Factor of cultural propaganda in the failure of the anti-alcohol policy of the period of Perestroika in the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

The article discusses anti-alcohol campaign during 1985-1987 in TASSR. The main purpose of the article is to determine the reasons of ineffective party-government propaganda, which has been realized by mass media and culture. The sources of the article have different origin. The main materials were obtained through the study of the documents of the State Archive of the Republic of Tatarstan (SA RT). A significant addition is the information from the printed media: urban and republican periodicals. The materials from authors’ interviews with cultural figures of the republic of Tatarstan allowed to illustrate considered events through the history of everyday life. A brief analysis of scientific and journalistic domestic and foreign literature, which reflects various aspects of the anti-alcohol campaign during Perestroika, was conducted. The ambiguous assessments of this reform and its consequences are revealed. The article discusses the plans and work of main party and government departments, which were in charge of controlling and implementing anti-alcohol propaganda in culture. Among the main measures carried out by cultural institutions and creative unions the following are mentioned: lectures, demonstrations of thematic films in educational institutions and places of mass recreation of citizens; staging of plays and satirical miniatures in the city theaters of the republic; cultural activities of agitation brigades in districts; creation of sobriety clubs at the houses of culture; holding thematic art exhibitions, etc. The author came to the conclusion about twofold consequences of the reform. On the one hand, people started to drink less alcohol. On the other hand, moonshining was spreading, the number of speculations in wine and vodka products was increasing. The materials of authors’ interviews with cultural figures of the republic allowed us to identify negative attitude of a part of the population to the anti-alcohol campaign. Literary figures (A. Ostudin, A. Bik-Bulatov, A. Khairov), actors (M. Merkushin) mentioned cases of circumvention of anti-alcohol measures by citizens. These representatives of the creative intelligentsia negatively assessed this given reform. The author concludes that anti-alcohol propaganda conveyed by mass media and culture was ineffective. The main reasons for the failure of the implemented measures were: unconvincing agitation, lack of sufficient conditions for non-alcoholic recreations of citizens, and finally, weak impact of the campaign in the context of the general ideological crisis of the late Soviet period. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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