Order of Lenin

The Order of Lenin (in Russian: Орден Ленина, romanized: Lenina Order), named after the leader of the October Revolution of 1917, was a civil and military decoration of the former Soviet Union, it was the second national decoration in order of importance of the Soviet Union and the highest civilian decoration.

The order was established by a decree of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR on April 6, and its statute was published on May 5, 1930. The decree of January 11, 1932 approved the procedure for the presentation and consideration of applications for rewards with orders of the USSR, as well as the procedure for submitting them to successful bidders. The statute of the order and its description were modified by the Decree of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR of September 27, 1934, by the decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 19, 1943 and December 16, 1947.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 28, 1980, the statute of the order was approved in its final version. In 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the order was suppressed.

History

The history of the order dates back to July 8, 1926, when the head of the General Directorate of the Red Army, Vasily Levichev, was asked to issue a new award, the Order of Ilyich, to people who already had four Orders of the Red Banner. This award was supposed to become the highest military distinction. However, since the Russian Civil War had already ended, the draft of the new order was not approved. At the same time, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR recognized the need to create the highest award of the Soviet Union, awarded not only for military merits.

In early 1930, work resumed on the draft of a new order, called the Order of Lenin. Artists at the Goznak factory in Moscow were commissioned to create a sketch of the order, the main image of which was to be the portrait of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Among the many sketches presented, the work of the artist I. I. Dubasov was chosen, who took as a basis for the portrait a photograph of Lenin, taken at the Second Congress of the Comintern in Moscow by the photographer Viktor Bulla in July-August 1920. In He, Lenin, is in left profile.

In the spring of 1930, the sketch of the order was given to sculptors Ivan Shadr and Pyotr Tayozhny to create a mold. In the same year the first Orders of Lenin were manufactured at the Goznak factory. The “Order of Lenin” test specimen seal was engraved by Alexey Pugachev.

Statute

The Order of Lenin is the highest award of the USSR for especially outstanding services in the revolutionary movement, labor activity, defense of the socialist Fatherland, development of friendship and cooperation between peoples, consolidation of peace and other especially outstanding services to the Soviet state and society.

The Order of Lenin is awarded to:

• To civilians, for services provided to the State;
• Members of the armed forces, by exemplary service;
• To the promoters of friendship and cooperation among peoples and the strengthening of peace
• For other meritorious services to the State and Soviet society.

The Order of Lenin can also be awarded to persons who are not citizens of the USSR, as well as to companies, institutions, organizations and cities of foreign states.

The Order of Lenin is received:

• For the exceptional achievements and successes in the field of the economic, scientific, technical and sociocultural development of Soviet society, increasing the efficiency and quality of work, by outstanding services in strengthening the power of the Soviet State, the fraternal friendship of the peoples of the USSR;
• For services that are particularly important in the defense of the socialist homeland, strengthening the capacity to defend the USSR;
• Outstanding revolutionary, state and socio-political activities;
• Specially important services in the development of friendship and cooperation among the peoples of the Soviet Union and other states;
• For services that are particularly outstanding in the strengthening of the socialist community, the development of the communist, workers and international national liberation movement, in the struggle for peace, democracy and social progress;
• For other services especially outstanding for the Soviet state and society.

For the award of the Order of Lenin for labor merits, as a rule, people could be nominated whose selfless work had previously been rewarded with other orders.

Those awarded as Hero of the Soviet Union or Hero of Socialist Labor simultaneously received the Order of Lenin, which was awarded by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.

The Order of Lenin is worn on the left side of the chest and, in the presence of other orders of the USSR, is placed in front of all of them.

Design

The appearance, dimensions and materials used to make the order have changed many times, both during the creation process and after its establishment.

The variants of the Order of Lenin awarded to laureates can be divided into four main types.

Type I (1930–1932)

The first type of Order of Lenin was approved on May 23, 1930.

The Order of Lenin of 1930 was a round medallion portrait with a bas-relief of Lenin in the center and an industrial landscape in the background. Under the bas-relief of Lenin there was an image of a tractor. The medallion was surrounded by an overlapping gold border, which was held in place by soldering. On the obverse, the gold border had a groove filled with ruby red enamel. Around the medallion, outside the gold border, were ears of wheat, on which were superimposed a golden hammer and sickle at the top of the insignia, and the inscription "USSR." At the bottom, the letters of the inscription are made of gold and covered with red enamel. Each letter was a separate element and was soldered together.

