ORDER OF LENIN

'Order of Lenin'
Leninorder.jpg Badge
Order of Lenin.jpg Medal
The Order of Lenin ribbon. Ribbon

The 'Order of Lenin' (Russian: Орден Ленина, ''Orden Lenina''), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest national order of the Soviet Union. The Order was bestowed for the following:

★ to civilians for outstanding services rendered to the State

★ to members of the armed forces for exemplary service

★ to those who promoted friendship and cooperation between peoples and in strengthening peace

★ other meritorious services to the Soviet state and society
Those who were awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Hero of Socialist Labor were also given the Order at the same time. The Order was also bestowed on cities, companies, factories, regions, military units and ships. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The first native recipient was a Soviet newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda on May 23 1930. First foreign recipients were two American air mechanics on September 10 1934 for participation in search and rescue operations of the steamship ''Cheliuskin''.

Contents

Design of the decoration

Recipients

References in popular culture

See also

External links

Design of the decoration

The final design of the Order of Lenin was accepted in 1934. The Order consisted of a badge, featuring a disc bearing the portrait of Vladimir Lenin in platinum. The disc is surrounded by two golden panicles of wheat, and a red flag with the word "Lenin" in Russian ('Ленин'). A red star is placed on the left, and a Hammer and Sickle emblem is located at the bottom, also colored in red.
Originally, the badge was worn on the left chest without ribbon. Later it was worn as a medal on a red ribbon with two yellow stripes on each edge (see image above). The chest ribbon is of the same design. (Note: The ribbon for the Order is the same as that of the British Fire Services' Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.)

Recipients

★ All 14 Republics of the Soviet Union and the Russian SFSR

★ Cities

★
★ Moscow

★
★ Donetsk

★
★ Yekaterinburg

★ Companies

★
★ Pravda (Newspaper)

★ People

★
★ Sergey Afanasiev (Soviet "Space Minister", awarded 7 times)

★
★ Aziz Aliyev (Azerbaijani and Dagestani politician and scientist, awarded 2 times)

★
★ Fidel Castro (Cuban Leader)

★
★ Yuri Gagarin (Cosmonaut)

★
★ Israel Gelfand (Soviet mathematician, awarded 3 times)

★
★ Armand Hammer (American businessman and philanthropist)

★
★ Sergey Ilyushin (Soviet pilot and aircraft designer, awarded 8 times)

★
★ Mikhail Kalashnikov (Designer of the AK-47 Assault Rifle)

★
★ Nikita Khrushchev (Chief Director of the Soviet Union)

★
★ Igor Kurchatov (Physicist, leader of the Soviet atomic bomb project, awarded 5 times)

★
★ Vladimir Konovalov (Sub-commander, and admiral, awarded 3 times)

★
★ Fariza Magomadova (Chechen boarding school director and pioneer for women's education)

★
★ Kirill Mazurov (Belarusian Soviet politician)

★
★ Boris Mikhailov (Soviet Ice Hockey Team Captain in 1970s and 80s)

★
★ Alexander Morozov, designer of the T-64 tank

★
★ Yelena Mukhina (Gymnast 1960-2006)

★
★ Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egyptian President)

★
★ Fyodor Okhlopkov (World War II hero)

★
★ Nikolai Ostrovsky (Soviet author, 1904-1936)

★
★ Kim Philby (British/Soviet double agent)

★
★ Arnold Rüütel (Estonian communist leader, later president of the independent Estonia)

★
★ Semyon Timoshenko (World War II General, awarded 5 times)

★
★ Josip Broz Tito (President of Yugoslavia 1945-1980)^[1]

★
★ Gherman Titov (Cosmonaut, awarded twice)

★
★ Vladislav Tretiak (Soviet ice hockey goaltender)

★
★ Aleksandr Vasilevsky (Soviet marshal, awarded 8 times)

★
★ Pyotr Vershigora (Soviet major general and writer, a leader of the Soviet partisans during WWII)

★
★ Vladislav Volkov (Cosmonaut)

★
★ Kliment Voroshilov (Marshal of the Soviet Union)

★
★ Lev Yashin (Soviet Football Goalkeeper)

★
★ Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev (Soviet sniper during the Battle of Stalingrad)

★
★ Yakov Zel'dovich (Soviet physicist)

★
★ Georgy Zhukov (Marshal of the Soviet Union)

★
★ Lyudmila Zykina (Folk singer)
The assassin of Leon Trotsky is reported to have been awarded the Order in 1960, although according to Alan Bullock, he took care never to wear it.

References in popular culture

In the 1990 film ''The Hunt for Red October'', the doctor on the ''Red October'' tells the captain of the ship, Marko Ramius (Sean Connery) that his plan to scuttle the ship (and die with the other officers on board) rather than allow the Americans to capture it and the secret technology on board, whilst saving the non-commissioned crewmembers, would earn him the Order.
In the video game '', the Soviet scientist Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin shows off his various awards including the Order of Lenin and boasts about being given the title of 'Hero of Socialism' for his development of the mobile ballistic missile system known as SS-1C (better known as Scud).
James Bond receives the Order in the 1985 film ''A View to a Kill.'' It is awarded by General Anatol Gogol, for saving the American microchip industry (and thus, by implication of heavy espionage, the Soviet microchip industry), which was going to be destroyed by the main villain Max Zorin. In the movie, Bond is said to be the first non-Soviet citizen to receive the award, though this is not historically accurate. Various other villains and characters in the James Bond movie series have worn the Order on their uniforms, usually in the form of a ribbon bar.

See also

★ Awards and decorations of the Soviet Union

★ Awards and decorations of the Russian Federation

External links

★ Order of Lenin Reference Page