Order of Lenin explained

Order of Lenin
Type:Single-grade order
Eligibility:Citizens of the Soviet Union; foreigners; institutions, enterprises and collectives
Awarded For:
  • outstanding services rendered to the State,
  • exemplary service in the armed forces,
  • promoting friendship and cooperation between people and in strengthening peace, and
  • meritorious services to the Soviet state and society
Status:Awarded only by the CPRF
Established:6 April 1930
Firstawarded:23 May 1930
Lastawarded:21 December 1991
Total Awarded:431,418
Lower:Order of the October Revolution

The Order of Lenin (Russian: Орден Ленина|Orden Lenina, pronounced as /ru/) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union. The order was awarded to:

From 1944 to 1957, before the institution of specific length of service medals, the Order of Lenin was also used to reward 25 years of conspicuous military service. Those who were awarded the titles "Hero of the Soviet Union" and "Hero of Socialist Labour" were also given the order as part of the award. It was also bestowed on cities, companies, factories, regions, military units, and ships. Various educational institutions and military units who received the said Order applied the full name of the order into their official titles.

Design

The first design of the Order of Lenin was sculpted by Pyotr Tayozhny and Ivan Shadr based on sketches by Ivan Dubasov. It was made by Goznak of silver with some lightly gold-plated features. It was a round badge with a central disc featuring Vladimir Lenin's profile surrounded by smokestacks, a tractor and a building, possibly a power plant. A thin red-enamelled border and a circle of wheat panicles surrounded the disc. At the top was a gold-plated "hammer and sickle" emblem, and at the bottom were the Russian initials for "USSR" (Russian: СССР) in red enamel. Only about 800 of this design were minted. It was awarded between 1930 and 1932.[2]

The second design was awarded from 1934 until 1936. This was a solid gold badge, featuring a silver plated disc bearing Lenin's portrait. The disc is surrounded by two golden panicles of wheat, and a red flag with "LENIN" in Cyrillic script (Russian: ЛЕНИН). A red star is placed on the left and the "hammer and sickle" emblem at the bottom, both in red enamel.

The third design was awarded from 1936 until 1943. The design was the same as previous, but the central disc was gray enamelled and Lenin's portrait was a separate piece made of platinum fixed by rivets.

The fourth design was awarded from 1943 until 1991. Design was the same as previous, but was worn as a medal suspended from a ribbon (all previous were screwback).

The badge was originally worn by screwback on the left chest without a ribbon. Later it was worn as a medal suspended from a red ribbon with pairs of yellow stripes at the edges (see image above). The ribbon bar is of the same design.The portrait of Lenin was originally a riveted silver piece. For a time it was incorporated into a one-piece gold badge, but finally returned as a separate platinum piece until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.

Recipients

The first Order of Lenin was awarded to the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda on 23 May 1930. Also among the first ten recipients were five industrial companies, three pilots, and the Secretary to the Central Executive Committee Avel Enukidze. The first person to be awarded a second Order of Lenin was the pilot Valery Chkalov in 1936. Another pilot, Vladimir Kokkinaki, became the first to receive a third Order in 1939.

The first five foreign recipients – who were presented with the Order on 17 May 1932 – comprised a German and four US citizens, one of whom was Frank Bruno Honey.[3] They received the award for helping in the reconstruction of Soviet industry and agriculture, during 1931–1934.[4]

In total, 431,418 orders were awarded, with the last on 21 December 1991.

Most frequent

Notable collective recipients

Notable individual recipients

Fictional recipients

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Орден Ленина: история учреждения, эволюция и разновидности. Часть II . 23 December 2015 . 30 November 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161130084755/http://www.mirnagrad.ru/cgi-bin/exinform.cgi?page=27&ppage=2 . dead .
  2. McDaniel & Schmitt, The Comprehensive Guide to Soviet Orders and Medals.
  3. "One American, Frank Bruno Honey, received the Order of Lenin for his work." Dana G. Dalrymple, "The American Tractor Comes to Soviet Agriculture: The Transfer of a Technology", Technology and Culture, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Spring, 1964), pp. 191–214 http://www.google.com/search?hl=ru&q=%22frank+bruno+honey%22&lr=
  4. Order of Lenin – history of establishment, evolution and varieties by Valery Durov
  5. Web site: Ордена "Комсомольской правды" . 24 May 2010 . 23 December 2015 . 18 October 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111018232431/http://kp.ru/daily/24494.5/649128/ . live .
  6. Web site: Obituary reference in the Indian Parliament . 26 October 2007 . 29 September 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070929092001/http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/lsdeb/ls10/ses1/0411079105.htm . live .
  7. News: Республика простилась с Героем Социалистического труда Валентиной Дмитриевой. The Republic said goodbye to the Hero of Socialist Labor Valentina Dmitrieva. Ministry of Agriculture of the Chuvash Republic. ru. 20 February 2019. 29 October 2022. 16 December 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221216153123/https://agro.cap.ru/news/2019/02/20/respublika-prostilasj-s-geroem-socialisticheskogo-t. live.
  8. Book: Six Months in 1945: FDR, Stalin, Churchill, and Truman – from World War to Cold War.
  9. Web site: Kargapoltsev. Sergey. Гаганова Валентина Ивановна. Gaganova Valentina Ivanovna. . ru. 10 April 2023.
  10. Book: Who's Who in Asian and Australasian Politics. https://books.google.com/books?id=Ge25AAAAIAAJ. 1991. Bowker-Saur. London. 978-0-86291-593-3. 146. Kim Il Sung.
  11. http://www.titoville.com/odlikovanja.html Tito's Home Page – With world leaders
  12. Fleming, Ian. From Russia With Love, Signet Books, p.44

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