The Kremlin and the Bottle

Russians and drinking go together like, well, what else – vodka and pickles. But what about the drinking preferences of Russia’s leaders? Anecdotes and rumors abound about Brezhnev, say, or Yeltsin, but what’s the truth of the matter? Historian and former Duma deputy Roy Medvedev, who has rubbed shoulders with some of the most important figures in modern Russian politics, proved to be a wealth of information in a recent interview with Executive Editor Mikhail Ivanov.

Russian Life: What was the role of alcohol consumption by Russian leaders during the historical period you specialize in?

Roy Medvedev: Alcohol has always been an important tool in politics, starting with Lenin and Stalin and up to Yeltsin. But I can’t say it has had any influence on the politicians’ decisions. For the Communist Party was structured on moral principles that didn’t leave room for alcoholics. In the Party, one couldn’t be drunk. An alcoholic leader could not be promoted. But in politics, yes, alcohol did play a very important role. Back in the 1920s, under Stalin, when the Soviet state introduced a state monopoly on alcohol production and sales, Stalin wrote ... a special document to the effect that the Soviets cannot yet relinquish “alcohol money” as a way to replenish the budget. Then, under Khrushchev and Brezhnev, alcohol was still an important source of budget proceeds – at different times it accounted for up to 30-40% of budget revenues.

Under Yeltsin, cheap vodka serves as a buffer against public dissent. Over the last five years, vodka has been cheaper than it ever was. Pensioners and the poor can afford it now.

RL: What about Lenin?

RM: Of course, Lenin belonged to the generation of revolutionaries who were “rigorists.” In general, he never held any parties, any soirees with drinks and food – it was just not in the custom of the revolutionaries of the time. When Lenin’s 50th birthday was celebrated, he refused to participate in the party and left. Therefore, when Lenin was in power ... he drank nothing. But during the emigration years, when he was abroad, of course he drank beer with sausages, because it was customary in the West. He did so when he was meeting or socializing with social democrats from Italy or France. He would also drink some wine. But he didn’t make a big deal out of it, he never got drunk or anything. He never drank wine or even beer with [his wife Nadyezhda] Krupskaya at home ...

RL: Stalin loved drinking parties, didn’t he?

RM: When he was young, he didn’t drink – remember he was studying at a religious seminary. Plus, his father was an alcoholic, which instilled in Stalin some aversion toward drinking. Of course, being a Georgian, when he was an adult on his own, in Georgia, in Azerbaidzhan, he couldn’t help drinking. In general, one should bear in mind that Georgia is famous for its cult of partying, its cult of wine. But again, this was not customary for Stalin in the 1920s. These big drinking parties began only in 1934-1935, after Stalin proclaimed his famous slogan, “life has become better and merrier.” Back then, the first hearty receptions in the Kremlin began.

Before this, it was hard – the country was suffering from famine. Moscow was a hungry city too. I was a kid, I remember those years. So any reception at the Kremlin was impossible in the 1920s. But when Stalin gave the go-ahead, they all made it a point to showcase this “merrier life.” Plus, of course, when Stalin was relaxing in Georgia, namely in Abkhazia, to honor Stalin, local communist leaders like [Nestor] Lakoba in Abkhazia staged receptions for the great leader.

RL: What did he drink?

RM: In the 1930s, Stalin drank only wine. He preferred a number of brands. Among red wines, he loved Kindzmarauli and Khvanchakara, Mukuzani. Among white wines, he loved Tvishi and Akhasheni. In Georgia, each region generally made wines, so each region would make it a point to send a few boxes of its own wine to Stalin in the Kremlin. Back then, he didn’t drink vodka at all. But he did drink cognac. However, during the war, when he was organizing meetings with admirals, generals and marshals, and would invite them to celebrate, say, the New Year, to serve Russian generals wine was just impossible; only vodka was served. Neither Stalin nor Beria drank wine, they were served water with, say, a drop of vodka. At such parties, Russian generals were supposed to drink vodka by the glass, so they would leave Stalin’s party completely drunk. Their aide-de-camps had to take them back and then somehow help them to recuperate. Stalin himself drank cognac with Churchill, who loved the stuff. But Stalin preferred Georgian wine until the end of his life ...

