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"Winner of Socialist Competition" Badge with Lenin Profile (Победитель социалистического соревнования)
Object/Artifact
A pin-back suspension badge in two parts. The upper element is a gilt scroll/banner-shaped suspension bar filled with red enamel, carrying gilt lettering now almost entirely rubbed away (for this award type, the banner reads "ПОБЕДИТЕЛЬ СОЦСОРЕВНОВАНИЯ" with a year); a horizontal pin is fitted to the reverse. A loop and ring connect it to the hanging medallion: a circular red-enamel field bearing a gilt high-relief left-facing profile bust of Vladimir Lenin, framed by a gilt wreath of wheat ears (with laurel) gathered at the base.
2025.20.20
The "Winner of Socialist Competition" badge was a Soviet labor-honor award of the socialist-emulation (соцсоревнование) system, issued annually from 1973 with the year named on the banner. It recognized outstanding workers and specialists for top results in the all-Union competition to meet and exceed the state economic plan, and was conferred jointly by ministries/agencies and the trade unions. The Lenin profile and grain wreath are the award's standard iconography. As a Soviet labor badge, it connects to Cuba through close Soviet–Cuban ties and a shared culture of "emulación socialista"; the specific route of this example into the collection is not established (tentative).
2025.20
Gift
U.S.S.R.
Eastern Europe
Europe
Issuer/Attribution: All-Union state/trade-union award (CPSU CC, USSR Council of Ministers, VTsSPS, Komsomol), USSR. Mint/maker unmarked on the visible face. Date: 1973 or later — the badge type was instituted 5 January 1973 and issued annually through the 1970s–1980s. The specific year on the banner is worn and illegible here (flag; the type is post-1973, within the collection period).
Banner inscription worn to illegibility in this image; for this type it reads "ПОБЕДИТЕЛЬ СОЦСОРЕВНОВАНИЯ" with a year.
3.5 cm
2.3 cm
Enamel banner suspension bar (with reverse pin) and hanging Lenin medallion, joined by loop and ring.
Metal
enameledGilt metal (brass/tombac) with red vitreous enamel; gilt Lenin profile and wreath.
Very Good
Vladimir I. Lenin
imagery