Word: antialcohol
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...want to tag Communist Party General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev with a more affectionate nickname -- say, "Comrade Cognac." Last week the Soviet Council of Ministers announced that grocery stores will once again be allowed to sell beer, wine and cognac -- but not vodka. The decree watered down Gorbachev's antialcohol policies of 1985, which produced long lines at state shops and a flood of black-market booze. Despite the softened stance on liquor sales, the Soviet leadership still hopes to cut alcohol consumption with a stepped-up public-education campaign...
There is another product in high demand but short supply on the Soviet side these days, thanks to General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's antialcohol campaign. As a result, Chinese traders make room in their sample cases for bottles of mao-tai, a fiery 120-proof sorghum liquor -- not to sell but to lubricate negotiations with their Siberian hosts. Says Dimitri Krolov, a Soviet regional trade official who joined the train in Zabaikalsk: "Business is booming. We manufacture what they want, they grow what we want...
Gorbachev acknowledges that his antialcohol campaign is highly unpopular. He once told a group of writers that he was aware of "threats" as well as grumbling from the long lines of people queueing up to buy scarce and expensive vodka. One gag has a man at the end of one of the liquor-store lines announcing that he is so furious he is going over to the Kremlin to shoot Gorbachev. He returns in a few minutes, however, and resumes his place in the queue. "Well, did you do it?" asks a comrade. "You must be joking," the would...
...daughter-in-law had fought hard for Anatoli's release, was overwhelmed by the good news. Leonid was at her side. "We'll be celebrating with champagne and vodka tonight, even though they aren't so easy to find anymore," he said, referring to the government's current antialcohol campaign. A friend chimed in, "You should consider yourself lucky if champagne and vodka are your only worries...
...market. When the doors opened promptly at 2, the people began inching their way to the shabby counter to buy their vodka. A young man in a padded jacket of the kind usually worn by laborers had been waiting in line since midday to purchase his bottle. "The new antialcohol measures are a hardship for us," he said. "But our country needs them...