimes they really tried to get foreign diplomats drunk as a lord, but this was done deliberately in order to unleash their tongues and blur secrets.

Of course, there were also violations of the "dry law", they fought with them. The German Staden, who served as the oprichnik, said that if a drunk was detained, he was held until morning to sober up, and then he was instructed by flogging. In Novgorod and Pskov, alcohol smuggling was discovered, it was brought in from abroad. The sovereign acted according to the law - for the guilty, prison and confiscation of property. However, for most of the accomplices, it was limited to confiscation.

A particularly large scandal broke out with foreigners. During the period when Estonia was annexed, prisoners of Livonians began to be accepted into the service. The German settlement in Zamoskvorechye has grown. But the Livonians abused the privilege of driving wine, surreptitiously selling it to the Russians. Gambling and prostitution, prohibited in Russia, flourished in underground taverns. The French captain Margeret said: the Livonians were extremely rich on this, the net profit exceeded 100%. Yesterday's prisoners "behaved so arrogantly, their manners were so arrogant, and their clothes were so luxurious that they could all be mistaken for princes and princesses."

But in 1579 these crimes were revealed, and Grozny became angry. A hard war was going on, and the foreigners who had warmed up in the capital were drinking, corrupting the people, and getting fat on it! The entire German Sloboda directly or indirectly participated in the super-profitable business - everyone knew where they drive and sell alcohol. Margeret and a number of contemporaries confirmed that the settlement was punished fairly, and very moderately. Ivan the Terrible did not put the perpetrators in prison, but ordered the confiscation of all property, and the inhabitants of the German settlement were evicted outside Moscow. They were allowed to build a new settlement on the Yauza, some distance from the city - it was inconvenient to invite buyers there.

The ban on alcohol lasted in Russia for about a century and a half and was canceled by Boris Godunov. He was a "Westerner" and adopted foreign orders. Fortified the peasants, raised taxes. But he came up with an outlet for the people - he opened the "Tsar's taverns". This allowed to let off the steam of discontent, but also to squeeze out additional profits, the wine received the status of a state monopoly. In addition, detectives wiped themselves out in taverns, if someone inadvertently talked about drunkenness, he was dragged to the dungeon.

All these factors formed the preconditions for the Troubles. By the way, St. The Monk Irinarch the Recluse, who warned of impending disasters, indicated that they were sent according to the sins of people, and he singled out increased drunkenness among sins. In the conditions of rebellions and war, Tsar Vasily Shuisky tried again to toughen up the fight against such a vice. Pole Maskevich described - a special "beer prison" was set up in Moscow. People who had the imprudence to walk around the city in a strong degree got here. If they were detained for the first time, they were allowed to sleep it off. The second time they flogged with batogs. But if he was caught a third time, they would beat him with a whip and send him to prison.

In the future, the punishments were mitigated, the drunkards were freed from imprisonment and the whip. And the country was ruined during the Time of Troubles, it was already difficult to give up a solid item of income. The taverns have survived. But the treasury's monopoly on the wine trade also remained. For clandestine distilling and selling the culprit was beaten with a whip, property was confiscated and exiled to Siberia. They knew how to drive vodka in our country, but they preferred not to build distilleries. The treasury transferred the contract for the supply of alcohol to one of the large merchants, and they bought it in Lithuania or Ukraine.

But if alcohol was now sold in Russia, this did not mean at all that drunkenness was encouraged. No, the use of wine was tried to be kept to a minimum. The tsar himself, the Church, and the landowners fought against unhealthy hobbies. Boyarin Morozov wrote to his estate managers, demanded to ensure that the peasants “did not smoke wine for sale and did not hold tobacco, did not smoke and did not sell it, did not play with grain and cards, didn’t throw money and drink in taverns”. Patriarch Nikon strictly eradicated this sin in church structures. He completely forbade keeping vodka in monasteries. If there were signals about drunkenness of this or that priest, if the patriarch's servants noticed a drunken priest on the street, and even more so in a church, he would be deprived of his dignity or sent to serve in some taiga wilderness.

According to foreigners, there were "not too many" kabakovs in Russia. Chancellor Ordin-Nashchokin conceived an experiment with free trade in wine in Pskov, promised a significant increase in profits. But Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich brought the issue to the consideration of the Pskovites themselves. Only the peasants spoke out for free sale. The clergy, merchants, artisans, and nobles appraised the idea sharply negatively. Allegedly, drunkenness will lead to hooliganism, crime and losses in trade, industries, and the economy. After such reviews, the sovereign did not approve the innovation.