RL: In many memoirs, Stalin was depicted as a despot, a dictator who forced his retinue to drink ...

RM: Yes, being a dictator by nature, in so doing he tested them, trying to find out what they thought out loud when they were drunk. So, he would ask them questions, and they would not even remember what they answered – but Stalin did. So, there are many myths about it. He liked to engage in this alcoholic sadism, as when there was a toast to him, people had to drink bottoms up.

RL: Did people have any troubles because of this?

RM: I don’t know of such cases. Of course, he didn’t do this to his foreign guests [from the West – Ed.]. As to Soviet marshals, they were all briefed on the so-called Stalin drinking etiquette by Stalin’s aides and his secretary Poskryobyshev, who would state the drinking dos and don’ts. And with leaders of socialist countries, he was as unceremonious as with his Soviet subjects. Sometimes people would put a cake with cream on a novice’s chair while the latter was standing making a toast to see what his reaction would be. Or when the novice was walking in the park, Beria would make sure his operatives would push the drunk novice into the pond. This was an element of oriental despotism. This insulted people, but they had to keep silent. Of course, he would not do this to marshals like Zhukov or Rokossovsky.

RL: Did Stalin ever get drunk himself?

RM: Stalin never got drunk. Many of his associates did. Khrushchev and even Molotov, who hated drinking, had to get drunk. Stalin never got drunk, he knew how to drink.

RL: How was Stalin at toasting?

RM: Stalin was not in the habit of making long toasts, so in this respect he was not a true Georgian. He usually would charge someone with being the tamada [toastmaster], but he was the host of the table anyway.

RL: OK, what about the drinking preferences of the one who toppled Stalin’s cult of personality?

RM: Khrushchev loved drinking, and his major drink was simple vodka. He hated wine. He was born and grew up in the Kursk region in a mining area, so what wine can you talk about? They couldn’t understand its merits. For them, it was just a sour drink that didn’t work on one’s head. So, Khrushchev drank vodka. When he became a leader, he came to love cognac too. Especially at receptions, cognac was a must on the menu. Khrushchev ... knew how to drink but never got dead drunk. He was seen under the influence of alcohol. He even took the floor, making a speech all red-faced, and one could see his reactions weren’t quite adequate. But it was not any loss of control. It just added emphasis.

Another of Khrushchev’s contributions to Kremlin drinking habits was to enlarge the parties substantially. What Stalin did was nothing much next to Khrushchev’s tables. Sometimes he would get together many hundreds in the Kremlin. And at special dachas, the number of guests could well reach two or three thousand. That was a big fete for the Soviet elite of the time – writers, artists, actors. Back then, the Soviet state was already well-off enough to hold such huge parties ...

RL: How did Nikita Sergeyevich behave when he was partying?

RM: Unlike Stalin, Khrushchev was relaxed about partying. He didn’t force people to drink and respected other people’s preferences. With Khrushchev, guests never felt the same tension as at Stalin’s parties. He was more kindhearted and not a despot who loved humiliating people like Stalin. True, these parties were noisy and somewhat wild, but with no fear.

RL: What did he do under the influence of alcohol?

RM: Khrushchev was a big talker when he was drinking. Stalin had forced him [at parties] to dance Ukrainian folk dances, and this was a humiliation for Nikita Sergeyevich. He could get red and become more talkative, but he never lost control. He could also talk at length about how they lived badly under Stalin ...

RL: OK, Brezhnev dethrones Khrushchev in 1964. What does he “bring to the table”?

