I believe criminal activity started to occur because of how important alcohol was in Russian society. If the campaign took a slower pace instead of trying to eradicate alcohol, than maybe people would not have been so inclined to make their own or steal it.
Author: pgiovannini
Comment on Say No to Alcohol by pgiovannini
According the the Minister of Health, Veronika Skvortsova, alcohol consumption in Russia has fallen 80% in the past five years. However, studies conducted by the World Health Organization shows a downward trend of alcohol consumption, but nothing near 80%.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42738511
Comment on Say No to Alcohol by pgiovannini
I couldn’t find anything on whether or not the campaign is still haunting Russia today, but alcohol is still a big issue there. Immediately after the campaign alcohol related deaths started to climb again. According to this article written in 2013, https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/how-alcohol-conquered-russia/279965/, one-in-five men die to alcohol related causes.
Comment on Say No to Alcohol by pgiovannini
According to one of my sources, the majority of the crimes was that people were illegally producing alcohol in their basements; the main one being moonshine. Theft was also on the rise because people were stealing alcohol and sugar. Sugar was stolen because many people used it when producing moonshine.
Comment on Say No to Alcohol by pgiovannini
I believe if Gorbachev led a less intense campaign it would have been more successful. Trying to eradicate the production and sale of all alcohol caused a backlash from a lot of people, which led to them making alcohol illegally. Instead, Gorbachev should have moved at a slower pace starting by getting rid of alcohol in the work place and slowly increase the tax on alcohol.
Comment on The lads of Liubertsy by pgiovannini
I find it funny how they tried to combat the western influence, but they idolized Sylvester Stallone at the same time. You do bring up a great point about their intent, seemed like they were just petty criminals looking for easy targets to steal from. I enjoyed this post!
Comment on A Bright New Future? by pgiovannini
I really enjoyed this post and how space inspired writers. Space is a mystery so its understandable how Russia wanted to make one believe there are countless adventures to be held out there.
Comment on Russian Into Afghanistan by pgiovannini
It is interesting how the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in order to maintain their communist influence. They probably were not expecting an Islamic insurgent group to give them so much trouble and losses in the field.
Comment on Blog 6 – Russian for the Summer Olympics by pgiovannini
I enjoyed this post and the stats you added in a comment. No matter if the US, and 55 other states boycotted the Olympics, the Russian people would still have pride in their country and try to witness the events. I think its karma how Russia didn’t partake in 1984 Olympic Games.
Comment on The Race to Space by pgiovannini
If you look at the Russianspaceweb source I used, it has the blueprints of Sputnik I and goes in depth of what was/wasn’t included. I think being first was really important because no one has ever achieved anything like this before. They would eventually launch Sputnik II, which carried a dog, into space before the US.
