Are Russians Alcoholics to Support the State? (They Were at One Point)

Not anymore! But at one time, maybe! Stan Fedun explains why alcoholism is so rampant in Russia (1 in 5 Russian men die from alcohol related illnesses): “Stalin used vodka sales to help pay for the socialist industrialization of the Soviet Union. By the 1970s, receipts from alcohol again constituted a third of government revenues.”

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