SOVIET STANDARDS OF ALCOHOLIC LEGISLATION OF TRANSCARPATHIAN UKRAINE (1944 – 1946 YEARS)

Abstract

The article deals with copying Soviet alcohol legislation by the People's Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine on the region's territory. All this happened during Transcarpathia's preventive Sovietization in 1944 – 1945, from the liberation of Transcarpathia from Hungarian-German invaders on October 28, 1944. It should be noted that officially Subcarpathian Rus' was part of Czechoslovakia before signing the agreement on the reunification of Transcarpathian Ukraine with the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The treaty was signed on June 29, 1945, and ratified by the Provisional National Assembly of the Czechoslovak Republic on November 22, 1945, and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on November 27, 1945. The Transcarpathian region was created by the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet Decree on January 22, 1946. The next day the legislation of the USSR was introduced here. It should be noted that the People's Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine copied the experience of the Soviet Union regarding alcohol policy. It consisted of establishing a monopoly on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages, complete state control over the production of wine and vodka products. One of the first laws of the People's Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine was decrees on the nationalization of distilleries and the brewery of Count Schönborn-Buchheim in Pidhoryany. Later, church distilleries were nationalized. Thus, a half dozen enterprises for the production of alcohol were nationalized in Transcarpathian Ukraine. By separate resolutions, the People's Council regulated the prices of alcohol, vodka, and beer. We also briefly consider the industrial capacity of enterprises for the production of vodka, alcohol, beer, and point out the potential opportunities for winemaking in Transcarpathian Ukraine. After the signing of the reunification agreement, on July 6, 1945, a separate resolution of the People's Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine established a trust of the alcohol and vodka industry at the People's Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine food industry department, to which the distilleries of Transcarpathian Ukraine were subordinated. That was one of the steps in preparation for implementing the industrial complex of Transcarpathia to the All-Union. The resolution of the People's Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine controlled «the production of alcoholic beverages and the prosecution of production without permits». At the same time, the leadership of the People's Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine often resorted to using the products of distilleries for their purposes, the military council of the 4th Ukrainian Front, «security police», etc.