RM: Brezhnev wasn’t always the impotent geezer he was in the late 1970s and early 1980s. During the first ten years of his tenure, from 1964 until 1975 (when he had his first stroke and heart attack), Brezhnev was a life-loving chap. He preserved Khrushchev’s traditions of partying. He loved cognac more than anything else – French, Armenian or Georgian cognac – so he was more refined than Khrushchev. Wines were also served, but Leonid Ilyich and his retinue drank cognac or vodka. He was even more relaxed about partying than Khrushchev. He was not such a big talker as Khrushchev. He needed a written text, while Khrushchev could speak for four to seven hours off the cuff. Brezhnev wasn’t much of a host at the party, so people felt even more relaxed at his parties than at Khrushchev’s.

RL: But did he drink after he fell ill?

RM: He always drank. Even later when he was sick, he kept on drinking. The doctors only disallowed smoking, but some cognac was OK.

RL: It was under Brezhnev too that vodka prices began rising steadily, right?

RM: That was caused by an ongoing budget deficit, so, when they could not make ends meet, they just said: “raise vodka prices.” Of course, this caused public dissent. Remember this popular folk poem: “Vodka now costs six and eight, but we’ll drink it anyway. Even if it goes up to ten, tell Ilyich we’ll make it then. If it gets beyond this border, then we’ll do like the guys in Poland.” This ending – “like in Poland” – was an allusion to the public riots in Poland in the 1970s ... And indeed the poem was right – in spite of all price hikes, vodka consumption did not go down under Brezhnev.

RL: Brezhnev’s successor, Yuri Andropov, was not much of a drinker ...

RM: Andropov was an ascetic. He hated booze, drank with great disdain and took alcohol only when he was forced to. For instance, when he was seeing the newly-elected Secretary General Brezhnev off to Romania, they had a stopover in Moldova – in Kishinev, where Brezhnev began his career. There, Andropov had to drink and even raise a toast to Brezhnev. But, whenever he could avoid drinking, he did so. Not just because he was a sick man (he had diabetes), he just adhered to asceticism.

He did, however, realize the political importance of vodka, so under him, the state slowly reduced vodka prices. There was even a vodka nicknamed after him – Andropovskaya – a cheap brand of vodka. He simultaneously cracked down on alcoholism at work, but allowed drinking at home. But he stayed in power only 15 months.

RL: And Andropov’s successor?

RM: Chernenko did drink under Brezhnev, but when he was elected Secretary General, he was sick and could barely breathe – let alone drink ... Not a single party was held at the Kremlin under him, so Kremlin cooks were idle.

RL: Now on to the father of the anti-alcohol campaign ...

RM: This anti-alcohol campaign was one of the reasons for his failure. According to old Soviet traditions, everybody was closely watching who would be the first man Gorbachev would summon – and it turned out to be Finance Minister [Vasily] Garbuzov. Mikhail Sergeyevich asked him to find a substitute for alcohol money in the budget. So starting from March 1985, de facto prohibition was introduced in the Kremlin ... Actually, it is in May 1985 that Leningrad communist party leader Grigory Romanov was fired – also on the grounds of alcohol abuse. Sure, he was also Gorbachev’s rival, so the latter wanted to get rid of him, but Romanov had made two blunders with alcohol abuse – in Hungary and Finland. It was all set down on paper, so Gorbachev took advantage of this, and Romanov had to resign. He was the first VIP victim of the anti-alcohol campaign ...

RL: Do you remember how the whole thing began?

RM: Starting in 1985 and especially in 1986, this campaign took on a mass character. It was generally preposterous. Vodka production was artificially decreased, the same for wine production. Vineyards were destroyed ... beer production was decreased too. It was especially tough to look at people virtually killing each other in endless vodka lines at liquor stores. Moonshining skyrocketed, people were poisoning themselves with this. 250,000 people were convicted and served time for alcohol-related crimes – i.e., moonshining – mostly women. Of course, this was a very stupid campaign that made Gorbachev perish in the eyes of the people more than any of his other measures. For nobody supported him in this endeavor, even in the party apparatus, except for [Yegor] Ligachev. They all had to obey, but they didn’t agree ...

