Bookvica

[RUSSIAN ALCOHOL PRODUCTION]

Item #1462

1) Ustav Kalinkinskogo pivovarennogo i medovarennogo tovarishchestva [i.e. The Charter of Kalinkin Brewing and Mead Production Company]. Saint Peterspurg: Tip. Dzh. Iv. Shumakher, 1912. 16 pp. 21x13,5 cm. In original printed wrappers. Small fragments of covers lost, some minor stains and numbers of pre-revolutionary library on the front cover, private stamp on t.p., otherwise very good and clean internally. On p.6 ink correction of the text, with stamp.

2) Ustav proizvodstvennogo kooperativa vinogradarei i vinodelov Mutsal-Aul’skogo raiona [i.e. The Charter of the Production Cooperative of Winegrowers and Winemakers of the Mutsal-Aul Region]. [Buinaksk, Dagestan]: Tipo-lit. imeni E.G. Gogoleva DGIZa, [1928]. 13 pp. 17x12 cm. In original printed wrappers. Near fine, stamps and number of private library on blank leaf, p.1, 9, pencil marks on back cover. One of 250 copies.

3) Ustav vinogradno-vinodel’cheskogo proizvodstvennogo kooperativa ‘Gorets’ [i.e. The Charter of the Winegrowing and Winemaking Production Cooperative ‘Hillman’]. Vladikavkaz: Tip. Krasnyi Oktiabr’, 1928. 11 pp. 17x13,5 cm. In original printed wrappers. Near fine, stamp and number of private library on p.1. One of 100 copies.

Extremely rare with no copies in Worldcat.
Three charters of pre-revolutionary and early-Soviet alcohol companies issued in limited printruns. One of them was published before World War I began and ‘dry law’ prohibition was adopted in the Russian Empire. The rest are connected with the moment when the NEP relaxation of restrictions on alcohol trade had ended and a widespread anti-alcohol campaign started over the USSR.
Kalinkin Brewing Enterprise was founded in Saint Petersburg in the 1790s and was turned into a partnership producing beer and mead in 1862. By 1914, it became the largest alcohol company in the Russian Empire. In 1922, the enterprise was renamed after Stepan Rasin and was leased to the Petrograd United Consumer Society (PEPO). Its charter is more about shares and dividends and notably differs from the charters of non-capitalist cooperatives.
Caucasus enterprises were nationalized in 1921 after the devastating Civil war. In the early 1920s, 10 large distilleries still operated in Dagestan. Along with them, small handcraft wineries were under the control of Soviet authorities if they didn’t belong to foreigners. All winemakers were gathered into production cooperatives - a sale of alcoholic beverages bypassing cooperatives was forbidden. These two brochures contain charters of cooperatives located in Makhachkala and Khasavyurt. Their texts are similar with minor distinction - the charter of the Khasavyurt enterprise ends with names of members who signed the original document. Just like all Soviet organizations, these coops had goals and objectives that included productivity increase, spreading scientific and technical inventions among members, supplying them with machines, etc.
With the state monopoly on alcohol production and a wide campaign against alcoholism, the situation for small businesses was soon changed in most Soviet Republics during the five-year plan, but Caucasian distilleries might run a little longer, due to their natural conditions.
These brochures are important documents of the history of Russian alcohol production in different circumstances of the 20th century.

Price: $500.00