The Orders of Lenin and the Red Star established

On April 6, 1930 under the decree of the Central Executive Committee Presidium of the USSR were established the Order of Lenin and the Order of Red Star. On May 5, 1930 their statutes were approved.

The Order of Lenin, the highest award of the USSR, was awarded to individuals, groups, institutions, enterprises and social organizations of the Soviet Union for outstanding service in different areas of building socialism and to persons who contributed significantly to the country’s defense. It was the first order of the Soviet Union awarded both for labor service and services in the battle.

Under the decree of the Central Executive Committee Presidium of May 23, 1930 the Order of Lenin № 1was awarded to ‘Komsomolskaya Pravda’ newspaper ‘for effective contribution to acceleration of building the socialism and due to the fifth anniversary of its foundation’.

Among the first holders of the Order of Lenin were the Civil war commanders V. K. Blucher, S. M. Budyonny, K. E. Voroshilov, M. N. Tukhachevsky as well as the renowned toilers: minor A. G. Stakhanov, engine driver P. F. Krivonos, beet grower M. S. Demchenko and others. First among the scholars to receive the Order of Lenin was the internationally renowned breeder I. V. Michurin. Chevaliers of the Order also became other Soviet scientists - academicians G. M. Krzyzanowski (four times), A. N. Bach (three times) and S. A. Chaplygin (twice).

The Order of Lenin was awarded to writers A. M. Gorky, A. S. Serafimovich, N. A. Ostrovsky, M. A. Sholokhov, A. N. Tolstoy, the founders of the Moscow Art Academic Theater n. a. M. Gorky (MHAT) K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko and actors of this theater I. M. Moskvin and V. I. Kachalov; filmmakers "Lenin in October" - writer A. J. Kappler, film directory M. I. Romm and actor B. V. Shchukin.

Before the beginning of the Great Patriotic War the Order of Lenin was awarded to 6.5 thousand people. During the years of war the Soviet soldiers and the toilers of the home front received over 41 thousand Orders. Over 36 thousand of them were given for feats of arms. On the whole the Order was awarded to 431 418 people.

In the postwar years, almost 5,5 thousand people have been awarded the Order of Lenin for the development of virgin and fallow lands. The Order of Lenin was also awarded to the outstanding Soviet athletes and coaches: Three-time world chess champion Mikhail Botvinnik, footballers L. Yashin, I. Netto, N. Starostin, triple Olympic champion - hockey player Vladimir Tretiak, weightlifters Yu. Vlasov, and V. Alexeev, figure skater I. Rodnina.

The Order of Lenin was awarded to the Unions of writers, architects, composers, artists, filmmakers, the best newspapers and magazines, universities, institutes and cultural institutions of our country.

The statute of the Order of the Red Star noted that it marks ‘the outstanding activities which contribute to a significant success of our armies during the war time and increase the fighting efficiency of the Red Army and strengthening of defense of the USSR’. The Order is awarded for ‘the outstanding service to the defense of the Soviet Union during the war time and peace time’.

The first holder of the Order of the Red Star was the commander of the Special Red Banner Far East Army V. K. Blucher. On May 15, 1930 he was awarded for a brilliant repulse of the Chinese aggression during the events at the Chinese-Eastern railway in 1929.

Among the first awarded with the Order of the Red Star were the members of a large non-stop flight that took place in September 1930 along the route "Moscow - Ankara - Tiflis - Tehran - Kabul - Tashkent – Moscow, 105 000 km long.

One of the first enterprises on the banner of which appeared the Order of the Red Star was the newspaper "Red Star" which was honored with the award on the day of its 10th anniversary in December 1933. Subsequently the Order was awarded to the magazines "Military knowledge", "War Journal", "Aviation and Space ","Sea collection, "The Soviet soldier".

Before the beginning of the Great Patriotic War the Order of the Red Star was awarded to 30 thousand people. During the years of war this number went over 2.5 million up. The Order was also awarded to officers and soldiers of the Allied Forces, pilots and sailors of allied convoys.

On the whole the Order of the Red Star was awarded to about 3 876 740 people.

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Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:

Memory of the Great Victory: [digital collection].