Anti-alcohol activities in a young small town during the perestroika (a case study of Divnogorsk, Krasnoyarsk region)

The issues of the anti-alcohol campaign in the USSR in the second half of the 1980s, the assessment of its effectiveness and efficiency have become a subject of study in Russian historiography relatively recently. At the same time, researchers at both the national and regional levels pay attention to the implementation of the measures proposed by the state as a whole, without taking into account the specifics of the territory where measures were taken to combat drunkenness and alcoholism. First of all, this concerns young small towns, which by this time had passed the era of their formation and were entering a period of prosperity. Since such cities as Divnogorsk in Krasnoyarsk Region were most often industrial, where several large and medium-sized industries were developing, and the majority of the population was employed in these enterprises, forming a significant part of the working class, called upon to be the builders of socialism, the formation of its moral and ethical image has always been an important task, especially in relation to reducing the level of alcoholism of city dwellers, since it was precisely because of the tendency to a pernicious habit that the main violations in production and in the field of labor discipline occurred. In the 1960s and 1970s, the city and party leadership took certain actions to combat alcoholism, which were carried out with varying success. The authorities, party organizations, enterprise administrations and the public had to consolidate and strengthen this work during the years of perestroika, when radical measures were taken to sober up society. The paper presents an attempt, based on materials first discovered in the municipal archive and introduced into scientific circulation, to recreate a complete picture of the actions of the authorities and society to combat drunkenness and alcoholism in a young small town in the second half of the 1980s, using the city of Divnogorsk as an example. The activities of the Divnogorsk Commission for Combating Drunkenness and Alcoholism, the participation of work collectives in it, the main forms of influence on the drinking population, the successes and failures of preventive work, the activities of the Divnogorsk drug addiction service, and the problems of interdepartmental cooperation are studied. Also presented is a plan approved by the executive committee of the Divnogorsk City Council for the inspection of industrial enterprises in the field of combating drunkenness and alcoholism and an analysis of the results of their anti-alcohol activities, the main indicators of the work of Divnogorsk authorities, the public, enterprises, and internal affairs agencies.