RL: In whose head was the actual idea born?

RM: In both Ligachev’s and Gorbachev’s. Actually, Ligachev even went so far as to prepare a ban on smoking, and in the Kremlin ... smoking was banned, and all trash cans were even removed. But it didn’t go beyond this. Again, in spite of this campaign, people drank anyway, and this led to the loss of many good workers, especially in the regions. I know that some plant or factory directors caught drinking red-handed lost their communist cards and their jobs automatically afterwards. Though they knew damned well they would not be able to find a good replacement.

RL: When did they begin to back off from this?

RM: I think they officially backed off in 1989, and, especially in 1990, nobody insisted on this anymore. When I arrived in the Kremlin in 1989 as People’s Deputy [to the first USSR Congress of People’s Deputies] and attended all sorts of meetings and conferences, nobody really hid; alcohol was served in the buffets. Certainly, there were no drunks, but people could drink. One could buy good wine, good cognac or vodka ... So it just faded away...

RL: And how does Gorbachev behave now?

RM: Well, I have met with him a number of times and even had a drink, when I was invited along with the Khrushchev family to the Gorbachev Foundation to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 20th Congress in 1996. I even felt a bit bewildered as I was sitting next to him, on his left. He sort of stared at me and said “what, you don’t drink or what?!” as he was pouring everyone cognac. To which I replied: “no, I do drink, Mikhail Sergeyevich.” In this way, you could tell he sort of felt guilty ...

RL: Sort of repentant of the past?

RM: Yes, apologizing for the past. And making sure they [his guests] drank and he himself drank too.

RL: Yeltsin and alcohol is a huge theme, isn’t it? So, what’s the truth and what’s the legend in all this?

RM: The truth of the matter is that Yeltsin has never been an ascetic like Andropov ... I remember how, say, in the morning he kept silent until noon at the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in late 1989. He would arrive, morose, you could tell, then he got back on track ... and in the evening he was strong and robust again, energetic, addressing meetings and demonstrations and produced the impression of a very mighty, robust man, a Russian bogatyr [folk hero], a bear for whom a bottle of vodka or cognac is just, well, peanuts ... I never saw him drunk personally ... but remember he was shown drunk [on TV] when in America [a trip that occurred in the early 1990s] when he was lecturing at a university.

RL: Some said it was all a film montage...

RM: No, it was not ... Plus, suffice it to read [ousted Security Chief Alexander] Korzhakov’s memoirs, in which he described many such episodes, and one could see that Yeltsin, both at the bathhouse and when partying with friends, loved to drink. His habits are also known, I mean that he likes strong drinks. And during his foreign trips, some guards also receive instructions to watch over him ... when drinks were served ...

RL: You trust Korzhakov’s book in terms of his revelations on drinking habits? It’s not just a sort of vengeance?

RM: No, I mean, sure, there is an element of vengeance in it, indeed. For he was not just a bodyguard, but an intimate friend [of Yeltsin’s]. They even swore on blood – actually after drinking – so Korzhakov didn’t expect to be treated in such an abrupt way. So, the book is indeed a sort of rebuttal, vengeance, but not to the point of distorting facts. I think all he wrote about it rather accurately reflects the customs of this family ... But again, all this didn’t hurt Yeltsin’s reputation in people’s minds. It actually provides him with more pluses than minuses ...

RL: So, what I make of that is that Russia’s next president doesn’t have to be a teetotaler, he won’t gain any points from this?

RM: No, he won’t, the electorate doesn’t expect the next president not to drink.

RL: [Moscow Mayor Yuri] Luzhkov openly says he doesn’t drink ...

RM: No he doesn’t, but he considers that his personal affair, he doesn’t impose it on anybody.

RL: Good for him ...