Serfdom and alcohol tax farming emerged in Russia almost simultaneously – at the end of the XVI century. 250 years later again at the same time serfdom and tax farming were abolished. The alcohol reform of 1863 is one of the greatest events of the day. Despite the limitations of the proclaimed goals, this transformation had a significant modernization potential capacity and was systemic. In the course of its implementation not only did change the way of collecting alcohol charges. The entire related reality was radically altered: industrial production, agriculture, trading, system of public administration, social relations. The replacement of tax farming with the excise system, as well as the elimination of serfdom, was the basis and condition for future transformations of 1860s-1870s, which otherwise, like seeds thrown into the unprepared field, would be doomed to miserable stagnation or even death. Evaluation of the transformation effectiveness concerning the alcohol issue was made on the basis of a set of indicators related to modernization. In the economic sphere, the alcohol reform resulted in the development of new technologies based on the use of scientific (rational) knowledge, the enhanced division of labor, the complication of alcohol production organization, increasing incentives for the creation and implementation of technological and organizational innovations, the growth of production indicators; the social sphere witnessed a replacement of direct and direct control by universal regulators of activity, minimizing the dependence of professional growth on personal ties; in the political sphere there was the creation of effective management bodies, the growing number of channels of participation of public institutions in alcohol policy. But in the country itself there remained the traditional form of strong drinks consumption. Moreover, the process of modernization gave rise to a compensatory effect, which was expressed in the increase of people's drunkenness
Relevance. The article is devoted to the director of the Department of Various taxes and Fees of the Ministry of Finance of Russia in the late 1850s - early 1860s, Fyodor Lukich Pereverzev, who was opposed to the planned wine reform. The plot of the article was not covered in the scientific literature, but it is essential to create a complete picture of the excise transformation.The purpose of the article is to recreate the image of a high official of the finance Ministry, who prevented the transition from tax payments to the excise system of levying a tax on drinking.Objectives: to give a description of Pereverzev's official activity; to establish the circumstances that determined his position regarding drinking; to describe the essence of classes in the Special Committee for the Development of Wine Reform.Methodology. The principles of scientific objectivity and historical anthropologism became the basis for the study of the stated topic. In addition, a personal biographical method was used, which allowed through acquaintance with the biography of Pereverzev to explain his position on the wine reform.Results. Pereverzev's career path was long, he proved himself both in the military and in the civilian field. The peak of his official career was the post of director of the Department of Various Taxes and Fees. In this position, Fyodor Lukich was included in the Special Committee for the Development of Wine Reform. His work was fruitless, the reform plan was not prepared.Conclusion. Pereverzev was in opposition to the drinking transformation, since he considered the payoff a proven way of collecting a fee from drinking, and the excise tax a system that requires a long check. He was a staunch follower of E.F. Kankrin and believed that the excise system was good for the West, but not suitable for Russia.
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