It was made of 925 carat sterling silver. Dimensions: height - 38 mm, width - 37.5 mm.

The Order of Lenin of the first type was issued for a short time, until February 1932. One of the reasons for its short issuance was the fact that other awards of the USSR and even some badges were decorated with more colored enamels. richer than the country's main prize.

About 700 orders of the first type were issued.

Type II (1934-1936)

Since the first type of the Order of Lenin lacked images of the main proletarian symbols - the red star and the red flag, it was decided to change its appearance a little.

The new statute of the Order of Lenin was approved by the Decree of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR of September 27, 1934. The Order of Lenin was now not made of silver, but of 750 carat gold. Images of a tractor and an industrial landscape have disappeared from the front of the Order, and the inscription “USSR” has also disappeared. The new order type has a red flag with the inscription "LENIN" and a red star. The hammer and sickle at the top of the order have been moved to the bottom. The red banner, red star, sickle and hammer of this type of order are covered with ruby red enamel. A silver plating was applied to the central round portrait medallion with the image of the leader. The surfaces around the medallion have a natural gold surface.

Dimensions: height - 38.5 mm, width - 38 mm.

Type III (1936-1943)

Compared to the previous type, the main change was that the Lenin bas-relief was a separate piece and was made of platinum (the weight of the bas-relief ranged from 2.4 to 2.75 g). The bas-relief was attached to the order with three rivets. The surface of the central medallion of the third type was covered with gray-blue enamel. Another change was to increase the purity of the gold. It was now made of 950 carat gold.

Dimensions: height - 38-39 mm, width - 38 mm.

Type IV (1943-1991)

A decree of June 19, 1943 established the procedure for wearing orders that had a star shape on pins on the right side of the chest and orders that had an oval or round shape on the left side of the chest on wrapped pentagonal shoes on the order tape. At the same time, in view of the sharp increase in the number of orders from the USSR and the number of awards, the use of straps with moiré silk ribbons was introduced instead of orders.

Thus, after June 19, 1943, the Order of Lenin acquired an eyelet at the top of the order, into which a ring was screwed, connected to a pentagonal block. It is also clear from the established order of use orders that all previously issued orders were subject to replacement. Instead of the Order of Lenin I-III type, a new award was issued, with the preservation of the serial number indicated in the order book. First of all, this concerned professional military personnel, the rules for wearing military uniforms and awards were strictly regulated. The mass replacement of Orders of Lenin of the previous types was carried out after the end of the Great Patriotic War.

Description of the final model

The Order of Lenin is an insignia that represents a portrait-medallion of Lenin made of platinum, placed in a circle, framed by a golden crown of ears. The dark gray enamel background around the medallion portrait is smooth and outlined by two concentric gold borders, between which is a ruby red enamel. On the left side of the crown there is a five-pointed star, at the bottom - a hammer and sickle, on the right at the top of the crown - an unfurled red flag. The star, hammer and sickle and banner are covered with ruby red enamel and edged along the contour with gold trim. On the banner there is an inscription in gold letters «LENIN» (Ленин)..

The Order of Lenin is made of gold, the applied bas-relief of Lenin is made of platinum. Pure gold in the decoration is 28.604 ± 1.1 g, platinum - 2.75 g (as of September 18, 1975). The total weight is 33.6 ± 1.75 g.

The Order is connected with an eyelet and a ring to a pentagonal block covered with a silk moiré ribbon 24 mm wide, in the middle of the ribbon there is a longitudinal red stripe, 16 mm wide, a Along the edges of the center stripe are two gold stripes 1.5mm wide, then two red stripes 1 each 5mm and two gold stripes 1mm wide.

Dimensions: height - 43-45 mm (including eyelet on top), width - 38 mm, diameter of portrait medallion - 25 mm.

Awarded

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

The first five foreign recipients, to whom the Order was presented on May 17, 1932, consisted of a German citizen and four Americans, one of whom was Frank Bruno Honey. They received the award for assisting in the reconstruction of Soviet industry and agriculture, during 1931-1934.

431,418 orders were awarded in total, the last one on December 21, 1991. Among the winners are:

Liudmila Pavlichenko

Valeri Chkálov.