https://stolenhistory.net/threads/the-war-on-alcohol.5568/
"Another refutation of the myth of Russian drunkenness - the most powerful anti-alcohol riots, which no other country in the world knew. Thus, in 1858-1859 anti-alcohol rebellion covered 32 provinces (which included Saratov), more than 2,000 settlements and villages rose against the forcible drunkening of the nation."
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"This war is more commonly referred to by historians as "teetotaler riots", because the peasants refused to buy wine and vodka and the entire village vowed not to drink. Why did they do this? Because they did not want their health to be taken advantage of by the sellers, those 146 people into whose pockets the money from the sale of alcohol poured from all over Russia. Vodka was literally forced on the people: if someone did not want to drink it, he still had to pay for it… There was a practice in our country in those years: every man was assigned to a certain tavern, and if he did not drink his "norm" and the amount of alcohol sold was not enough, the sellers collected the money from the courtyards of the districts under the jurisdiction of the tavern. Those who did not want to or could not pay, were whipped for the edification of others."