When an alcoholic tells me that they are "deprived of essentials" I say to them.. go to a clinic and get sober. Zero people are born smoking cigarettes.. Tobacco is from the new world, and definitely, deeply addictive. The word "essential" is related to the core, the most core needs.
Let's be honest. It is some combination of "aspiration", luxury goods, being cool, Who is in Charge, and economics.. Yes waiting in lines is real. I hear you! but that is not the whole story.
Every American newspaper had the pictures of Lech Wałęsa with Solidarność at that time. Later, I heard that the reason the Soviet Union fell was because people wanted Beatles records!
my friend -- I do not believe that liquor and cigarettes are "essential" .. there is more to this story.
ok - let's look from another storyline. In the civilized world, by some definition, there have been markets, sellers of goods, idea of public space, protection and enforcement, and taxes .. for close to three thousand years now. If people need cigarettes and alcohol they must be imported and sold somehow. alcohol and cigarettes.. does every person in the house need this? only one person ? big people the same amount as small people too ?
Somehow, the middle and lower-middle system of distribution has failed in the case of rationing. Supply is part of it but also look at the profit for blackmarkets, the local gangs that ask for money from the shopkeeper, or the police do it. Pressure from these street-level forces can break local distribution trade systems that need trust and good-faith to operate.
I am guessing completely but I suspect betrayal at some layer of administration or wholesale practices, as part of the root cause of this kind of market panic. Second I suspect that there were people who knew they were making the situation worse, but did so to embarrass or break the existing political system. so many people.. no real way to know
