Order of the Red Banner of Labour

Order of the Red Banner of Labour

Order of the Red Banner of Labour (obverse), type 2 post 1943
Awarded by the  Soviet Union
Type Single-grade order
Eligibility Soviet citizens and institutions including factories
Awarded for Accomplishments in labour, the civil service, literature, the arts and sciences
Status No longer awarded
Statistics
Established December 28, 1920
First awarded June 28, 1921
Last awarded December 21, 1991
Total awarded 1,224,590
Related Order of the Red Banner

Ribbon of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Reverse of a post 1943 type 2 Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Olympic gold medalist figure skater Irina Rodnina, twice recipient of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour

The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (Russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, health, social and other spheres of labour activities. It is the labour counterpart of the military Order of the Red Banner. A few institutions and factories, being the pride of Soviet Union, also received the order. The Order of the Red Banner of Labour began solely as an award of the Russian SFSR on December 28, 1920. The all-Union equivalent was established by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on September 7, 1928[1] and approved by another decree on September 15, 1928.[2] The Order's statute and regulations were modified by multiple successive decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, on May 7, 1936,[3] on June 19, 1943,[4] on March 28, 1980,[5] and on July 18, 1980.[6]

Award statute

The Order of the Red Banner of Labour can be awarded to citizens of the USSR, to businesses, associations, institutions, organizations, and allied autonomous republics, territories, autonomous regions, districts, cities and other localities; it may also be awarded to persons who are not citizens of the USSR, as well as to enterprises, institutions and organizations located in foreign countries:[1][5]

The Order of the Red Banner of Labour could be awarded multiple times to the same recipient for successive deeds and long time merit.[3]

The Order of the Red Banner of Labour was worn on the left side of the chest and in the presence of other awards of the USSR, was located immediately after the Order of the Red Banner.[1] If worn in the presence of Orders or medals of the Russian Federation, the latter have precedence.[7]

Award description

The design of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour evolved over the years. Its original design, called "type 1" was amended in 1936, this new variant will be identified as "type 2".

Type 1

The "type 1" Order consisted of a 38 mm wide by 43 mm high silver badge in the shape of a cogwheel, at center, a disc bordered along its entire outer diameter by panicles of wheat. Protruding from under the lower half of the central disc, a red enamelled triangle pointing downwards. On the central disc in the background, a hydro electric dam, at center, a gilded hammer and sickle, at the top, a waving red banner bearing the inscription "Proletarians of the World, unite!" (Russian: “Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь!”). At the very bottom of the cogwheel, the relief inscription "USSR" (Russian: “СССР”) on a stylised horizontal shield bisected by a smaller cogwheel meshing into the larger one. On the otherwise plain reverse, a recess at center bearing a threaded post, two rivets used to secure the hammer and sickle and the award serial number engraved on the lower portion opposite the "USSR" inscription. The Order was secured to clothing with a threaded screw and nut arrangement. The earlier nuts were 28 mm in diameter, later ones measured 32 mm.

Type 2

The "type 2" Order also consisted of a silver badge in the shape of a cogwheel, it measured 38 mm wide by 44 mm high. On the lower circumference of the cogwheel, the relief inscription "Proletarians of the World, unite!" (Russian: “Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь!”), below the cogwheel, a red enamelled relief five pointed star superimposed on a shield from which four short panicles of wheat protrude left and right. At the center, a disc surrounded by a gilded wreath of oak leaves bearing the relief image of a hydro electric dam, below the dam, blue enamelled water, at the center of the disc, the gilded hammer and sickle, from the inner left side of the disc, a gilded mast bearing a waving red enamelled banner protruding from the central disc, covering the upper portion of the cogwheel and protruding past its outer upper edge on which "USSR" (Russian: “СССР”) is inscribed in gilded letters. Along the outer circumference of the central disc's wreath, white enamelled slots spaced equally on the cogwheel. On the otherwise plain reverse, a concave recess at center bearing a threaded post, eight rivets (only three rivets on the post 1943 variant) used to secure the various parts to the badge and the award serial number engraved on the lower portion below the recess. The Order was secured to clothing with a threaded screw and a 33 mm in diameter nut until 1943 when it was secured by a ring through the medal suspension loop to a pentagonal mount covered by an overlapping 24 mm wide light blue silk moiré ribbon with 4 mm wide dark blue edge stripes.[4]

Type 1 obverse Type 2 obverse
1931 - 1936 1936 - 1943

Recipients (partial list)

The individuals listed below were recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour.[8][9]

The first recipient of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour of the RSFSR was Nikita Menchukov for saving an important bridge from being destroyed by flowing ice.

Order of the Red Banner of Labour of the USSR number 1 was presented to the Putilov (later Kirov) Works in Leningrad. The first individual awardees were V. Fedetov, A. Shelagin and M. Kyatkovsky for the rescue of a polar expedition.

Mikhail Gorbachev received the Order of the Red Banner of Labour for harvesting a record crop on his family's collective farm in 1949 at age 17, an honor which was very rare for someone so young. He is one of the Order's youngest recipients.

Six-time recipients

Five-time recipients

Four-time recipients

Three-time recipients

Two-time recipients

Single awards

Institutions, organisations, localities

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of September 7, 1928" (in Russian). Russian WikiSource. 1928-09-07. Retrieved 2012-04-29.
  2. "Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of September 15, 1928" (in Russian). Russian WikiSource. 1928-09-15. Retrieved 2012-04-29.
  3. 1 2 "Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 7, 1936" (in Russian). Legal Library of the USSR. 1936-05-07. Retrieved 2012-04-29.
  4. 1 2 "Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 19, 1943" (in Russian). Legal Library of the USSR. 1943-06-19. Retrieved 2012-04-29.
  5. 1 2 3 "Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 28, 1980" (in Russian). Legal Library of the USSR. 1980-03-28. Retrieved 2012-04-29.
  6. "Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 18, 1980 № 2523-X" (in Russian). Legal Library of the USSR. 1980-07-18. Retrieved 2012-04-29.
  7. "Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of September 7, 2010 No 1099" (in Russian). Russian Gazette. 2010-09-07. Retrieved 2012-04-30.
  8. "List of recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour compiled from ru.Wikipedia". Russian Wikipedia.
  9. "List of recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour compiled from en.Wikipedia". English Wikipedia.
  10. Winston S. Churchill. The Second World War. VI. p. 421. ISBN 0-14-008616-1.
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