Liquid currency
With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the soaring hyperinflation, some shops began to refuse to accept rubles and only accepted US dollars, German marks or pounds.
In 1993, after the use of US dollars to mark goods was banned, Russians began to seek hard currency with stability and purchasing power—that is, vodka.
"I have more than 20 bottles of wine in my house, but I don't actually drink alcohol at all." Dmitry Smidrick, a clerk at the Moscow laboratory, told the Baltimore Sun in December 1991. This currency, which he called "liquid currency", played an important role in daily transactions.
"If you give a repairman 20 rubles to fix a car or ceiling, he may yawn again and again. But if you can provide a bottle of vodka, the job will be completed soon."
At the beginning, there was a shortage of vodka, partly because of glass. Problems with the bottle production chain and trade disputes with wineries in neighboring Belarus. But even after supply normalization, vodka still supports the economy in transition. Factories that are short of funds use wine in exchange for raw materials, and the government even allows some companies to use wine to pay taxes.
In 1998, the government of a region in Siberia paid 8,000 teachers 15 bottles of wine each as salary. According to a report by the United International News Agency, the original proposal was to use toilet paper and coffins, but in the end vodka was chosen because "Vodka is the only thing that can be freely sold or exchanged for bread and other food."
Such a story became. The headlines in the Western media want to show that the Russians are in the midst of economic collapse and chaos. However, the reality is that the practice of vodka barter has been going on for hundreds of years.
When the times are difficult, vodka is not only a product used to dispel worries, but also a currency that can be used for transactions.
Warm up
In the 16th century, advances in agriculture brought about a bumper harvest. Many landowners in Tsarist Russia did not ship excess grains to the saturated market, but distilled them into vodka, which is a more valuable product and easier to transport.
Encouraged by the czar, vodka became popular, replacing beer and mead as the preferred beverage of farmers. In government-run taverns, the stronger the wine, the more profitable it is. Vodka deservedly became the sales champion and created a lot of income for the country.
Vodka's popularity in Russia is also related to Russia's geographic location.
Most cities in Russia are located in high latitudes, and winters are long and cold, so high-alcoholic spirits like vodka are "as expected" very popular, because it not only satisfies the alcohol addiction passed down by the Russians from generation to generation, but also It can warm up in the winter to get rid of the cold.
In the rural areas of Tsarist Russia, there is a gathering ceremony called "Pomoch", which is the beginning of vodka as a reward for labor. The landlord provided food for the farmers on working days and held a banquet after the harvest. Everyone drank vodka to celebrate.
The late historian Patricia Herlich wrote in her 1991 paper: In Russian drinking rituals and ceremonies, Pomoch is defined as a traditional celebration that encourages people to unite and help each other, but it may also exist It is exploitative.
For the landlords, a decent feast and a barrel of vodka are more cost-effective than paying 20 to 30 poor farmers in cash. At these banquets, some people will choose to pour their wine into a bottle and take home. Helich wrote that vodka may be the "only part of a day's wages that farmers can take home and keep."
The tradition of exchanging food and drink for service continued into the 20th century. Sergei Sotnikov was a Moscow translator. He recalled that in the 1970s, his family built a house in Ukraine, which was the Soviet Republic at the time.
His father’s friends and colleagues came to help with the construction, and in return, they got dinner and vodka, or the self-brewed wine-Samogon. Sotnikov recalled: "If they said they wanted money, it would be weird."
private trade
Pavel Sutkin and his wife Olga co-authored the book "The Cookbook: The True Story of Soviet Cooking." He wrote in an email: After World War II, women were particularly dependent on providing vodka to get help from men.
Sutkin said that in the 1970s, Olga's grandmother always had vodka on hand. "Sometimes it is for a neighbor who helps move coal from the cellar, and sometimes it is for a friend who repairs the hinge." She "spends" about a bottle of wine every month to enjoy this service. And those who can't afford vodka have to brew their own samogon.
Sutkin said that alcohol is the first choice for completing small tasks. Because “giving a ruble for someone’s work may be considered a humiliation, but for the same money, pour 150 grams of vodka and serve a sandwich-the guests will be happy, and generally doing so will reduce your Spending."
Vodka is also a convenient medium for informal and even illegal transactions. Anthropologist Miriam Shion wrote in her 1994 book "Vodka: The "Soul" of Exchange" that collective farm workers can "sell" one ton of state-owned fertilizer to villagers in exchange for two Bottle of wine.
For private transactions like this, using vodka is "safer" than using money. In other cases, this form of transaction can even help you avoid breaking the law. For example, by exchanging vodka for labor assistance, a person can meet his needs without violating the Soviet law that prohibits the employment of private helpers.
Now, although Russians no longer need vodka as the main body of bartering, the concept of vodka as a "stored value" still exists. A vodka brand called "Russian currency" is still one of Russia's best-selling commodities.
In 2014, the Russian ruble plummeted again in the fall of oil prices, the Ukrainian conflict, and Western sanctions against Russia’s invasion of the Crimean Peninsula, so that the Russian government immediately lowered the minimum price of vodka, which shows the important role that vodka plays in it.
