The First Major Reform

Mikhail Gorbachev’s Anti-Alcohol Policies in the 1980s

Abstract

During the 1980s, the General Secretary of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev implemented extensive reforms prohibiting alcohol. The reform had distastrous results and is widely regarded as a failure. Although Gorbachev's alcohol reform was ultimately reversed and regarded as unsuccessful, the alcohol policy is revealing in regards to changes taking place in Soviet society during the 1980s. The reform demonstrated changes in the political landscape, economics, and government transparency.