Prices Again Hiked in Soviet Liquor Crackdown

MOSCOW —  The price of vodka and other strong alcoholic beverages long considered staples in households here was increased again Friday as part of Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s anti-drinking campaign.

The price of the cheapest popular half-liter bottle of vodka was raised by 2.3 rubles (about $3.35) to 9.1 rubles (or $13 at the official exchange rate).

It was the latest move by the regime to discourage the hard-drinking tradition that is blamed here for the soaring divorce rate, a declining life expectancy and slovenly workmanship.

Even though the price of a half-liter is equivalent to 5% of the average Soviet worker’s monthly wage, vodka lines in Moscow and other major cities appear to be getting longer since the crackdown on alcohol consumption began on June 1, 1985.

“Even if the price went to 20 rubles (about $29), people would still line up to buy it,” said a white-haired man waiting outside a liquor store on Moscow’s Ring Road.

Other Muscovites in line took a more pragmatic attitude, showing a willingness to switch to wine or beer as a substitute for vodka, considering its high price and unavailability.

‘Bursting With Beer’

“I guess I will be bursting with beer,” said one customer in the crowd outside the liquor store.

“I hear that the price of Cuban rum will not be increased,” one regular customer said to another, passing on the latest hopeful rumor.

Friday’s announcement in Pravda, the official organ of the Communist Party, was brief but emphatic.

“With the aim of further implementation of measures to intensify the struggle against drunkenness and alcoholism,” the five-paragraph announcement began, prices of alcoholic beverages will be increased from 20% to 25%.

The price of vodka, brandies and other distilled spirits, it said, would rise by 2.3 rubles a half liter. Fortified wines, the beverages known as bormatukha for their ability to reduce imbibers to a mumbling state, were increased by half a ruble for every seven-tenths of a liter bottle.

It will now cost 3.5 rubles (about $5) to buy a bottle of this cheap wine, up from $4.

Gorbachev Firm on Crackdown

Gorbachev, asked recently about the long lines at liquor stores that have formed since his crackdown on vodka consumption began, stood firm on his anti-drinking campaign.

“Can’t you live without vodka?” he asked his questioner in Vladivostok, the Far Eastern port where he was on a speaking tour.

When Gorbachev’s sober-up drive was launched, the price of vodka was raised, production was cut and liquor store sales hours were reduced. Sales plunged sharply and the state lost billions of rubles in revenue, but Gorbachev said last week that it was worth it.