Vodka Politics : Alcohol, Autocracy, and the Secret History of the Russian State

Russia is famous for its vodka, and its culture of extreme intoxication. But just as vodka is central to the lives of many Russians, it is also central to understanding Russian history and politics. In __Vodka Politics__, Mark Lawrence Schrad argues that debilitating societal alcoholism is not hard-wired into Russians' genetic code, but rather their autocratic political system, which has long wielded vodka as a tool of statecraft. Through a series of historical investigations stretching from Ivan the Terrible through Vladimir Putin, Vodka Politics presents the secret history of the Russian state itself-a history that is drenched in liquor. Scrutinizing (rather than dismissing) the role of alcohol in Russian politics yields a more nuanced understanding of Russian history itself: from palace intrigues under the tsars to the drunken antics of Soviet and post-Soviet leadership, vodka is there in abundance. Beyond vivid anecdotes, Schrad scours original documents and archival evidence to answer provocative historical questions. How have Russia's rulers used alcohol to solidify their autocratic rule? What role did alcohol play in tsarist coups? Was Nicholas II's ill-fated prohibition a catalyst for the Bolshevik Revolution? Could the Soviet Union have become a world power without liquor? How did vodka politics contribute to the collapse of both communism and public health in the 1990s? How can the Kremlin overcome vodka's hurdles to produce greater social well-being, prosperity, and democracy into the future? Viewing Russian history through the bottom of the vodka bottle helps us to understand why the "liquor question" remains important to Russian high politics even today-almost a century after the issue had been put to bed in most every other modern state. Indeed, recognizing and confronting vodka's devastating political legacies may be the greatest political challenge for this generation of Russia's leadership, as well as the next. Overview: Russia is famous for its vodka, and its culture of extreme intoxication. But just as vodka is central to the lives of many Russians, it is also central to understanding Russian history and politics. In Vodka Politics, Mark Lawrence Schrad argues that debilitating societal alcoholism is not hard-wired into Russians' genetic code, but rather their autocratic political system, which has long wielded vodka as a tool of statecraft. Through a series of historical investigations stretching from Ivan the Terrible through Vladimir Putin, Vodka Politics presents the secret history of the Russian state itself--a history that is drenched in liquor. Scrutinizing (rather than dismissing) the role of alcohol in Russian politics yields a more nuanced understanding of Russian history itself: from palace intrigues under the tsars to the drunken antics of Soviet and post-Soviet leadership, vodka is there in abundance. Beyond vivid anecdotes, Schrad scours original documents and archival evidence to answer provocative historical questions. How have Russia's rulers used alcohol to solidify their autocratic rule? What role did alcohol play in tsarist coups? Was Nicholas II's ill-fated prohibition a catalyst for the Bolshevik Revolution? Could the Soviet Union have become a world power without liquor? How did vodka politics contribute to the collapse of both communism and public health in the 1990s? How can the Kremlin overcome vodka's hurdles to produce greater social well-being, prosperity, and democracy into the future? Viewing Russian history through the bottom of the vodka bottle helps us to understand why the "liquor question" remains important to Russian high politics even today--almost a century after the issue had been put to bed in most every other modern state. Indeed, recognizing and confronting vodka's devastating political legacies may be the greatest political challenge for this generation of Russia's leadership, as well as the next Vodka politics Cruel liquor: Ivan the Terrible and alcohol in the Muscovite court Peter the Great: modernization and intoxication Russia's empresses: power, conspiracy, and vodka Murder, intrigue, and the mysterious origins of vodka Why vodka? Russian statecraft and the origins of addiction Vodka and the origins of corruption Vodka domination, vodka resistance The pen, the sword, and the bottle Drunk at the front: alcohol and the imperial Russian army Nicholas the Drunk, Nicholas the Sober Did prohibition cause the Russian revolution? Vodka communism Industrialization, collectivization, alcoholization Vodka and dissent in the Soviet Union Gorbachev and the (vodka) politics of reform Did alcohol make the Soviets collapse? The bottle and Boris Yeltsin Alcohol and the demodernization of Russia The Russian cross The rise and fall of Putin's champion Medvedev against history An end to vodka politics? "Unique political history of Russia through the lens of alcohol. Filled with colorful stories of how rulers from Peter the Great to Stalin used alcohol to control their courts. Utilizes archival evidence from entire spectrum of Russian history, from the Tsars to Putin. Closes with a powerful look at the debilitating impact of alcoholism on contemporary Russia."-- Provided by publisher Alcohol-and alcoholism-have long been prominent features in Russian life and culture. But as Mark Schrad vividly shows in Vodka Politics, it has also been central to Russian politics. Not simply a chronicle of drinking in Russia, this book shows how alcohol has been a key shaping force in Russian political history.