This is a repost of an older answer of mine, specifically on the Soviet era:

From about 1930 on, production and sale of vodka and (legal) alcoholic beverages was a government monopoly which produced a significant share of government revenue (to the point that Gorbachev's Anti-Alcoholism Campaign contributed significant pressure to government finances in the late 1980s). It's worth mentioning that this was a reintroduction of a prerevolutionary Russian fiscal practice: while the late Soviet period saw alcohol sales account for something like 10% of state revenues and about a third of all taxes paid directly by citizens, in the 1900-1913 period alcohol sales would have accounted for some 25-30% of state revenues (a total prohibition was introduced in 1914 to aid the war effort, and this was gradually rescinded by the Bolsheviks before legalization in 1925). It was available for purchase in state stores and was one of the few consumer products that was readily available.

Homemade alcoholic beverages (samogon) were technically illegal, but also had a fairly wide presence, especially in the countryside. Estimates determined that around 1970, something like 1.5 billion liters of legal alcohol were consumed annually, and another 500 million liters of samogon were consumed in addition to that.

Alcohol was something of a double-edged sword for the Soviet government, as it was a significant money-maker, but also imposed costs in terms of using agricultural produce, especially sugar, and had significant costs to worker producutivity, public health, social peace and demographics. Alcohol use was relatively low in the 1930s, but began to increase significantly in the 1960s and 1970s, until by 1980 an average 15 liters of pure alcohol was being consumed annually per capita by the population over age 15, two thirds of this as vodka or other spirits. Households spent some 10-15% of their income on liquor.

Government attempts in 1958-1959 and the early 1970s to limit consumption by restricting sales and raising prices had little impact. Gorbachev nevertheless attempted a more radical anti-alcohol campaign in 1985-1988, with a goal of total sobriety. Demand and supply where both hit, with a banning of alcohol from public events and functions, limiting the shops and times permitted for alcohol sales, closing distilleries, and perhaps most notoriously plowing up vineyards in Moldova and Georgia.

The campaign had some public health benefits: overall consumption does seem to have decreased in these years to the point of the average life expectancy jumping. But it also created a new impetus for samogon, to the point of sugar becoming scarce and rationed as it was hoarded for illegal distilling. Alcohol poisoning also occurred as non-consumable forms of alcohol were ingested, and of course organized crime also benefited from a black market in alcohol.

The relaxation of the campaign in 1988, and the worsening economic conditions of the 1990s, plus the end of the government monopoly on sales, meant that after a dip in the negative statistics associated with alcohol consumption, the situation became even worse in the 1990s, amounting to a public health and demographic crisis.

Sources:

Sheila Fitzpatrick. Everyday Stalinism

Daniel Tarschys. "The Success of a Failure: Gorbachev's Alcohol Policy, 1985-88" Europe-Asia Studies Vol. 45, No. 1 (1993), pp. 7-25

Vladimir G. Treml. "Alcohol in the USSR: A Fiscal Dilemma". Soviet Studies Vol. 27, No. 2 (Apr., 1975), pp. 161-177