The Contribution of the Special Committee Under the Ministry of Finance to the Preparation of the Wine Reform of 1863

The relevance. The article reveals the personal composition of the Special Committee under the Ministry of Finance, established to design the wine reform, its role in determining the new course in relation to drinking. This historical plot is poorly covered in scientific publications, therefore it has an absolute novelty. The current stage of modernization of the alcohol market requires the search for successful practices of alcohol reformation in the history of Russia, which gives the study special relevance and significance.
The purpose is to highlight the composition of the Special Committee under the Ministry of Finance and its contribution to the development of the wine reform of 1863.
Objectives: to characterize the members of the Special Committee; to evaluate the final document; to explain why the case of wine reform was transferred from the Ministry of Finance to the Department of State Economy of the State Council.
Methodology. The solution of research tasks was carried out on the principles of historicism, scientific objectivity and consistency. Such methods as anthropological, comparative, and synchronous have also found their application in the work.
Results. On August 8, 1858, Alexander II established a Special Committee under the Ministry of Finance to develop an alternative drinking system to pay-offs. The Special Committee, headed by Finance Minister A.M. Knyazhevich, included Director of the Department of Various Taxes and Fees F.L. Pereverzev, Vice-Director and Ya.I. Golubev, as well as members of the Council of Finance Minister B.E. Prutchenko and A.I. Novitsky. All high officials had experience working with payoffs, knew their advantages and disadvantages. After spending a lot of time on discussion, they could not offer a worthy replacement for the pay-off order. The result of the work of the Special Committee under the Ministry of Finance was a note with a proposal for a certain "transitional system", which, according to the operating conditions, differed little from the payoffs.
Conclusions. All the previous official activities of the members of the Special Committee ingrained in them a fear of change. The committee of A.M. Knyazhevich did not propose anything other than a "transitional system". The "fashionable" excise system was rejected by the "reformers", which was justified by concern for the financial wellbeing of Russia. The case of wine reform was transferred to the Department of State Economy of the State Council under the patronage of A.P. Zablotsky-Desyatovsky.

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