working class

[pms]

So despite all these Soviet practices we had decades of jokes about drunks
and drinking in the USSR?   Alchohol is cheaper now?  I spent '95 in south
Florida where the beer at least is incredibly cheap and I remember thinking,
no wonder they can get all these guys to sell the newspaper in the middle of
every major highway?  Labor's cheap when it's hung over.
----- Original Message -----
From: ChrisD(RJ) <chrisd at russiajournal.com>
To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 04, 2002 1:49 AM
Subject: RE: working class


>
> ChrisD(RJ) wrote:
>
> > I don't think this is quite true, at least in
> > Russia. Male life expectancy
> > has declined about 10 years, but that's mainly due
> > to massive increases in
> > alcoholism (it was hard to be an alcoholic in the
> > Soviet Union) . . .
>
> Why was that?
>
> Alec
> -----
>
> Because the average monthly wage was about 100 rubles, and a bottle of
vodka
> cost 5 rubles -- 5% of your income. It was a serious purchase. Beer was
very
> hard to get -- you had to stand in line for hours. Also, the Soviet
> authorities had very harsh anti-alcoholism campaigns, and alcoholics were
> guaranteed of treatment whether they wanted it or not. Owning a still was
a
> one-way ticket to a year in the slammer. Things were somewhat different in
> republics like Georgia, where you had locally produced wine.
>
> Chris Doss
> The Russia Journal
>