And Aleksey Mikhailovich took out the existing taverns outside the cities, “in the field”. Just like that, passing by, you will not look into the institution. At night, the city gates are closed, you won't go to the tavern. If a person has gone too far, he can wallow somewhere in nature under a bush, without offending the eyes of fellow citizens. Those drunks who staggered through the streets were still waiting for a "beer prison", kept in it until sobering up.

However, the German settlement or Kukui remained the hotbed of drunkenness. There is not the slightest reason to portray it as an "oasis of civilization" in a "barbarian country". They lived in it richly, because the population was made up of merchants and officers. But Kukui was a rather small village (3 thousand inhabitants). The streets, unlike Moscow, were not paved. Eyewitnesses recalled that "the mud reached the belly of the horses." And European customs did not look brilliant at all. In Kukui, as in all Russian cities and settlements, there was elective self-government, and the government had to develop special instructions for it. The Sloboda authorities were instructed to stop duels, "duels and no mortal murder or fights should be repaired", not to allow the clandestine trade in vodka, not to accept "runaway and walking people", not to invite prostitutes and "thieves".

But the alcohol trade did not stop here. Foreign officers took part in it, they involved subordinate Russian soldiers. The raids did not produce any results or were only temporarily forced to suspend the business. In general, Muscovites considered Kukui as a very dubious place, not for decent people. "Left" vodka could be bought here at any hour of the day or night. Underground brothels flourished, German, Polish, Scandinavian women of easy virtue gathered. Russian girls have also "Europeanized". A contemporary wrote: "Women are often the first to fall into a rampage from excessive doses of alcohol, and you can see them, half-naked and shameless, on almost any street."

And just here Lefort, Timmerman, Gordon and other mentors began to drag Tsarevich Peter Alekseevich. At first he was not listed as the heir, he was not prepared for the reign. And then the father, Alexei Mikhailovich, died, the power went to the children from the first wife, Maria Miloslavskaya - Fedor, Sophia. The second wife of the late tsar, Natalia Naryshkina, and her children, were pushed back from the throne. They settled in a country palace, no one seriously engaged in Peter's upbringing. Foreigners did not miss the opportunity to settle down with an intelligent and inquisitive boy. They taught many useful things, but at the same time inspired a fascination with foreign customs. The future tsar graduated from the Kukuy Academy with excellent marks.

Is it any wonder that during the reign of Peter, the attitude towards alcohol changed. "Bacchus' fun" began to be perceived as a worthy and respectable pastime. It was ordered to attract women to feasts with abundant libations. Distilleries began to be built, the network of taverns, austerias and other drinking establishments expanded dramatically. Only it should be borne in mind that this tradition was by no means Russian, but "Kukui". Western, brought to our country along with shaving beards, dressing up in short German caftans and wigs.

However, even after Peter the Great, people in Russia drank much more moderately than in the West. The manufacture and sale of alcohol remained a state monopoly. And for the population, public opinion was a powerful deterrent. The life of a peasant passed before the eyes of the village community, the "world." The life of a merchant is in a merchant community. The drunkard was everywhere recognized as a renegade, an outcast, could not count on any respect and trust. Young people were brought up on these views and examples - was it worth imitating people whose fate turned out to be so unenviable? Yes, and the nobles needed to take care of themselves, because their every step was vigilantly monitored by the "light". They will notice a destructive passion - “evil tongues more terrible than a gun” will turn on, you can earn a general alienation, contempt.

The future German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck lived in Russia for four years. But he saw a drunken woman lying under the fence for the first time in his life later, in "cultured" England. This shocked Bismarck so much that he described the incident in his diary. No, I'm not going to idealize our country. Brothels gradually multiplied, the number of alcoholics grew. But this was already considered outside of normal life, “at the bottom”. Disgusted, repulsive. And this was by no means a tradition. On the contrary, the rapid slide of our country into drunkenness began only from the end of the 19th and into the 20th centuries. - as the destruction of folk and religious traditions, the collapse of the former society and former value systems. The second collapse occurred in the late XX - early XXI century. - with the destruction of Soviet traditions and Soviet society, which is also not surprising. After all, the Soviet traditions still retained the remnants of the Russian ones, and the moral code of the builder of communism in many ways tried to copy the old Orthodox principles.