Vasili Dzemyanovich: Drinks (after the War)
Categories: Holidays and traditions, Vasili Dzemyanovich
People started to drink only under Khruschev? Did they drink alcohol before?
Yes, of course. Before that only «NKVD» (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) and «militsiya» (police) drank alcohol. The people didn’t drink, partisans did. The people worked at that time, they had no time to drink. But when Khruschyov came… recently I have seen a TV programme about Khruschyov and his economic reforms: he started to build alcohol factory. I was an adult guy at that time and I remember well that under Khruschyov vine went down in value. Under Stalin wine was expensive. Vodka cost three rubles sixty two kopecks, wine cost two rubles eighty kopecks, and it was a high price. So there was a disco at the men’s synagogue and a girl came and told, «Guys, wine went down in value!» she worked at the stand near the church. She said, «Full box cost ninety kopecks each». The price dropped from two rubles eighty kopecks to ninety kopecks. And we all ran there. In a moment we found use for it.
