Probably, Peter the Great knew about medieval parody services and he organized Russian buffoonery - so called "sobor", where he tried to turn folk's addiction into his favour. The most muddled person was awarded the title of "the best drunkard" and was given three honourary awards.

N. Zotov was appointed the head of all Russian drunkards for his "special" merits.

Alcohol was the problem in England, too. Thanks to W. Hogarth's prints "Gin Street" and "Beer Street", Parliament prohibited illegal sale of gin in the middle of the XVIIIth century. French and German caricaturists also devoted their works to this topic.

In Russian humorous magazines published before 1917 everyday drinking was ridiculed, state attempts to stop it with the help of abstinence societies and hospitals for alcoholics were criticized. One could see an extraordinary vignette by N. Stepanov in the title of the "Iskra" ("Spark") magazine of 1859. The artist drew the letter "A" consisting of two giddy persons - a worker and a peasant fighting for a stick.

The caricature by M. Cheremnikh (1929) was accompanied with the following words: "Stand up, comrade! You will never come to socialism on all fours". Those words were told to a muddled man by a sober worker. Nevertheless, the Russians did not drink less under the Soviet power. On the one hand, the government itself made drunkards (cheap vodka) to be on friendly terms with common people, on the other hand , home-brew distillation was strictly prohibited. Magazines of 1920-30s are full of anti-alcoholic caricatures mocking everyday drinking. For ordinary people those caricatures were closer and more understandable than political satire.

One of the characters of Gogol's comedy "Inspector" was thrown down in his childhood, that is why he "stinks vodka" since then. One of the offices of Hashek's novel was ready to squander his nose in drink. The absolute title-holder in drinking is, indeed, the main figure of V. Erofeev's story "Moskva-Petushki" - the book especially liked by a group of artists "Mitki", disposed to "cultural" drinking and derisive graphics. The sources of their pictures can be found in Russian "culture of laughter".

The "Krokodil" magazine published a great number of caricatures devoted to this popular subject. Kukriniksi invented special equipment for home-brew procession. It looked like a snake letting poison out. I. Semyonov drew a hoover- like-bottle, sucking money out of a drunkard's pocket. The characters of E. Migunov's caricatures drop in at special tea-houses, made of bottles, and the foundations of them are made of beer mugs.

Some special type of "groggy" graphics is humorous wine labels. In 1972 Soviet colleagues presented H. Bidstrup with a bottle of brandy named after him and the Order of Red Banner. Some liqueurs with funny labels made in Leningrad club of humour and satire are also known.

Drinking in Russia can not be stopped, whether it is mocked or not. Perestroika failed when the government made an attempt to limit alcohol consumption.